Catching a Killer - The Wind in the Willows Murder review: a case solved by the book

Channel 4’s latest true crime documentary charts a gripping tale in minute detail says Toby Earle
One the case: DC Natalie Howard, DS Kevin Brown and DC Jacqui Redgrave
Channel 4
Toby Earle12 July 2017

If our TV schedules are anything to go by, we’re a crime-obsessed nation.

There’s barely an evening without a drama popping up with some kind of law-breaking at its centre (a new one, In the Dark, is due to air tomorrow on BBC1).

Channel 4 recently shook the crime genre up by producing The Trial: A Murder in the Family, which featured a real judge and jury’s verdict on a fictional event.

Now the station is opting for a more conventional documentary approach to tell the story of Adrian Greenwood’s death at his Oxford home in April last year.

The 42-year-old antiquarian bookseller had been stabbed more than 30 times in a frenzied attack.

Greenwood had risen to fame in his field after buying and selling early editions of the Harry Potter books, as well as a rare piece by Banksy.

Cameras follow Detective Superintendent Kevin Brown and his team as they attempt to find the killer, who also stole a collectable copy of The Wind in the Willows, which later turned up on eBay at a knocked-down price.

We’re with them every step of the way as debt-ridden Michael Danaher becomes the prime suspect and is eventually charged.

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1/10

The production company was granted extraordinary access to the case and the staff of the Thames Valley Police Major Crimes Unit, and although many viewers will already know the outcome, the programme remains a gripping piece of TV.

It’s a straightforward, traditional documentary, but there is nothing ordinary about the shocking story it charts in minute detail.

Catching a Killer: The Wind in the Willows Murder airs July 10 at 9pm on Channel 4.

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