With stories told by family, friends and the community at the heart of high-profile murders, Crimes That Shook Britain – now in its ninth series – examines shocking cases that attracted widespread public attention to explore how they shaped our national conversation.

Broadcaster Dermot Murnaghan and a team of experts and witnesses analyse the events that led to such atrocities and reveal the devastating effects they have left in their wake. Police evidence, eyewitness accounts and archive news pieces help to unpack the cases and put us at the forefront of the investigations.

“This series examines some of the most high-profile cases of recent times – such as the murders of Brianna Ghey and Elle Edwards – many of which I reported on at the time as a news anchor,” said Murnaghan of the new series, which begins on Crime+Investigation HD (CH 133) at 9pm on Monday 16 September.

Don’t have Crime+Investigation HD as part your TV package? We’ve got good news. All Virgin TV subscribers will be able to watch the first episode of Crimes That Shook Britain on Virgin TV Showcase (CH 100) at 9pm on Monday 16 September, with the episode repeating at 10pm and 11pm.

Ahead of series 9, Dermot tells us more about what to expect and how they approach the investigations on the show:

Hi Dermot. What keeps drawing you back to this series?

Fundamentally, human nature is what keeps drawing people to watch true crime. We’re all made of the same DNA, flesh and blood. It’s that question: how can some people carry out these crimes? Why do these poor victims and seemingly ordinary people face horrendous atrocities committed by other seemingly ordinary people?

What do you want viewers to take away from the series?

I think first and foremost, I’d say hope. Despair and awfulness are why the series is called Crimes That Shook Britain; the awfulness of these crimes captured the nation’s attention. But there is hope that the investigating authorities, the police and the criminal justice system, get to the bottom of it. In some cases, not as efficiently as they should, but in many of these cases, they do.

Time and again, you see communities pulling together to reckon with crimes like these, but also to help solve them. In many of these cases, they are cracked because those that perhaps wouldn’t normally have come forward with information, do come forward. Maybe that’s because of the nature of the crime or because they want to do the right thing. I’m no psychologist, but broadly that tells us a lot about human nature; most of us are decent, and then a tiny, tiny minority are clearly not.

In the case of the XL Bullies episode, the series shows what change can come from trauma and tragedy, with Emma Whitfield starting the process of changing the law…

Exactly that. In a lot of the cases, there is a crime, and the community involved help the police and the investigating authorities. In the case of XL Bullies, it’s a larger community. To change the law, you need the public to buy into your cause and support that. For that campaign to end up in legislation… that’s reaffirming to me as well. I don’t think we’re ever going to completely put a stop to crime, we’re never going to stop violent crime, but if something positive comes out of awful tragedy, that’s great. We live in a democracy. It’s not a perfect democracy but look at what one person joined by others can do: hopefully making life better for others.

Was there something revealed in this series that shocked you?

What we address in the series and in the podcast, is specifically whether these could have been prevented. That’s an awful thought for the families, but with hindsight, you can ask that for every crime. In the Reading stabbings, an individual who was on the so-called “radar” of the security services, suffering mental health issues, and had police calling round to his house the day before the attack. It’s an awful thought that something ought to have been done. This was a so-called multi-agency failing involving people with tragic circumstances and tragic outcomes, falling between the cracks.

I think there’s something to learn in all the cases. If XL Bullies had fallen under previous dangerous dogs acts, then perhaps there wouldn’t have been as many out there. This is an attempt to remedy such things with hindsight and informed context.

When you are dealing with real-life cases, how do you approach sensitive topics with respect to the victims and their families?

Respect is first and foremost, not just within this series. For me, it’s an absolute deal breaker. I’ve seen a lot of true crime, particularly a lot of it coming from the United States. Throughout my career, it’s always been about respect. I’ve reported on too many tragedies in my career, and I think about Dunblane, for instance. I was sent there the day after the awfulness of that in 1996. I remember the community there talking to us and then asking us (the media) to withdraw. And we did. There was no question in my mind or in my organisation’s mind – I was working with ITV News at the time.

I hope we do that. I hope we achieve that with this series. We’ve always had appreciation from the families or friends of victims around how we’ve covered these cases. When we talk, particularly to relatives, we listen. We don’t talk, we don’t pry, we just listen.

When can I watch Crimes That Shook Britain on TV?

Crimes That Shook Britain airs Mondays from 16 September at 9pm on Crime+Investigation HD (CH 133). You can also catch it in Crime+Investigation on demand.