Dan Walker calls death row documentary Dead Man Walking 'most emotional show I've made'

Yahoo

07-05-2025

The broadcaster found his Christian faith challenged in a Channel 5 exploration of the US capital punishment system.
Watch: Dan Walker opens up on chilling experience of death row documentary
What did you miss?
Dan Walker has confessed his death row documentary was "the most emotional programme I've ever made".
The newsreader and broadcaster travelled to the US to meet those living and working on death row for Channel 5 film Dead Man Walking: Dan Walker on Death Row, where he explores the US capital punishment system. The documentary is due to air tonight, Wednesday 7 May.
Walker, who often speaks about his Christian faith, told Loose Women on Wednesday that he had found the trip a harrowing experience, as well as opening up on some chilling moments he experienced in the prison.
What, how, and why?
The Channel 5 broadcaster called his death row documentary 'the most emotional programme I've ever worked on'. (ITV screengrab)
Despite his own religious views, Walker was quick to point out to Loose Women that his Channel 5 documentary Dead Man Walking: Dan Walker on Death Row was neither pro nor anti capital punishment.
ADVERTISEMENT
He said he was interested to find out more about the US legal system and admitted he was particularly struck by the idea that there could be hundreds of prisoners awaiting a death sentence who had been wrongly convicted.
Asked for his own opinion on the system after filming the documentary, he said: "I don't know what the answer is. But what I will say is, it's the most emotional programme I've ever worked on. Sometimes I felt scared, I felt upset, I felt angry, I felt distressed and the weight of that decision (of ending someone's life), that is a huge decision to carry around for the rest of your life."
Read more:
Dan Walker visited the former execution chamber at Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. (Channel 5)
Walker added that he had had a confronting chat with his own family before flying out to the US for filming.
ADVERTISEMENT
"I always struggle with the finality and the certainty of saying it's right to put somebody to death," he said. "I had a conversation with my kids before I went out and my 15-year-old daughter said, 'hold on a minute, you tell everybody that it's wrong to kill somebody and then you say the punishment for killing somebody is to be killed yourself. How does that add up?'"
The broadcaster talked about his chilling visit to the execution chamber. (Channel 5)
"I didn't realise how big an impact working in that industry has on the people that do it," he continued as he recalled meeting people whose job it was to tie prisoners to their beds before execution. "You could see the mental scars of that on their face, the way they talked about what they had witnessed. That will live with them forever."
Walker added: "From a faith perspective, the thing I found fascinating was that this is about who we are and how we see our fellow men and women and what we think about the sanctity of life. These are really big questions that we all have to think about."
Dan Walker's chilling experiences on death row
Dan Walker met death row inmate Charles Thompson. (Channel 5)
The journalist who took part in Strictly Come Dancing in 2021 also recalled the chilling experience of meeting a double murderer for an interview on death row.
ADVERTISEMENT
He said that he had introduced himself and convict Charles Thompson had told him he knew who Walker was thanks to his penpals in the UK.
"I tried not to react and then he said he knew about Strictly, he knew where I'd worked," he said of the uneasy meeting.
Walker also spoke about a sobering trip to the room where hangings took place. He said: "I've never been in a room like it. Because you realise how many people have ended their life in that room, there's a weight to it and you can almost feel it when you walk in there for the first time."
Dead Man Walking: Dan Walker on Death Row airs on Channel 5 at 9pm tonight (7 May).
Loose Women airs on ITV1 at 12:30pm on weekdays.