While seaside towns in Britain attract holidaymakers during the warmer seasons, it’s far from idyllic in some cases.
Let’s just say, it's sometimes awash with people with sinister intentions. And CBS Justice’s “Coastal Killers” uncovers some of these shocking crimes.
The show, currently in its second season, features crime historian and author, Dr Nell Darby, who is busy with a new book, as one of the experts.
On how she came to be involved with the 10-part series, she explained: “I’ve been providing both on-and-off-screen advice and research to programme makers for a few years now, and regularly work with the makers of ‘Coastal Killers’ as they’re always very interested in my particular specialisms – gender and crime, and press depictions of crime and criminals.”
Darby continued: “I am one of the experts used to give a bit of insight and context into the crimes covered in the series.
“As a crime historian, I look at cases and try and put them into their wider social context: what is happening in society or someone’s life that motivates them to kill?
“What is the wider world like that they live in? How are those crimes perceived by others, and why?
“I’m interested in time and place, and how these affect crimes, and so I hope I can get others involved in these different aspects of crime.”
With the cases investigated taking place at one of the most serene places for people - the seaside - she unpacks the mindset of a criminal who chooses to kill here.
“Seaside towns in Britain are, largely, places that are lively and colourful in the summer, but desolate in the winter, decimated by the fact that the tourists have gone home and the entertainment has ceased or slowed down.
“Yet regardless of the time of year, some seaside communities are places with a transient population: there are hotels and lodgings where people can escape to or hide out, where others aren’t going to ask questions about them.
“Many of these places are transport hubs because of their coastal resort status, and so people can travel in and out of these places, again not really standing out. If you want anonymity, or you want to commit a crime, this transience in holiday towns makes it easier.
When asked if there was a particular case that caught her eye, she responded: “One of the most interesting cases for me was that of Alma Rattenbury, whose husband was killed by her young lover in the 1930s.
“Alma was vilified in the press because she was a glamorous married woman who had had an affair with her gardener.
“There’s so much you can say about how the press depicted her, about perceptions of morality and, in fact, how women were treated when they dared to break convention.
“The case ruined Alma’s life as well as her husband’s.”
When asked about some of the common reasons why people kill, Darby revealed: “We’re all individual, and so there are many different reasons why someone might kill, based on their individual psychology and situation.
“But you do find some particular motives coming through in cases, and there’s some continuity over time.
“So we have the crime of passion, where an obsessive love or jealousy might cause someone to kill.
“Or you might have the ‘if I can’t have you, no-one can’ motive or, with some parents, where they kill their child either because they feel the world is too cruel a place for them to live in, or they’re trying to ‘punish’ their partner or ex-partner by killing their child.
“Control is often a motive: we read a lot about coercive control today, but this is a relatively new term for an age-old phenomenon, and I’ve seen plenty of Victorian murders that meet the criteria for being the result of coercive control on the part of a male.”
The author also gave us an overview of her new book.
“My latest book is a history of female private detectives in Britain called ‘Sister Sleuths’.
“It looks at how women have always been interested in investigating crime on an amateur basis and how, from the mid-19th century, opportunities opened for them to become professional private eyes.
“It’s an introduction to this area, really, looking at various case studies to show how women from differing backgrounds were able to earn a living in this field, whether working for large detective agencies, for shops and stores, or for themselves.”
Season 2 of “Coastal Killers” airs on CBS Justice (DStv channel 170) on Sundays at 7pm.