''The FBI Files'' is an American television

docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television and film, which features dramatized re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of documentary and drama and "a fact-based representation of real event". Docudramas typic ...

series that originally ran from 1998 to 2006 on the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Chan ...

and produced by

New Dominion Pictures New Dominion Pictures, LLC. (also registered as New Dominion Pictures Virginia Beach or New Dominion Pictures Virginia) is an American television production company based in Suffolk, Virginia and mainly specialized on producing documentary, realit ...

. The show was cancelled in 2006. However, Court TV Mystery, Discovery, and its sister network,

Investigation Discovery Investigation Discovery (stylized and branded on-air as ID since 2008) is an American multinational pay television network dedicated to true crime documentaries owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. As of February 2015, approximately 86 million Amer ...

, aired re-runs until October 2012. Investigation Discovery only showed episodes from seasons 5,6, and 7. As of October 2012, the network now airs episodes from the earlier seasons (although not necessarily in chronological order), with updated information about the cases at the end of most episodes. Up to late September 2012,

WE tv We TV (stylized as WE tv) is an American pay television channel. Owned by AMC Networks since its September 1997 launch, it is oriented mainly towards lifestyle and entertainment programming. As of February 2015, approximately 85.2 million Amer ...

showed episodes from seasons 1-4, but the network had removed the episode introductions by Jim Kallstrom. In the UK on

Quest Red Quest Red is a British free-to-air television channel in the United Kingdom broadcasting factual, lifestyle, crime and reality programming aimed at a female audience. The channel is operated by Warner Bros. Discovery and runs as a sibling to Dis ...

, ''The FBI Files'' airs every weeknight. It has also been shown on TV Denmark, Discovery Australia, and Netflix in Canada. More recently, New Dominion Pictures made all episodes of ''The FBI Files'' available on YouTube.

Synopsis

The show described actual FBI cases, with dramatic reenactments and interviews with agents and forensic scientists who worked in the investigations. The show premiered on October 20, 1998, and 120 episodes were produced by Discovery Channel Producer Tom Golden before the final original episode shown on March 24, 2006. The series covered the

kidnapping In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the p ...

and

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the ...

Polly Klaas Polly is a given name, most often feminine, which originated as a variant of Molly (a diminutive of Mary). Polly may also be a short form of names such as Polina, Polona, Paula or Paulina. People named or nicknamed Polly Female *Caresse Cros ...

, the investigation and conviction of

John Gotti John Joseph Gotti Jr.Capeci, Mustain (1996), pp. 25–26 (, ; October 27, 1940 – June 10, 2002) was an American gangster and Crime boss, boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. He ordered and helped to orchestrate the murder of ...

, the Unabomber case, the

World Trade Center Bombing The 1993 World Trade Center bombing was a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City, U.S., carried out on February 26, 1993, when a van bomb detonated below the North Tower of the complex. The urea nitrate–hydrogen gas en ...

, the Sara Tokars murder case, the several prison escapes by Christopher Jeburk, John Birges's biggest bomb in history ( Harvey's Casino in

Stateline, Nevada Stateline is a census-designated place (CDP) on the southeastern shore of Lake Tahoe in Douglas County, Nevada, United States. It lies next to the California state line and City of South Lake Tahoe. The population was 842 at the 2010 census. ...

), and many other well-known and less well-known

true crime True crime is a nonfiction literary, podcast, and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people associated with and affected by criminal events. The crimes most commonly include murder; about 40 pe ...

stories. Unlike '' The New Detectives'', a somewhat similar true crime show, ''The FBI Files'' centers on

murders Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...

narcotics The term narcotic (, from ancient Greek ναρκῶ ''narkō'', "to make numb") originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with numbing or paralyzing properties. In the United States, it has since become associated with opiate ...

, bank robberies,

s, etc., where the FBI is called in to assist police departments.

Hosts and narrators

James Kallstrom James Keith Kallstrom (May 6, 1943 – July 3, 2021), a.k.a. Jim Kallstrom, was an American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent who served as assistant director in charge of its field office in New York. He was noted for heading the cr ...

, a former head of the FBI's

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

office, hosted the show. Among other high-profile cases, he investigated the crash of

TWA Flight 800 Trans World Airlines Flight 800 (TWA800) was a Boeing 747-100 that exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York, on July 17, 1996, at about 8:31pm. EDT, 12 minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy Internationa ...

. Allison Erkelens was head writer for the series' production company,

, from 2000 to 2005. Anthony Call, an actor known for roles on the daytime soap operas ''

The Guiding Light ''Guiding Light'' (known as ''The Guiding Light'' before 1975) is an American radio and television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the third longest-running drama in television in American history. ''Guiding Light'' a ...

'' and ''

One Life to Live ''One Life to Live'' (often abbreviated as ''OLTL'') is an American soap opera broadcast on the ABC television network for more than 43 years, from July 15, 1968, to January 13, 2012, and then on the internet as a web series on Hulu and iTunes ...

'', co-hosted/narrates all the United States episodes and some international ones. Susan Rae and Stephen Kemble were the narrators on several international versions of the show. Lucy Longhurst narrated the international version of the episodes "Murdering Cowboy" that was about the convicted felon Claude Dallas and "Deadly Paradise" about the "Sea Wind Murders" on

Palmyra Atoll Palmyra Atoll (), also referred to as Palmyra Island, is one of the Northern Line Islands (southeast of Kingman Reef and north of Kiribati). It is located almost due south of the Hawaiian Islands, roughly one-third of the way between Hawaii a ...

. Peter Dickson narrated season 2 of the international version of the show. Among those were the episodes "A Model Killer" that was about the slain serial killer

Christopher Wilder Christopher Bernard Wilder (March 13, 1945 – April 13, 1984), also known as the Beauty Queen Killer, was an Australian-American serial killer who abducted and raped at least twelve young women and girls, torturing some, and killing at ...

(aka- "The Beauty Queen Killer") and "Cat and Mouse" about the 1985 search for South Carolina's convicted serial killer

Larry Gene Bell Larry Gene Bell (October 30, 1949Shuler, Rita Y. (2007). ''Murder in the Midlands: Larry Gene Bell and the 28 Days of Terror That Shook South Carolina''. The History Press. . – October 4, 1996) was an American murderer and suspected serial ki ...

. Among those Susan Rae did was "Dishonoured" about the 1989 disappearance of USMC Capt. Shirley Russell, and the joint FBI – NIS investigation of her husband, former

USMC The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through co ...

Capt. Robert Russell and "When Seconds Count" about when a 12-year-old girl was abducted from her home in

Lodi, California Lodi ( ) is a city located in San Joaquin County, California, in the center portion of California's Central Valley. The population was 62,134 at the 2010 census. The estimated population is approximately 67,586 according to 2019 census data. L ...

. Among those Stephen Kemble did was "The Price of Greed" about the 1997

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

Dunbar Armored robbery On September 12, 1997, six men robbed the Dunbar Armored facility on Mateo St. in Downtown Los Angeles, California of US$18.9 million (equivalent to $ million in ). The robbery was orchestrated by Allen Pace III, of Compton, with childhood ...

. Among those international versions Call did was "Omega 7" about the Omega 7 group and "Dangerous Cause" about the

Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional Puertorriqueña The Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (English: ''Armed Forces of National Liberation'', FALN) was a Puerto Rican clandestine paramilitary organization that, through direct action, advocated independence for Puerto Rico. It carried out more ...

group. Ben Ando also did some voice overs in the UK.

Episodes

Home media

Timeless Media Group has released the first four seasons of ''The FBI Files'' on DVD in Region 1.

References

External links