Do the warped and damaged relationships of murderers and their mothers lie at the root of many of the world's most notorious killers? In these ten episodes, journalist Donal MacIntyre examines ten cases of murder in which the culprits' childhoods and maternal influences set them on the path towards their unspeakable crimes.
At 14 years old, Daniel Bartlam killed his mother with a claw hammer then sought to cover his tracks by concocting a story that came straight from a soap opera.
With a sunny exterior, Jed Allen's case shook the world when he killed his mother, stepfather, and six year old half-sister. Experts examine the dysfunctional family of the Wolverine.
Dr Harold Shipman, was Britain's most prolific serial killer with at least 215 known victims. Was Shipman simply addicted to murdering by morphine or did his upbringing turn him into a mass murderer?
Joachim Knychala, the Polish serial killer who earned the ghoulish nickname `Frankenstein,' attacked his victims with an axe. He brutally murdered five women and attempted another seven over eight grisly years.
One of Britain's most infamous killers. Dennis Nilsen murdered 15 young men in London during the late 70s and early 80s. But what led this seemingly normal civil servant to start killing for company?
Serial child-killer Robert Black preyed on young girls across the country. Black's biological mother left him shortly after his birth, while his foster mother neglected and physically abused him.
Poland's `vampire' Leszek Pekalski murdered dozens of men, women and children. Pekalski was subjected to extreme physical violence on a daily basis, and was neglected and often starved by family.
Richard Kuklisnki, known as the `Iceman' because of his freezing of victims to mask their time of death, killed up to 100 people in a 30-year criminal career.