Forensic Files (1996–2011)

#4 Forensic Files  (1996–2011)
Forensic Files is an American documentary-style television program that reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and outbreaks of illness. The show was originally broadcast on TLC, narrated by Peter Thomas, and produced by Medstar Television, distributed by FilmRise, in association with truTV Original Productions. It broadcast 406 episodes from its debut on TLC in 1996 as Medical Detectives until 2011. R
shown on HLN were initially retitled Mystery Detectives before settling on the main title of the show in 2014.

A version of the program was broadcast on Five in the United Kingdom, under the name Murder Detectives. Several episodes are also available on distributor FilmRise's YouTube channel.

On October 1, 2019, HLN announced it had greenlit a revived season scheduled to air on the channel in February 2020.
The show helped pioneer documentary style crime-science shows. The show's official website says it profiles "puzzling, often baffling cases whose riddles are ultimately solved by forensic detection." The cases and people are real. Scientists and forensic experts in many fields are interviewed.


Not every case is a crime. In some cases, the investigation reveals that the suspects are innocent, and that the death was an accident or a suicide. Several shows have profiled people who have been jailed for or convicted of a crime, and who were ultimately exonerated by forensic evidence. Other episodes have focused on accidents where consulted experts relied on forensic evidence in order to explain why the incident occurred, such as the 1987 King's Cross station fire and the 1993 Big Bayou Canot train wreck. Many of the accident investigation episodes were originally broadcast as a separate CourtTV program titled Extreme Evidencebut they are now re-run under the Forensic Files name, and are included in the Mystery Detectives re-branding.

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