''Code of a Killer'' is a three-partCode of a Killer
Acorn Media. Retrieved 14 October 2020. British police drama television series which tells the true story of

Alec Jeffreys Sir Alec John Jeffreys, (born 9 January 1950) is a British geneticist known for developing techniques for genetic fingerprinting and DNA profiling which are now used worldwide in forensic science to assist police detective work and to resolve ...

' discovery of DNA fingerprinting and its introductory use by Detective David Baker in catching the double murderer

Colin Pitchfork Colin Pitchfork (born 23 March 1960) is an English child-murderer and child-rapist. He was the first person convicted of rape and murder using DNA profiling after he murdered two girls in neighbouring Leicestershire villages: Lynda Mann in Nar ...

. Filming commenced in late September 2014, and the program aired on the

ITV network ITV, legally known as Channel 3, is a British free-to-air public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television network. It is branded as ITV1 in most of the UK except for central and northern Scotland, where it is b ...

, on 6 and 13 April 2015. Endemol Shine handled international distribution of the series.

Plot

Set over a nearly four-year period from 1983 to 1987, DCS David Baker leads an investigation into the vicious murders of the two

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

teenage schoolgirls, Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth. Meanwhile, Alec Jeffreys is an ambitious scientist who has recently discovered a remarkable method to read a person's DNA and, from it, generate a unique DNA fingerprint. Convinced one local person committed both crimes, Baker approaches Jeffreys to utilise his scientific technique to solve the murders. The first-ever DNA manhunt follows, involving the blood testing of many men — all in the aid of catching the killer.

Cast

Production

Development

''Code of a Killer'' was commissioned by ITV's Director of Drama

Steve November Steve November (born Steven Frost) is a British television producer and executive. Originally known as Steve Frost during his early career, he became a writer for the Sky One drama '' Dream Team''. He also took roles as an assistant director unti ...

and Controller of Drama Victoria Fea on 16 May 2014. The series was developed with the participation of retired Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys and former Detective Chief Superintendent David Baker. It was written by Michael Crompton, directed by James Strong, produced by Priscilla Parish, and executive produced by Simon Heath for World Productions. Filming began in late September 2014, and the episodes were shown on 6 and 13 April 2015 at 9:00 p.m. on the ITV network.

Broadcast

The series premiered in Australia on

BBC First BBC First is an entertainment subscription television channel featuring comedy, crime, drama and film programming, originating from UK and mostly from the BBC. The channel is wholly owned and operated by BBC Studios. The channel began rolling ...

on 19 September 2015.

Episodes

Originally aired in 2015 in the UK and Australia as two 65-minute episodes; currently streams online as three 45-minute episodes plus one 28-minute ‘Behind the Scenes’ special. The episode descriptions below are for the (current) thee-episode format, while air dates and viewership data apply to the (original) two-episode format.

Reception

Critical reception

The drama received a mixed reception. The first part was criticised for dramatic sluggishness and a reliance on crime-show clichés in the portrayal of the two main characters. The depiction of Alec Jeffreys as the stereotypical absent-minded "boffin" was cited by several reviewers. Gerard O'Donovan in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' called the show's version of him a "stock obsessive boffin so wedded to his lab instruments that his marriage was permanently on the brink of collapse". Julia Raeside in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' wrote, "There are obligatory scenes in which Jeffreys misses a school play and receives a phone call from his wife pronouncing, 'Your dinner’s in the dog.' There are only so many times co-workers can remark, 'Don’t work too late' or 'Aren’t you going home?' before the hammering repetition starts to cause a dent in your enjoyment." Chris Bennion in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' concluded that "Sadly this drama had the fingerprints of countless other by-numbers crime thrillers all over it." Alex Hardy in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' was less critical, giving the show four stars out of five and saying that "this fact-based drama managed to balance tragedy with optimism", but added that it "inevitably contained elements of soap".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=3847626, title=Code of a Killer
''Code of a Killer''
at British TV Detectives 2015 British television series debuts 2015 British television series endings 2010s British drama television series 2010s British crime television series 2010s British television miniseries 1980s in Leicestershire British English-language television shows British television docudramas Genetics in the United Kingdom ITV television dramas Science and technology in Leicestershire Science docudramas Serial drama television series Television series by World Productions Television series set in 1984 Television shows set in England University of Leicester Works about genetics