Emilia Fox walks In the Footsteps of Killers

She is a brilliant actress and comes from a long line of accomplished thesps, but part of us can’t help thinking that Emilia Fox would have a made a great real-life detective.

Mainly thanks to her research for her role at forensics expert Dr Nikki Alexander in hit BBC series Silent Witness, the 48-year-old daughter of Edward Fox and Joanna David has become an expert in unsolved murders.

And she has put that passion and knowledge to good use in Channel 4 series In the Footsteps of Killers, which returns for another run tonight.

“Having worked on crime drama for many years this project has been a truly fascinating insight into how current real police procedure, forensics and technology can be applied to the most famous of unsolved historical crimes,” she says.

For this new six-part run, she is once again working alongside Britain’s top criminologist, Professor David Wilson, as well as former senior detective Dr Graham Hill to investigate unsolved British murder cases that have gone cold.

They start by travelling to and basing themselves in the vicinity of the crime, looking over the evidence, and meeting police officers, victims’ relations, witnesses, journalists and experts.

The show follows the detective team’s ups and downs, before finding out if they have unearthed any leads that the original investigations may have missed, enabling them to reveal the name of the killer.

Despite In the Footsteps of Killers being a true-crime documentary, it is filmed similarly to British dramas like Broadchurch, The Fall and River, and many of the cases featured have been suggested by viewers.

“I am delighted that Channel 4 have given David and I the chance to explore and shed light on these fascinating unsolved cases,” says Fox.

“We will use this platform to raise awareness and hopefully bring new evidence to these true-crime cases which have gone under the radar.”

During the first three-part run, the team investigated the disappearances the Milk Carton Kids and Suzy Lamplugh, as well as the murder of teenager Rita Ellis.

The first edition of this new six-part series looks at the Templeton Woods Murders in Scotland.

On a snowy night in March 1979, the body of 18-year-old Carol Lannen is found in Templeton Woods just outside Dundee.

Less than 12 months later, the body of another young woman, 20-year-old Elizabeth McCabe, is also found in the woods, just 150 yards away from where Carol was discovered.

Both had been strangled – was this the work of a serial killer?

David, Emilia and Graham go through both cases and uncover some explosive new evidence that convinces them that they know who’s responsible.

Fox is also currently appearing in the latest series of Silent Witness on BBC One, and last year she starred in Acorn TV’s Signora Volpe, the acclaimed crime drama created by Midsomer Murders writers Rachel Cuperman and Sally Griffiths, as well as hosting Crime & Investigation’s Murdertown.

There is no indication Emilia is planning a career change at the moment, but without suggesting any sort of typecasting, she appears to have found her niche.