A compelling look at a world-rocking death
It was perhaps the defining, most shocking event of the 1990s. On the evening of August 31, 1997 (NZ time), the world’s most-photographed woman, Britain’s Princess Diana, died in a car accident in a Paris tunnel, potentially as a result of trying to avoid having her picture taken.
As her brother Charles Spencer so beautifully put it at her funeral on September 6, ‘‘a girl given the name of the ancient goddess of hunting was, in the end, the most hunted person of the modern age’’.
While the feature-length HBO-doco The Princess (available to rent from iTunes, Google Play and AroVision) told the story of her life and death essentially through archival footage, the four-part docu-series The Diana Investigations (which makes its free-to-air debut tonight after its original air date was pushed back from early September – just after Queen Elizabeth II’s passing) talks to British and French detectives whose job it was to uncover the truth of what actually transpired that fateful night.
Despite a moody and slightly manipulative soundtrack, it offers compelling viewing for fans of true crime. Juxtaposing wild conspiracies often being picked up by the British tabloids with measured recollections of France’s Brigade Criminelle, The Diana Investigations allows viewers in on the case’s twists and turns and the growing public hysteria for someone to take the blame.
‘‘People confused dreams and reality,’’ the Brigade Criminelle’s Eric Gigou says.
He’s joined by British journalists, firefighters, medics and potential eyewitnesses in giving their testimony, while driver Henri Paul (whose blood alcohol levels initially saw him pegged as the chief villain) has his best friend, Claude Garrec, make the case for why his pal might have been a bon vivant but would most definitely not have been impaired (a wreath at his funeral read ‘‘your friends are not fooled’’).
The opening instalment also takes a look at what drove the paparazzi to hound the troubled princess (some photographers could make up to US$1 million a year just by following her) and the potential hypocrisy of vocal mourners whose obsession with the latest gossip about her life had driven demand for pics of Diana in the first place.
Subsequent episodes, airing tomorrow and Tuesday and Wednesday nights, look at the investigation organised by millionaire businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed (the father of Diana’s ‘‘friend’’ Dodi AlFayed, who was also killed in the crash); London police’s 2004 response to internet rumours that the princess was murdered; an unusual inquiry into the actions of the British security service; and the death of a key witness.
It all makes for a fascinating look at a high-profile criminal investigation and the impact of the press, public and internet.
The four-part The Diana Investigations makes its free-to-air debut today at 9.15pm on Three. All episodes are also available to stream on ThreeNow.