Deadliest Moms & Dads
Season 1 ID (*171) 21:00 True Crime
Deadliest Mums & Dads is ID’s new true-crime series that details shocking stories of parents who murder their children. It’s heart-breaking as the murders are cruel and despicable, but criminologist David Wilson does a great job in guiding viewers into the minds of these disturbed individuals and relaying the motives behind their deadly actions.
What the show does well is that it picks apart the notion that despite the outward appearance of a happy family, all is definitely not well under the surface. From vengeful stepdads and manipulative parents, to family exterminators and honour killings, viewers will be left questioning what leads someone down a path where they believe their only solution is to take the life of their own child.
The Honour Killing episode sets the tone for the rest of the series. It tells the story of Shafilea Ahmed, a 17-year-old who’s reported missing by her parents Farzana and Iftikhar. As police delve further into the case, they soon discover something more sinister at play. “It only took me a few minutes to make up my mind that this isn’t a girl that’s run away from home. There’s more to it,” Detective Geraint Jones recalls. Five months later, Shafilea’s remains were found, leaving her parents devastated. Except that they knew what had gone on – they planned her murder when the teen refused to be in an arranged marriage. Despite being a veteran detective of more than 20 years, this was a case in Geraint Jones’s career that he admits “will find hard to forget. That moment will not leave me ever.”