I'm Line of Duty's Vicky McClure, and this is why my husband and I are investigating atrocious historical crime cases

This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.

This might be surprising coming from me, but I often find myself wondering why crime dramas and documentaries have exploded in popularity, perhaps at the expense of other genres. I’m obviously guilty, as an actor, for my part in this, with roles in Trigger Point and Line of Duty.

Why are we so fascinated? Partly, we all want to understand what can make an individual commit such atrocious acts on another human being, often to someone closest to them. Perhaps it’s intoxicating and thrilling to watch detectives go about solving high-profile crimes, and comforting when baddies – fictional or otherwise – are locked up.

But with my new Sky History series, Britain’s Murder Map, my husband – historian Jonny Owen – and I hoped to do something different. We wanted to focus on the forgotten victims.

You may have heard of Bible John, the name the press gave Scotland’s most notorious serial killer, a man who was never identified following his 1969 killing spree. You may not have heard the names of his three victims, all young women, who were strangled and whose bodies were dumped near their homes in Glasgow.

Their own stories have never really emerged. Why is that and why did the women never get the justice they deserved?

There are clues in the police reports from the time. All three women were brutally murdered after a night out at Barrowland Ballroom. Patricia Docker, 25, was a loving mother and an auxiliary nurse, who was separated from her husband. The police report commented that “the deceased appears to enjoy the company of men”.

Jemima MacDonald, 31, was also a single mother. According to police, “she appeared to be extremely fond of male company and highly promiscuous”.

Of Helen Puttock, 29, a mother of two whose marriage had ended, police wrote she was “said to be fond of a good time. She could consume a good amount of liquor without an effect on her”.

It’s shocking to read these words, fuelled by misogyny, as part of the police investigation. I wanted to get closer to the women and find out what they were really like. I met their families to get a truer picture and now I’ll never get the women’s faces and stories out of my mind.

Another episode in our series, this time focusing on London in the Edwardian era, concerns Dr Crippen. Hanged in 1910 for the murder of his actress wife, you may well have heard the name Dr Crippen. Jonny remembers seeing his waxwork in the Chamber of Horrors in Madame Tussauds as a child.

But do you know the story of his victim? His wife, music hall singer Cora Crippen, has been relegated to a footnote in the history books.

Police believed Dr Crippen, who by that point was sharing his home with his mistress, when he said his wife had simply left and disappeared. They initially dismissed Cora’s friends, who knew something was wrong. Without their efforts, Dr Crippen would never have been caught.

A book on the case, The Trial of Hawley Harvey Crippen by Filson Young, published in 1920, shaped how it has been viewed for a century. Seeing how Cora is portrayed makes for a difficult read. She’s said to be “filthy,” does not quite keep up with the housework and, he says, doesn’t have a scrap of ability as a performer. Cora’s murder is almost excused by focusing on what was supposedly wrong with her. It’s a form of victim blaming that, along with misogyny and violence against women, still plagues society.

My husband Jonny often says, “the past is a different country”. And he’s right. It was, thankfully and in so many ways, a very different place. But all the cases we investigate – the unsolved murders, miscarriages of justice and culturally significant crimes – sadly, they’ve left a lasting impact on their communities – and their legacy remains today.

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Britain's Murder Map with Vicky McClure and Jonny Owen starts Tuesday 7 April 9pm on Sky History and History Play.

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