Watching the dead.

This entertaining and topical documentary looks at how scientific advances in DNA testing have affected the way crimes are solved in television dramas. Footage of a large range of tv shows are shown, including: Waking the Dead, Z Cars, The Expert, Quincy M.E., Silent Witness, Cracker, Wire in the Blood, Sherlock Holmes, Murder Rooms and the internationially successful CSI. Taking a chronological approach to the gradual leaning of crime drama towards forensics, screenwriters, actors, barristers, and forensic pathologists help to illuminate what it is that is so fascinating to the viewer about cold case investigations. However, in the current crime-solving world in which scientific fact is frequently prioritised over other forms of investigation, such as conversation with victims and suspects, is the world of fictional tv crime drama in danger of becoming, at worst, forensic pornography?