Wife of crime

LIFE behind bars certainly isn’t designed to be as jolly a jape as that depicted in classic comedy Porridge, where the ‘lags’ spend most of their time getting one over on the wardens.

Less amusing looks at life in prison tend to focus on how terrible and brutal it can be. However, Prisoners’ Wives is a little different.

As the title suggests, it examines what it is like to be separated from a loved one while they are banged up. Those featured are, in a sense, being punished too. After all, they are having to deal with everything life has to throw at them without the support of their nearest and dearest, not to mention cope with the stigma attached to their situation.

Polly Walker returns as gangster’s wife Francesca, whose ties with the criminal underworld are about to catch up with her.

“It was easy to return to the role of Francesca,” she says. “There is still such a great story to tell and I hope viewers will enjoy the journey, with all its twists and turns, that she and her family take this time.”

Pippa Hayward could not wait to get back on set either as Harriet, whose son, Gavin, is behind bars. “She is a character of such range and depth it is an absolute pleasure to step back into her shoes again. She returns with great gusto and continues to grow through her prison connections,” she says.

“There are fantastic new characters and storylines that will keep the audience on the edge of their seats once again. We have had such an amazing response from the public. I am sure they will enjoy this series as much as the first.”

David Bradley and Iain Glen also return, but there are some new faces too.

They include Karla Crome as Aisling, the teenage daughter of a repeat offender who is desperate for her father to mend his ways, and Sally Carman as motherof- three Kim, the wife of a man wrongly accused of a terrible crime.

She is convinced the accusations are being made for malicious reasons, but no one seems interested in anything she has to say.

ASK any little person about the troubles that come hand in hand with growing up and they will reel off all manner of inconsequential woes.

However, for the six youngsters featured in Born To Be Different, their issues run much deeper.

This award-winning documentary series has followed a group of children each born with a disability, and has offered insights into what it is like to grow up with a handicap as they face important transitions in their lives.

Zoe was born with arthrogryposis, and had endured numerous operations on her arms and legs, William’s tuberous sclerosis has led to complex autism and epilepsy. Shelbie was born with Trisomy 9-P, a life-limiting condition, while Hamish has achondroplasia, otherwise known as dwarfism.

In this programme, cameras catch up with the youngsters as they face the move from primary to secondary school.

PROFESSOR David Wilson, head of criminology at Birmingham City University, is convinced many unsolved crimes have been committed by criminals now serving sentences for other offences.

The documentary Killers Behind Bars: Levi Bellfield gives him an opportunity to put his theory to the test.

The first under the spotlight is Bellfield, who was convicted in 2008 of murdering two women, but gained more notoriety when he was given a life sentence for killing 13-year-old Milly Dowler.

However, linking Bellfield to further acts of violence proves difficult because the killer used different methods in his attacks.

What Wilson does know, however, is that Bellfield targeted blondes.

As a result, the scientist meets the survivor of a hammer attack who may have been a Bellfield victim, and so could have fresh information.

As the killer has been linked to a further 20 unsolved murders and attacks, Wilson may be able to prove whether Bellfield was responsible for at least some of them.