New murder mystery show sees contestants 'killed off'

The BBC launched its latest stab at reality TV today – a murder mystery show in which the contestants are “killed off” one by one.

The Murder Game is a whodunit with ten amateur sleuths trying to solve a crime in the fictional English village of Blackwater.

At the end of each episode, two contestants are sent out to meet the killer - and only one returns.

The BBC1 show, which begins next Saturday, is a cross between the board game Cluedo, whodunit books by Agatha Christie and Big Brother.

The ten contestants – who include a dairy farmer, a pilot and a former pole dancer - underwent a week’s training at a police college to learn the basics of crime investigation.

They then live together under the gaze of the cameras as they set out to catch a killer.

In the first episode they are confronted with the fictional murder of Catherine Prior, who is found dead in the church where her sister was to marry later that day.

Over the following eight programmes they must track down the killer under the guidance of real-life detective Bob Taylor.

A former Detective Chief Constable with West Yorkshire Police, he was involved in the Yorkshire Ripper case and led the hunt for Michael Sams, who murdered Leeds teenager Julie Dart and kidnapped Birmingham estate agent Stephanie Slater.

The contestants must gather evidence and interview the nine suspects, who are all played by actors.

At the end of each episode, the two worst-performing contestants are nominated for the “Killer’s Game”.

They are sent out alone in the middle of the night to separate locations, filming themselves Blair Witch-style with a handheld camera.

Their screams of terror are genuine as one of them is pounced on in the darkness – although the producers were quick to point out they didn’t really come to any harm.

The scenes were so scary for the contestants that a doctor was on hand at all times in case the shock became too much for them.

The person who eventually solves the case picks up a £25,000 (€36,000) reward – and some 10,000 people applied to take part in the programme.

Taylor said the show was not a million miles away from a real-life murder investigation.

He was also kept in the dark about the killer’s identity until the final episode.

“In many ways it was like a real inquiry and I hope it gives the public an understanding of how difficult a murder investigation is.

“I worked 14 hour days on the show and I lost three-quarters of a stone during filming, which I used to do during real inquiries,” he said.

“I didn’t know who the killer was, although I had a fairly good clue before the contestants did. I didn’t want to know because it would have spoiled it for me.”

Taylor said some of the contestants could be real-life detectives in the making.

“Of course I was verging on despair at times because of the mistakes they made. But I do think some of them could make good investigators in time,” he said.

The Murder Game is adapted from an American format, Murder In Small Town X. It flopped in the US but programme bosses have made a number of changes in the hope that it will be a hit over here.