Intercut with interviews with experts Martina Cole tells the story of Myra Hindley, dubbed 'the most evil woman in Britain' by the tabloid press, who, in company with the petty criminal Ian Brady, with whom she was besotted, killed five children in the 1960s, burying their bodies on moorland.

Episode 1, Myra Hindley

British crime writer Martina Cole examines the life and times of the most notorious female serial killers across history and asks: why do women kill and why are we surprised when they do?

Lady Killers

Series 1

Examining the life and times of the most notorious female serial killers across history.

As a young girl, Bristol-born Amelia Dyer watched her mother die in pain and it is assumed this had a traumatising effect on her. After deaths of children in her care she was charged with neglect and served six months in jail. Later she spent time in a mental asylum. In 1896 she was hanged for the murder of Doris Marmon, a child in her care, but is suspected of having killed many more infants.

Episode 2, Amelia Dyer

Always an attention seeker from childhood, fabricating imaginary illnesses, Grantham-born Beverly Allitt studies nursing, and, due to staff shortages, obtains a job in a local hospital, where she is well-regarded. Here she kills four children and attempts to injure another nine, for which she is put away in a secure hospital for life.

Episode 3, Beverley Allitt

Rosemary West was born in Barnstaple and, after her parents split up, spent time with her father, who repeatedly sexually abused her. She met Fred West, a man who had already killed two girls, and, with Rose, would kill ten more, usually lodgers at their house but family members too.

Episode 4, Rose West

Mary Ann Cotton, hanged in Durham in 1873, was a Victorian Black Widow. Killing for greed, she murdered husbands, stepchildren, her mother and even her own children.

Episode 5, Mary Ann Cotton

Born in Hungary in 1560 Countess Bathory was a lesbian who got young girls to come to her castle on the pretext of finding them work and then tortured and killed them. She was eventually found out and died virtually walled up in her castle. It is claimed that she killed 600 victims, making her the most prolific female serial killer of all time. A myth grew that she bathed in her victims' blood.

Lady Killers

Episode 1, Myra Hindley

Love this? You might like...

Love Your Garden

The Voice UK

Bradley and Barney Walsh: Breaking Dad