Family Forensics was a UK television series airing on LivingTV and produced by Twofour.[1] Only one episode was shown on 16 November 2005 before the series was cancelled, though it subsequently broadcast in April and May 2006.[2] Hosted by Jayne Middlemiss, the programme was a UK version of a US show[3] where a forensics team (including a forensic profiler, a private investigator and a relationship expert) treat a house as they would a crime scene, profiling the lives and psychological make-up of the family who live there, over the course of a weekend.[4]
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The team had access to the entire house and its contents for a weekend, looking personal belongings, computer files, photos, financial records and the household rubbish. The team were given access by one member of the family, who pretended to the rest of the family that they had won a holiday to get them out of the house.[5] The team took swabs, fingerprints and samples to piece together a picture of the entire family,[4] and then presented them with detailed personal profiles based on their findings.Tetra scene of crime a UK supplier of crime scene equipment was contracted as a consultant and managed all aspects of the forensic investigation( Phillip Ravell )" Forensic Phil" used many new crime scene detection techniques to show viewer actual investigation methods used by real CSIs.
The US version was broadcast in July 2005, and the show was been licensed for British television from Twentieth Century Fox Television.[3] Six hour-long episodes were made.[3] The show was Middlemiss' first presenting job since she had won Celebrity Love Island in 2005.[4] The relationship expert was Christine Webber,[6] and a retired policeman was another show adviser.[7] The executive producer was Charlotte Wheeler,[3] and the director was Sue McGregor.[8]
The show was cancelled in November 2005 after one show had been broadcast when the producers discovered that their private investigator, Michael Brown, had been convicted that October of six child sex offences.[9] Brown was in breach of his contract for not telling the producers about this, and Living TV apologised for broadcasting the one episode.[10] Pulling the show cost Living £600,000.[11] Brown also had a previous child sex conviction and a conviction for possessing a knuckleduster. He was jailed that December.[12] The show was re-filmed with another team, and broadcast in April and May 2006.[5]
The Times said that "If Kim and Aggie role-played as CSI agents, the result would be something like this nosy (and previously axed) series."[2] The Telegraph called it "a super, slightly nasty idea".[13] The Mail on Sunday said it was "a break from sanity" and that "They should have called the series Punish Me For My Humanity."[5]