Tales from the Black Museum

Indeed,it's very black and incredible grim in this museum at New Scotland Yard,which houses evidence and exhibits from some of the most gruesome crimes done in England. In fact,it's quite teeth clenching time when we are told how the poor woman killed by Haigh,the acid bath murderer,was only identified from her dentures that were picked out of the sludge that was all that remained of her. Others in this series might not be quite as toe curling but come close with all the emphasis on forensic evidence.

Very much in the style of the old black and white series from the late 1950's, 'Tales of Scotland Yard,' and they even have another crime writer introducing the stories in the shape of Jonathan Goodman. Who is quite grisly in his own right with his whispery voice but nowhere near as creepy as good old Edgar Lustgarten who just seemed to salivate over all the horrible crime details in the earlier short films.

But while the Scotland Yard stories were staged by actors, here we have ex-policemen/police scientists,some involved in the cases or people who knew the victims/murderers giving their thoughts and opinions. With some short segments by actors fleshing out the rest of the tales.

It's strange that a lot of the crime experts and eye-witnesses are somewhat odd and look a bit like serial killers themselves!

I'm assuming the two boxed video sets I watched were probably all the episodes from the short series, twelve shows running for 25 minutes with two crimes examined each time.

Apart from the acid bath case, there is the very familiar Dr Crippen one and some others not as well known. A decent show and nicely entertaining for it's short running time. Just don't sit down to eat a meal before you start watching though!