Chalkboard to produce My Grandad Was Innocent
Chalkboard to produce My Grandad Was Innocent
Two criminal barristers will investigate historical murders in a 10 x 60-minute daytime series for BBC1.
The broadcaster has ordered My Grandad Was Innocent from Chalkboard TV, the producer behind interactive ITV quiz Don’t Ask Me, Ask Britain.
The BBC factual series will feature barristers Sasha Wass and Jeremy Dein investigating murders that resulted in those convicted going to the gallows pleading their innocence.
The pair will join forces with a member of the convicted criminal’s family to re-examine the evidence and will use modern forensic techniques to ask whether the original conviction was correct.
It will feature cases between 1900 and 1964, when 845 men and 18 women were hanged in the UK.
The series, which will air in a daytime slot, will launch in early 2018.
My Grandad Was Innocent was ordered by BBC controller of programming and daytime Dan McGolpin, and Lindsay Bradbury, daytime and early peak commissioning editor.
Bradbury said: “It’s not often that an idea like this one comes along. It’s got a real sense of public service, stacks of emotion and a huge pull through to the end.”
The series will be executive produced by Chalkboard’s Mike Benson and Warwick Banks.
It is the latest commission for the fledgling indie, which recently secured a C4 documentary set in Scottish prison HMP Low Moss.
Chalkboard co-founder Benson added: “It’s more than just compulsive drama; My Grandad Was Innocent has the potential to right wrongs, set the record straight and hold the criminal-justice system to account.”
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