The Nilsen Files: Release date, trailer and latest news

While focusing on the lives of Nilsen's victims, it will explore whether prejudices led to missed opportunities to catch Nilsen.

As the documentary comes to the BBC, here's everything you need to know, including when it starts and how you can watch it.

The Nilsen Files release date

The Niles Files will start on BBC Two on Monday 24th January at 9pm.

Episodes two and three will then air weekly after that.

How to watch The Nilsen Files

Viewers can choose to watch the episodes on BBC Two weekly, starting from 24th January, although all episodes will be available to stream on BBC iPlayer on Monday 24th January for those who prefer to binge the entire series.

What is The Nilsen Files about?

The Nilsen Files looks at the crimes of Dennis Nilsen, who was found guilty of murdering six young men in 1983.

Produced by The Shipman Files filmmaker Michael Ogden, the series will look at whether prejudices at the time had a part to play in Nilsen not being discovered earlier.

Focusing on the lives of the victims, Ogden will ask why, 40 years on, they remain just a footnote in this terrible case. He will explore not just who these boys and young men were, but also how attitudes at the time allowed their disappearance and murders to be overlooked.

The Nilsen Files episode guide

Episode one - The series begins with Nilsen's crimes being revealed.

The synopsis reads: "As Nilsen’s crimes are discovered, the truth about his victims reveals prejudice and multiple missed opportunities to catch a murderous predator."

Episode two - A missed opportunity is revealed in Nilsen's case.

"Examining Nilsen’s high-stakes trial and the dramatic emergence of witnesses to his crimes. The cases of survivors reveal how chances to catch Nilsen years earlier were missed," the summary reads.

Episode three - In the aftermath of the trial and with Nilsen behind bars the media focus on him intensifies.

"As fascination with the killer grows, Ogden discovers that in 1984, just two months after Nilsen is handed a life sentence, London’s top tourist attraction, Madame Tussauds unveiled an effigy of Nilsen for their Chamber of Horrors. Just two years before, they had decided against making a model of Peter Sutcliffe who was serving a life sentence for the murders and assaults of multiple women," the episode synopsis explains.

Who is Dennis Nilsen?

Dennis Andrew Nilsen was a Scottish serial killer and necrophile, which is a person who is sexually attracted to corpses.

Between 1978 and 1983, he murdered at least 12 young men and boys in London.

Nilsen became known as the Muswell Hill Murderer, as he committed his later murders in the Muswell Hill area of North London.

In 1983, Nilsen was convicted at the Old Bailey for six counts of murder and two of attempted murders. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a recommendation that he serve a minimum of 25 years. This was later changed to a whole life tariff in December 1994, with no possibility of parole or conditional release.

Nilsen died in hospital in 2018, due to a pulmonary embolism and a retroperitoneal haemorrhage, which occurred following surgery to repair an abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Is there a trailer for the Nilsen Files?

The BBC previously released a 30-second trailer for the documentary. In the clip, the narrator says: "This was a monstrous series of screw ups... All those lives could have been saved."

A contributor adds: "He gets so much voice. None of the victims have had a voice."

You can watch the clip here.

The Nilsen Files starts on BBC Two on Monday 24th January at 9pm. For something else, visit our TV Guide our check out dedicated Documentaries hub.