Would you watch a true crime program if you personally knew the people?

[glovestrains]

as in they were family or Friends

i probably wouldn't

It would be weird but then when you see how rabid the community was when poor Nicola Bulley went missing I think some people get a kick out of it.

My dad knew the bloke who abducted Shannon Matthews. He could never even watch a clip about the case, it made him feel sick knowing a man he knew kept that little girl tied up on a room for 3 weeks.

I think it might depend on my relationship with them.

Distant family or not so close friend then maybe, but would also depend on the crime I guess.

I doubt it. I can't bring myself to watch the docu about a woman who I met once at work who was murdered. Just too awful although I am grateful her killer was caught and a bit curious to know how they did it.

Yes because I would want to see how they were portrayed and if it was a realistic portrayal of events

I've had friends who got caught up in organised crime. I've watched true crime stuff that involved them, just to see what the narrative was. We had something happen in the family and I avoided reading about it. At the time I rarely watched television. I hadn't seen a distant family member for about fifteen years until I saw him on one of the prison programmes, he was still playing the victim. I avoid anything about him.

Probably.

I've watched TV programmes about the murders of people I knew. I'm not sure if I'd watch a show about the murder of a family member.

But then, could I not?

No. There was a programme a few years ago about my best friend who was murdered when we were 16. I didn't watch it and her mum posted on SM asking people not to watch.

Accidentally, we did. Bloke shot a stranger in a street in 24 hours in Police Custody programme. (Guy made a full [physical] recovery. Mentally, he was devastated, of course and returned to his home country ASAP. 😢)

We were watching and recognised the street, very distinctive pub on the corner. We had no idea. It was the street our rental house is on. I used to teach the shooter's sibling and my DH had previously arrested the shooter. It was actually really sad, I was in bits for everyone involved. Shooter was put away for a long time.

I have done.

Yes. I'd not be able not to

Watched a One Born Every Minute type show years ago with a friends sister saying she wished she'd never bothered having her baby. That sickened me enough knowing the child would grow up and find that out. This would be so much worse.

Yes I have done

No. In fact there was such a programme once, and I knew one of the criminals was someone I'd been at school with (neither a friend nor someone who'd bullied me) and I refused to watch it.

If it was someone I was close to, and they were the victim, I could watch it even less. Unless maybe I could provide some means of solving an unsolved crime, and that's much less likely in fact than in fiction.

Obviously

i do love how moral everyone pretends to be on here

I have never watched any true crime; when it’s strangers it seems mega weird. People I know ( hopefully only vaguely) yes please! I’m nosey as fuck.

I mean, that’s partly the attraction of anonymous Internet forums, no?

Absolutely not. A dear friend of mine was raped and murdered. I know what happened to her, I don't need to see her awful death reenacted.

I think it would depend entirely on if they were the victim or the perpetrator.

Yes and no. My aunt was a near victim of a UK serial killer & I watched her on a true crime program. Her sixth sense saved her. Had she actually been killed then no, too grisly, harrowing & personal.

This was my immediate reaction:
I'm sure I'd have to, I'd be really worried about how it had been produced, and whether they had dealt with it sensitively.

.. and then I realise there are two similar examples where I've kept a huge difference.

First, I still cannot watch anything related to 9/11 because my husband was lucky to escape from it. I didn't hear anything from him for 14 hours and I've never really been able to put the whole thing to bed in my mind.

Second, some twat wrote a book about my dad, told me they were doing it, wanted "insights" and personal info/ what he'd said about things, and would not take no for an answer. He did it anyway, and I still haven't read it.

So, I guess my answer would be no!

"Kept a huge distance"..

Also (sorry!), @glovestrains - it's a good question, what made you think to ask?

Yes I would. There have been documentaries about a person in my uni friendship group who was murdered and I watch them. I just feel it more when I watch as I knew the victim. Maybe in my head I'm subconsciously searching for answers as the case is still unresolved. It's very sad.

If I knew the people well, then unlikely. If I only knew them peripherally, then almost certainly.

I have.

A woman I know was murdered by one of her family members.

Other family members keep taking part in these documentaries. I think they like the attention.

I confess I've watched one or two them. It's fairly ghastly.

Ooohhhj interesting thread and question.

I know 2 people (former colleagues who weren't colleagues at the time) who have been convicted of genius crimes.

1 torture, kidnap and murder and 1 child sexual assault.

Their crimes aren't documentaries.

I think I'd be interested to watch but very aware that I may decide not to continuing viewing if I did because equating people you knew (who were actually people you got on well with and had no idea they could do this) with crimes in the visual sense rather than just knowledge could be mightily hard.

Yes be extremely weird though obviously

Feel incredibly Surreal not real 😕 I amagine