Prime Video adds Shannon Matthews, Orkney murder docs to UK true crime line-up

The Orkney Assassin: Murder in the Isles investigates a shooting from 1994

Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service is stocking up on UK true crime documentaries, picking up a slate of six from Scottish producer Firecrest Films.

The Orkney Assassin: Murder in the Isles will be the first to air and will be available on Prime Video in the UK and Ireland from Sunday. The Hunt for Shannon Matthews and Hunting the Tinder Predator will follow later this year. A further three documentaries will be revealed at a later date.

The Orkney Assassin (1×90’) focuses on an incident in 1994 when a masked man walked calmly into the only Indian restaurant on the remote Orkney Islands off Scotland and shot a waiter dead before disappearing into the night.

The murder remained unsolved for years, until new evidence emerged, resulting in an unexpected arrest that stunned the local community.

The Hunt for Shannon Matthews (2×45’) returns to the extraordinary incident in 2008 when nine-year-old Shannon went missing on the way home from school.

The local community and police services leapt into action and national campaigns raised thousands for potential rewards, only for Matthews to turn up hidden in the home of her uncle. The family had apparently planned the whole thing in an attempt to claim cash rewards for themselves.

Hunting the Tinder Predator (2×45’) is about the case of Christopher Harkins, who was sentenced to 12 years for crimes from rape through to fraud after a decade of offending spurred on by online dating. This docuseries explores the actions of Harkins, the attitudes of society and the legal system, and the dogged determination of a band of women who fought to get justice.

The executive producers are Iain Scollay, Nicole Kleeman and Vari Innes. The series producer is Rachel Heywood.

Firecrest Films’ Iain Scollay said: “We’re delighted to partner again with the brilliant team at Prime Video and bring such a huge body of premium documentary work to Scotland.”

This six-project partnership between Prime Video and Firecrest Films builds on a relationship which started in 2022 with the Amazon Original three-part series Three Mothers, Two Babies & a Scandal.