Scots trial fears over filming of court cases for true-crime documentaries
Real-life- crime documentaries which allow cameras into Scots courts have been among BBC Scotland's biggest hits despite fears they could disrupt criminal trials.
The Murder Trial and Murder Case series feature in the Top 10 most requested titles of 2025 on the broadcaster's iPlayer with over three million views.
The latest viewing figures come after the broadcaster last week announced Murder Case is set to return later this year with a new three-part series focussing on two cases.
Two 60-minute episodes will concentrate on the murder of Tony Parsons – The Vanishing Cyclist – who was killed by a drunk driver on the A82 near Bridge of Orchy and secretly buried in a shallow grave.
Sandy McKellar and twin Robert hid Tony's body on a remote estate in the Highlands where it remained undiscovered for three years until Sandy confided in his new girlfriend Caroline Muirhead about the killing and took her to the burial site.
She was able to pinpoint the remote location to the police by dropping a soft drink can on the ground.
However, two years ago we revealed Muirhead fled court over the pressure of appearing in the documentary.
She was arrested after failing to turn up to court for the twins' trial.
At the time, she said the demands to take part in the BBC-commissioned programme on the case led her to have a mental breakdown.
Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay wrote to the BBC to raise concerns with its production company Firecrest Films.
He said: 'Ms Muirhead has said she was subjected to inappropriate pressure to nagree for her testimony to be broadcast.
'She further claims that she felt unable to testify due to this pressure and that this, in turn, may have caused the Crown Office to strike a plea deal with the two men accused of murder, instead of putting them on trial, resulting in a downgrading of the charges, which they admitted to.'
The real-life crime format has attracted huge audiences.
A spokeswoman said: ' Crime documentaries continue to be really popular with audiences in Scotland and across the UK, consistently performing well on BBC iPlayer.
'The Murder Trial and Murder Case series feature in the Top 10 'most requested' titles of 2025 on BBC iPlayer with a combined audience of nearly three million streaming requests.
'This year, the top three 'most viewed' BBC crime documentaries have been Murder Trial: Girl in the River, Murder Trial: Body in the Warehouse and Murder Case: The Hunt for Mary McLaughlin's Killer.'
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