Season 5
Medical Detectives is an American television documentary series created by Paul Dowling which reveals how forensics and science are used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and even outbreaks of illness.
Medical Detectives aired in the USA on the TLC network from 1995-2000, after which it moved to Court TV (now truTV) and the title was changed to Forensic Files.
The series originally aired in South Africa on SABC3. It later aired on SABC2 and DStv's Crime and Investigation Network.
Synopsis
Medical Detectives is the inspiration for the dramatic series CSI. Each episode profiles intriguing crimes where science caught the bad guy.
The show features forensic investigations that use high technology and latest forensic methodology to track down and expose perpetrators of violent crimes.
All of the stories are taken from real life cases.
Premiering just as the O.J. Simpson murder trial had focused attention on the world of DNA and forensics, Medical Detectives became a hit. It was one of, if not the first of the popular forensic science shows.
A few years later, Court TV snapped up the show and it quickly became the cornerstone of their primetime schedule.
The cases and people are real. Perhaps surprisingly, DNA testing is actually rarely focused on. While ballistics, hair analysis, and fingerprinting do turn up, the show seems to prefer unusual evidence such as animal hairs, plant analysis, or arson investigation.
Scientists and forensic experts in many fields are interviewed.
Not every case is a crime. In some cases, the investigation reveals that suspects are innocent, and the death was an accident or suicide.
Several episodes have profiled people who have been jailed for or convicted of a crime, and ultimately exonerated by forensic evidence.
The programme features:
3-D computer animations graphically depicting the crimes;
True-to-life re-enactments dramatically portraying step-by-step how each crime was carried out;
Intimate and personal profiles of those who lived through the events.
Follow coroners, medical examiners, physicians, law enforcement officials, journalists and legal experts as they put together the pieces of the crime puzzle.