"In recent years reality TV formats have proliferated on television. One of the most significant and controversial strands within this has been the growth of 'real crime TV.' Encapsulating everything from crime appeal shows to reconstruction programmes and actuality footage shows, real crime TV now plays a major role in our television schedules. [This book] examines the spectacular growth of real crime TV, arguing that the birth of the BBC's Crimewatch UK in 1984 was a key transitional moment in the emergence, expansion and subsequent popularity of these programmes both in the UK and internationally. Jermyn investigates the conditions that have advanced the ubiquity of real crime programming on contemporary television and the anxieties that surround it. Examining critiques that real crime TV has increased fear of crime while legitimising a surveillance culture, and that it serves to stifle debate about criminality and policing, [the book] also reflects on the pleasures of these programmes and the enduring nature of our culture's seemingly endless fascination with real crime stories."--Publisher's description, from p. [4] of cover.