Series Review: "Who Killed Jill Dando?" (2023).

"What was the motive? How is it still unsolved?" This is Who Killed Jill Dando? This crime documentary series directed by Marcus Plowright. British broadcasting legend, Jill Dando, was killed by a single bullet on her doorstep in 1999 in broad daylight. Despite one of the biggest homicide investigations in British history, the murder remains unsolved. 

On November 9, 1961, English journalist, television presenter and newsreader, Jill Wendy Dando, was born. She spent most of her career at the BBC. At the time of her death, Dando was among those with the highest profile of the BBC's on-screen staff, and had been the 1997 BBC Personality of the Year. Furthermore, her television work included Breakfast Time, Breakfast News, the BBC One O'Clock News, the Six O'Clock News, the travel programme Holiday, the crime appeal series Crimewatch and occasionally Songs of Praise. On the morning of April 26, 1999, Dando left Farthing's home in Chiswick. She returned alone, by car, to the house she owned in Fulham. She had lived in the house, but by April 1999 was in the process of selling it and did not visit it frequently. As Dando reached her front door at about 11:32, she was shot once in the head. Her body was discovered about fourteen minutes later by neighbour Helen Doble. Police were called at 11:47. Dando was taken to the nearby Charing Cross Hospital where she was declared dead on arrival at 13:03 BST. Forensic study indicated that Dando had been shot by a bullet from a 9mm Short calibre semi-automatic pistol, with the gun pressed against her head at the moment of the shot. The cartridge appeared to have been subject to workshop modification, possibly to reduce its charge. After the murder, there was intense media coverage. An investigation by the Metropolitan Police, named Operation Oxborough, proved fruitless for over a year. Making it the biggest murder inquiry conducted by the Metropolitan Police and the country's largest criminal investigation since the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper. Dando's status as a well-known public figure had brought her into contact with thousands of people, and she was known to millions. There was huge speculation regarding the motive for her murder. Within six months, the Murder Investigation Team had spoken to more than two-thousand five-hundred people and taken more than one-thousand statements. At the time of her death, Jando was engaged to Alan Farthing, gynaecologist turned Queen Elizabeth II's personal physician, after she met him on a blind date set up by a mutual friend in December 1997. The couple had announced their engagement on January 31, 1999. Their wedding was set to take place on September 25.

Life is never about one truth. The work of one man brought clarity to the tumultuous murder of one of Britain's most well known TV personalities. Knowing about Dando's life, and what led him to her death, is absolutely thrilling. The narrative is carefully fitted on to TV news imagery of Dando at work, her photos and, of course, video footage, albeit grainy, of some of her iconic works.

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