Robbie Coltrane's Critical Evidence: Season 1, Episode 1

1 - 1: Dead Man's Hollow

Cycling through the countryside on a clear December morning in 2002, an off-duty fireman smelled burning flesh. In the distance, he could see a body smoldering in a field. The police arrived to discover the body was charred beyond recognition; all they knew is that the man had died a brutal death, his killer or killers having stabbed him repeatedly, shot him in the head, and drenched his body with petrol before setting it alight.For the first time on British television, we're telling the story of this shocking murder through all three lead detectives who spent 3 years solving the case. We will explain how a cutting edge school of science was able to extract crucial information from the charred remains of the body. We reveal how a barely readable scrap of paper led detectives to the scene of the murder. And we hear from a woman who was the key to unlocking the case – who has never spoken on television before.