A BBC documentary that follows the lives of three American citizens on death row.A BBC documentary that follows the lives of three American citizens on death row.A BBC documentary that follows the lives of three American citizens on death row.
- Star
- Won 1 BAFTA Award
- 2 wins & 9 nominations total
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- TriviaIn the Netherlands, the 4 episodes of the 3rd season: The Mass Execution: Part 1 (2018) through The Mass Execution: Part 4 (2018) were adjusted and broadcast as the first 5 in a series of 6 episodes, the 6th episode being: In Cold Blood, which aired on July 31st, 2018.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Wright Stuff: Episode #19.50 (2014)
Featured review
Utterly compelling
I watch a lot of true crime stuff and am a big fan of Making a Murderer and The Staircase, amongst others, and I can say this absolutely excellent documentary surpasses both. I am on the fence when it comes to capital punishment as I see strong arguments on both sides ..... Life and Death Row threw me relentlessly from one side of the debate to the other, one minute I was thinking 'Yep'. just a few minutes later and I'm thinking 'Nope'. It really does thoroughly cover all bases, looking at both sides of every convict, delving deeply into the families of both the victim(s) and the prisoner.
There is a lot of really, really raw emotion on display, Whilst sympathy inevitably goes to the families of the victims, did I ever really imagine the impact on the convicted's family? Watching a relative choking with grief whilst holding a photo of their sibling at the time that sibling was being executed, just beyond the boundaries of the execution chamber property, was gobsmackingly powerful.
We hear the opinions of so many people, including those not involved personally. We hear from the decision-makers, the press, the Police. I cannot think of an angle that wasn't covered.
The inmate who accepts guilt and prays for clemency, the inmate who accepts guilt and wants to die, the inmate who insists he's innocent. All are here.
Each story covered felt to me like a mini courtroom drama of the highest order .... is he/she going to be executed? As a UK resident I was unfamiliar with any of the cases included so I didn't know what happened in the end.
I was basically just glued to the screen, one of those documentaries where you tell yourself at bedtime 'just 10 more minutes', then ' I may as well finish the episode'' then pretending to be caught out by the next episode starting in 10 seconds ....and so on.
For any student of the capital punishment debate this is beyond-essential viewing. For any true crime fan, stop reading this and get it on your tv screen right now.
Films, documentaries, TV shows, they all polarise opinion in the main but this is one of those where I find it impossible to believe anyone who watched it could be very entertained at worst and mesmerized at best.
I didn't give it an 10 as there were a few times the foot was taken off the gas but that's a back-handed compliment.
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- trivium105
- Jul 24, 2019
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