David Farnor | On 07, Apr 2016

BBC Three is aiming to out-Serial Serial with its new true crime documentary series, Life and Death Row: Love Triangle, which arrives later this month.

The online channel’s first serialised documentary made exclusively for digital audiences, Love Triangle follows on from the BAFTA-winning series Life and Death Row, which tells the story of capital punishment through the eyes of young people whose lives have been shaped by it.

This new series takes that theme but explores it in an innovative new format: where the show’s previous two seasons have consisted of 60-minute episodes, this new run will be told over the course of a week through eight short films.

It follows Heather, a beautiful young wife and mother, who was lured to a horrific death. Her adulterous husband, Joshua, and his pregnant lover, Emilia, are brought in for questioning. One Murder. Two suspects. Which one is telling truth?

Told through the perspectives of the protagonists, each film allows audiences to delve into the case in detail, with a range of supporting evidence (including real-life witness statements, police recordings and photo galleries) made available alongside each episode.

Two episodes will be released at 11am and 4pm every day on www.bbc.co.uk/three, starting Monday 25th April.

Damian Kavanagh, Controller of BBC Three, says: “Innovating with new ways of telling stories is what BBC Three is all about. Imagine being able to listen to Serial and see the crime scene photographs or watch Making A Murderer and read the witness statements.”

Francine Shaw, Director and Producer, adds: “Having previously directed long-form documentaries, Love Triangle presented a fresh and exciting opportunity to make a Life And Death Row story in a short-form series – a form which naturally lends itself to the twists and turns of a police investigation. Making it online only was liberating as the content dictates the length of the story, and we could include as many scenes as needed to do it justice. The story world we created around the episodes gives the audience a much more direct connection with the characters and events, as they can choose to explore it in more detail if they want to.”

The same approach – partnering the Documentary and Digital Storytelling Teams in the Beeb’s Factual Production department – will be used by BBC Three later this year for true crime documentary Unsolved: The Boy Who Disappeared. The series will investigate the real-life disappearance of a teenager 20 years ago, with additional content released alongside each instalment. Both programmes arrive after a similar social media campaign – #findthegirl – was produced alongside the channel’s recent drama, Thirteen, which is still available to watch on BBC iPlayer. (This new series will use the hashtag #LADRLoveTriangle to generate online debate.)

“BBC Three is helping us to re-imagine and re-invent what we can do in TV Production,” comments Will Saunders, Creative Director of, Digital BBC TV Production. “We are thinking outside the box.”

Life And Death Row: Love Triangle will reach its conclusion on Thursday 28th April and will remain available for viewers to catch up with at www.bbc.co.uk/three, alongside all the extra evidence. The episodes without the supporting content will also be available on BBC iPlayer from Friday 29th April.

Read on for a teaser video promoting the series – or see our online TV guide for what else is coming soon to BBC Three.

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