Real Crime (2001) TV series

Episode: Tracie Andrews Blood on Her Hands (2002)

Director:  James Strong

Composer: Eskimo

Starring: Sarah Manners, James Daffern

More info: IMDb

Plot:  Tracie Andrews murdered her fiance in 1996.  This documentary covers the events that led up to the murder, the aftermath and the trial.

My rating: 4/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

I've seen a lot of British TV documentaries and most of them have been top notch.  They're consistently better than most of what we get here in the USA.  Well guess what, I finally watched one that was as bad as they are here and I didn't like it at all.  Normally I'll give a show a few episodes before quitting but this only took one.  Where do I begin...the dramatized segments (you know, the bits with actors acting it out?) go on too long and there are too many of them.  That's a lot of filler and wasted time.  I don't know how much time is spent but I'd guess you could trim a good 20 minutes from this 50 minute episode and have a much tighter and informative (without being so lazy) program.  There are other parts of the production that go too far to create the desired effect like all of the interviewees are lit like this...

It's all of this kind of bullshit the other quality British TV docs avoid and for good reason.  This is fast food compared to fine dining and it's garbage.  The case itself was interesting but there was so much wasted nonsense that it felt like pulling teeth to get to the facts.  I've got a bunch more episodes but I'm tossing them.  I don't care how amazing a crime is, if these people are telling the story in this way for all of their shows then I'm out.  Geez, this was awfully frustrating to watch.