TV review: The journey towards an answer in Who Killed Jill Dando? is superb TV

Jill Dando. Picture: Netflix

The murder of Jill Dando didn’t grab attention over here in Ireland. Yes, the news was full of it in 1999, when Dando was shot outside her house in West London, but it didn’t lodge in our collective hive-mind like the murder of Veronica Guerin.

Watching the first two episodes of Who Killed Jill Dando? (Netflix) put it in perspective. It was like someone shot Anne Doyle on her doorstep. Or maybe Gráinne Seoige would be more appropriate, seeing as she presented RTÉ’s Crimecall, while Dando was the face of Crimewatch on the BBC.

So, was Dando shot because she helped to catch a vengeful criminal? We don’t know. Who Killed Jill Dando? is an open question.

But the journey towards an answer is superb TV. The key is the lead detective who somehow manages to be English even though his name is Hamish Campbell. He brings us through the investigation, saying 16 detectives were too small of a team to handle the deluge of leads and crazy theories that come with a celebrity murder.

My wife and I played the ‘He definitely did it’ game, where you say he definitely did it every time a possible suspect is given a motive. So her former partner, her fiancee, her agent all definitely did it, until Hamish told us why they were ruled out by the investigating team.

The late Jill Dando. 

Next up is the Serbian hitman theory. NATO had just bombed a TV station in Belgrade, killing civilians; Jill Dando had just fronted a TV campaign to raise funds for people who had suffered under Serbian aggression in Kosovo. So the theory goes the Serbian regime exacted some revenge. This wasn’t much fun as they didn’t have footage of a Serbian hitman, so my wife couldn’t say he definitely did it. Anyway, Hamish said they found no evidence to support this theory they moved on.

After going down a blue-Range-Rover-seen-in-the-area wormhole, the investigation settled on Barry George, a man who lived near Dando’s house and had been found to have an obsession with celebrities. Spoiler alert: he was found guilty, but released eight years later after a jury found him not guilty in a retrial. I’m not expecting to learn whodunnit at the end of the three-part series, and neither should you. But there is plenty to help you pick a pet theory and stick to it (I’m all in on the Serb hitman, but that’s because I watch too much TV).

The show works because we get a feel for Dando, deserving her spot as the nation’s sweetheart, which she inherited from Princess Di, possibly because they had the same hair.

I enjoyed the cinematic shots of London too, the city scrubs up well in the hands of a good director. This is a weird story well told, that will allow you to say he definitely did it, at least twice. Give it a watch.