THEY WERE COBBLERS, SALESMEN, BARBERS AND LANDLORDS; WORKING MEN, BUT THEY WERE ANYTHING BUT ORDINARY, THEY WERE THE STATE'S PART-TIME KILLERS.

PART 1: THE HANGMAN
From 1868 to 1964, their work was shrouded in mystery, conducted, as the state euphemistically put it, in 'private'. And behind prison walls these common workingmen refined the process of judicial executions from an agonising, brutal death to one of the swiftest and most certain anywhere in the world.
What did they do? Why did they do it? And what did it do to them?
This is the story of The Private Executioners, a unique history of British capital punishment, seen through the eyes of those who dispensed it.

PART 2: DYNASTIES OF DEATH
A typical 19th century wedding photograph. The guests well groomed. Eminently respectable. There is nothing to distinguish it from countless others.
But it tells the very darkest story of French history.
The groom, Henri Desfourneaux, is a killer. To his left, Anatole Deibler Desfourneaux, another. Two rows back another.. Between them, they would have killed more than a thousand men. But they were not criminals. Nor soldiers. They killed for money. But they were not volunteers. They had no choice. They were the "bourreau" - the executioners. And they lived their lives apart from ordinary men - in the shadow of the Guillotine.

PART 3: STATES OF DEATH
In Britain it was the rope, in France the Guillotine, but in its short history the United States of America has experimented with a bewildering array of execution methods, and continues to do so.

This programme examines the history of the five principle methods: Hanging, Firing Squad, Electric Chair, Gas Chamber and Lethal Injection. And the reasons behind their development have often been as shocking as the results, from corporate wars to so-called 'religious' sensibilities.

But perhaps the most overlooked aspect of American execution protocols has been the role of the executioner. Whereas British and French executioners were invariably well known and truly responsible for the execution, even to the extent of supporting the condemned in their final moments, American executioners (with a few notable exceptions) have been altogether more shadowy figures.


Note: This DVD is in PAL format and will not work in NTSC DVD players.