Forensics: The Real CSI - Series 2
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- Episode
- Episode 9 - Playing with Fire
- Broadcast Info
- 2023 (58 mins)
- Description
- As fire fighters attempt to get a major fire at a Birmingham factory under control, Fire Investigator Luke Beckett is deployed to investigate before vital evidence is destroyed by the blaze. After searching the wreckage, the area where the fire started is located, but the cause of the fire is still a mystery. With no natural sources of ignition, Luke concludes it looks like the fire was started deliberately and a police investigation is launched. Although no forensic leads are found in the wreckage, in a stroke of luck the factory’s CCTV room is left intact after the fire. The hard drive is sent away to a digital team to be recovered. If the CCTV has captured the moment the fire started, the footage could show the development of the fire and, crucially, who started it. Digital officer Matt Wedge accesses the CCTV which shows one of the factory’s night workers standing at a stillage of plastic material seconds before the first flicker of flame. The police have a suspect. However, as detectives research the company’s processes, it comes to light that staff there regularly carry out industry standard ‘burn tests’ on plastics in the factory. Could this be the cause of the fire? The police and Luke Beckett have to work together to investigate whether this was a deliberate act or a reckless act of arson; both of which are criminal charges that could carry prison sentences for the suspect; or something else altogether. "When you think of arson, most people think it’s a deliberate act. However, the other aspect of arson is whether or not somebody has been reckless in their actions. Did they know that what they were doing could cause that fire? Recklessness can still form part of criminal conduct" - PC Michelle Akers
- Genre
- Criminology; Policing; Forensics
How to cite this record
The Open University, "Forensics: The Real CSI - Series 2". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ou/search/index.php/prog/245462 (Accessed 09 Jan 2025)