Ep. 110 | Britain's Most Infamous Serial Killer | Dr. Death
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Who was Harold Shipman and what made him infamous?
His patients loved him. They said he was the best doctor they've ever had. He sat with them, he listened, he made house calls without being asked, never seemed to rush. And in the small town of Hyde, England, he was more than a family physician. He was a fixture, a trusted presence in living rooms and bedside hospital beds for more than two decades. But at the time, no one knew he was one of the most prolific serial killers in history. This is the story of Harold Shipman. Crime, conspiracy, cults, serial killers, and murder, all things that I love to consume, and I know you do too, you sick, twisted, beautiful, intellectually-minded freak. Today, we are talking about a highly requested serial killer.
So without further ado, let's unbuckle our seat belts, come off right from the highway, slam the brakes, and bust through this windshield into Dr. Death together.
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That's Z-O-C-D-O-C.com ZocDoc.com slash CCCM. Thank you so much to ZocDoc for sponsoring the video and supporting the channel. And let's get back to it. Harold Frederick Shipman, nicknamed Fred, was born the second of three children on January 14th, 1946 in Bestwood, Nottingham, an estate sitting on the Northern edge of the city with row after row of council houses built for working families after the war with small gardens and thin walls. walls. And his father, Harold Senior, drove lorries, or in other words, he was driving trucks, basically. And his mother, Vera, stayed home, tending to the house and children. And she ran the household the way she ran everything, tightly. And she would decide what the children wore, how they behaved, and who they spent time with.
Because in her mind, the Shipmans were not like other families on the estate.
What were the early signs of Harold Shipman's troubling behavior?
They were better, but their money said otherwise, but she didn't care what money said. Her children's clothes were neat and the manners were sharp and they didn't play in the street with the other kids because Vera didn't allow it. And Harold's father never seemed to push back. He simply went to work and came home. So whatever Vera decided about the house and the children, that was what happened. Now, Harold was a quiet boy. He did well enough in school, but not remarkably so. And he kind of kept to himself. And the other children on the estate did not know him because Vera had made sure of it, as we know. And he passed the 11 plus exam and earned a placement at High Pavement Grammar School, which was a rather selective school.
And Vera was very proud. And at High Pavement, Harold worked hard. And he was diligent, which made up for his apparent lack of brilliance. But still, he finished outside the top of his class. But on the rugby pitch, something else came out. He was physical, sure of himself, confident in a way that never showed up anywhere else. And the people who knew him during these years all said the same thing. Harold kept his distance, but he wasn't mean about it. He wasn't shy. He simply didn't let anyone in. He just had walls built up. But when he did talk, there was something behind it that made people feel like he was looking past them. You know, like a psychopath. But as Harold grew into his teenage years, Vera would get sick, and the diagnosis was terminal lung cancer.
Yet she didn't go to the hospital.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Who was Harold Shipman and what made him infamous?
0:00–2:59
2
What were the early signs of Harold Shipman's troubling behavior?
2:59–4:50
3
How did Shipman's methods evolve over the years?
4:50–7:14
4
What role did the healthcare system play in Shipman's crimes?
7:14–9:17
5
What evidence led to Harold Shipman's arrest?
9:17–11:44
6
How did the trial of Harold Shipman unfold?
11:44–14:08
7
What were the outcomes of the public inquiry into Shipman's actions?
14:08–16:52
8
What lasting changes were made to prevent future medical malpractice?
16:52–1:35:52