2 x 60 min

Featuring the never-before-heard confession tapes of homicidal dentist Colin Howell, Confessions of a Killer chronicles the double murder that rocked a close-knit community in Northern Ireland and captivated a nation.

For nearly 20 years, it had looked like a suicide pact—two people devastated by the breakdown of their marriages after discovering their partners’ affairs. That is, until Colin Howell walked into a police station and confessed to gassing his wife, Lesley Howell, and his former lover Hazel Stewart’s husband, Trevor Buchanan.

In two riveting episodes—and in the killer’s own voice—this BBC primetime event outlines the elaborate deception that allowed a manipulative Howell, along with Stewart, to get away with murder for almost two decades. Investigators and journalists recall the seismic impact Howell’s confession unleashed on family, a community, and the justice system.