In a similar style and vein to the ITV1 Sir Trevor McDonald documentaries of recent years, here we saw Piers Morgan look at the grave but intriguing subject of ‘killer women’. Piers unquestionably is a hugely polarizing figure(being so opinionated is partly how he makes a living).  Nevertheless, if you just allow yourself to ignore his somewhat controversial articles and Twitter ramblings and just judge him solely on being a serious broadcaster as I did here in this programme, then in my opinion he is an excellent broadcaster.  He is not as skilled a performer as say Louis Theroux is and nor does he hold the same current affairs gravitas of Sir Trevor McDonald, however I thought in this first part of two documentaries that he has done on this subject he came across very well.

In this first episode Piers found himself in Texas where he examined the case of Erin Caffey.  In 2008 Erin was arrested along with three accomplices for the murder of her Mum Penny, as well as her two younger brothers Matthew and Tyler.  Now twenty-four years old, Piers went to visit Erin in Hilltop Prison Unit Texas.  As well as visiting Erin, Piers also met up with her father Terry who was the only one to have survived the horrific attack.  Terry had not been back to the site of the burned down house for many years, it was there where he and Piers emotionally discussed what had happened on that fateful night.

“When you took the totality of all the circumstances, it really was the most disturbing thing I had ever seen”(State Prosecutor).

These damning words from the State Prosecutor were greatly juxtaposed against Erin being so respectful and demure when Piers met her.  She seemed like such a polite young lady who you would never have thought could have been involved in such an awful crime.  I thought Piers handled his interview with her just about right.  He never lectured her and was polite with her without ever being too polite.  He probed her with some uncomfortable questioning when he needed too without going over the top.  I thought the tone of his interaction with her was near enough spot-on and so he needs commending for this.

“So it has been a struggle to finally get to that place where I could finally forgive myself”(Terry Caffey, father of Erin).

With this quote in mind, the most moving part of the documentary for me was when forgiveness and unconditional love were talked about.  Erin emotively revealed how her Dad(Terry) had promised her unconditional love despite what had happened.  Terry stated how at first he had wanted her two male accomplices to serve the death penalty.  However, due primarily to his strong faith he told Piers how he had now forgiven them(they are now currently serving life sentences instead).  He blamed himself massively for not protecting his family that night.  His tale about him reading Penny’s words in a notebook where she called him her hero, was a particularly poignant watch.

From a documentary standpoint, then I thought it was impressive how police interviews and media footage from the time of the event were combined with the present day stuff.  The 2008 police interviews of the four suspects were crucial in helping us gain a further insight into the events that had taken place back then.

There was not a lot wrong with this documentary in my view.  Nevertheless, I would have liked it explaining though by Piers at some stage as to why he chose to look at Erin’s case in particular above all the other ones out there? I am also not quite sure exactly what the primary purpose of this programme was?  Was it purely just to inform us of this historical criminal case or was there a bigger agenda at play here? Was it to challenge the misconception that some have about murderers i.e,  not just men commit murder in society but women do too? You could also make the argument that it was about forgiveness as well as there being an anti-capital punishment message in it.

Overall, a well made documentary by all concerned and one that encourages me to watch part two.  My overriding emotion at the end it was one of great sadness.  Sadness for the victims that are no longer with us and yet also sadness for Erin herself, such an unnecessary waste of a life.   I leave you with a really moving line then that was shown on a piece of furniture about a third of the way into this programme.  I think it beautifully encapsulates the heart rending and very emotive tone that was present throughout this documentary,

“Because someone we love is in heaven….there’s a little bit of HEAVEN in our home”.

4/5.