Captivated: the Trials of Pamela Smart premieres on Sky Atlantic on 5 October

Sky Atlantic will premiere Captivated: The Trials of Pamela Smart at 9pm on Wednesday 15 October, as part of its Documentary Film strand.

When the curtain rose on the murder trial of Pamela Smart murder case 23 years ago, the stage was set for the birth of reality TV. Accused of plotting the 1990 murder of her husband Gregory, the 22-year-old Smart was subsequently convicted in the first fully televised, gavel-to-gavel court case, which has inspired over 20 years of television, books, plays, and movies, including To Die For, starring Nicole Kidman and directed by Gus Van Sant.

An official selection of the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, Captivated: The Trials of Pamela Smart probes whether the media's insatiable storytelling combined with Pamela Smart's demeanor and naivete settled the verdict long before the case was argued in court. explores the influence of the media on the murder trial and sentencing of Pamela Smart. Forbes described the documentary as dramatically compelling, insightful and comprehensive , while Vice called it a fascinating and haunting meditation on America's flawed justice system. Directed by Emmy -nominated filmmaker Jeremiah Zagar, Captivated: The Trials of Pamela Smart will show at the 2014 BFI London Film Festival this weekend.

Pamela Smart worked in the media centre of a New Hampshire high school, where she became romantically involved with student Billy Flynn. On May 1, 1990, Flynn and three teenage friends - Partick Randall, J.R. (Vance) Lattime and Raymond Fowler - went to the couple's condo and murdered Smart's husband.

After a 14 day trial, Smart was convicted and is now serving life without parole in the Bedford Correctional Facility in New York for being an accomplice to first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and witness tampering. Each of the young men involved in the case received lesser sentences.

Featuring an exclusive new interview with Smart herself, as well as interviews with prosecuting and defending attorneys, journalists who covered the case, childhood friends, former inmates who served time with her, and, in the first interview since his release, one of the boys convicted with her.

Captivated: The Trials of Pamela Smart premieres exclusively on Sky Atlantic at 9pm on Wednesday 15 October as part of Sky Atlantic's Documentary Film strand, which showcases the most fascinating stories from around the world, by some of the finest writers, directors and producers at work today.

Customers will also be able to watch the film via Sky's On Demand service and through Sky's multiplatform TV service Sky Go, offering greater choice over when, where and how they watch.

For further information and interview requests for director Jeremiah Zagar, please contact:

Sky

Megan MacLeod

Senior Publicist

megan.macleod@bskyb.com

020 7032 4252

Sky Atlantic

Follow us on twitter @skyatlantic

For images, please go to Imagenet or email Stills@bskyb.com

Notes to Editors

HBO Documentary Films presents a Hard Working Movies Production; directed by Jeremiah Zagar; produced by Lori Cheatle; co-produced by Gabriel Sedgwick; original music by Zoe Keating; edited by Keiko Deguchi; director of photography, Naiti G mez. For Passion Pictures: executive producers, John Battsek, Nicole Stott, Andrew Ruhemann. For Sky Atlantic: executive producers, Celia Taylor, Siobhan Mulholland. For HBO: senior producer, Lisa Heller; executive producer, Sheila Nevins.

About Sky

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Sky is the UK's biggest investor in television content, investing more than £2.6 billion a year in channels such as Sky 1, Sky Atlantic, Sky Living, Sky Arts, Sky Sports, Sky Movies and Sky News. Around two-thirds of Sky's content spend is invested in the UK and Sky is the fastest-growing source of investment in original British programmes. More than 30 million people watch Sky content each week.

Alongside its commitment to offering customers a greater choice of high-quality content, Sky is a leading innovator. Customers enjoy total control and flexibility over their favourite TV through Sky+, watch TV on the move through Sky Go, and enjoy the best quality TV experience at home through High Definition and 3D.

Sky distributes its content broadly over several platforms, including satellite, cable, IPTV, mobile and WiFi. NOW TV, Sky's second consumer brand, builds on the company's leadership in internet TV. Sky is also the UKs fastest-growing home communications company and favourite triple-play' provider of TV, broadband and home phone.

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LINK:	http://corporate.sky.com/media-centre/news-page/2014/captivated-the-tr...
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