Book of the Week - The Invention of Murder - Episode 2

By Judith Flanders. Over the course of the nineteenth century, murder - in reality a rarity - became ubiquitous: transformed into novels, into broadsides and ballads, into theatre and melodrama. "The Invention of Murder" explores the Victorian fascination with deadly violence by relating some of the century's most gripping and gruesome cases and the ways in which they were commercially exploited. Despite rising crime figures - and increasingly crowded cities - the public were reluctant to accept the establishment of an organised police force. This episode examines the reasons for that unwillingness and offers a fascinating insight into the origins of modern policing. Read by Robert Glenister. Abridged by David Jackson Young. Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.