Name: Who Killed Jill Dando?
Director: Emma Cooper, Marcus Plowright
Released: 2023-09-26T12:30:00

Who Killed Jill Dando? covers the murder of the beloved television presenter and how the identity of her killer remains a mystery long after her death. The series is streaming on Netflix.

Story

Jill Dando was a legend of the British broadcasting network and was loved by all, but her life came to a tragic end when she was shot at her front doorstep in broad daylight in 1999.

The following investigation sprouted several theories thanks to Jill’s work on the news as well as unreliable witness accounts. The police looked into Jill’s life and then widened their search to include other pieces of information they collected.

Almost a year after her death, the police arrested Barry George under suspicion of the murder, and he was eventually found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.

However, after 8 years in prison, Barry’s conviction was overturned after efforts to clear his name disproved the initial minor evidence that connected him to the crime. To this day, several theories still exist about Jill Dando’s case, but nothing concrete has ever come of it.

Positives

For people unaware of the case, this series does a good job of explaining what happened to Jill and what were the different sides of the investigation. The information provided sets up a good base for the audience.

The series also depicts Jill’s bright character and everything that made her so attractive to the adoring public quite effectively. The parallels to Princess Diana are not unfounded and it builds up a connection with the subject of her murder.

Negatives

Unfortunately, the fact that there was no clear conviction in the case means that this series has to guide the audience toward an unfulfilling conclusion. The competing opinions of the police and Barry’s solicitor are just pitted against each other without being truly convincing.

They mention looking into Jill’s inner circle but completely ignore her fiance throughout. While he may have chosen to not appear in the series, some mention of their avoidance should have been included.

Verdict

Who Killed Jill Dando? is a series that doesn’t really answer the question in the title and instead, paints a picture of who the killer might be. Even in the case of multiple theories, none of them are substantial enough to pique the interest of anyone. The fact that it has remained a mystery for this long is what is truly mind-boggling, but the series doesn’t capture that sufficiently.