Jill Dando: TV presenter’s brother Nigel Dando gives his theory on star’s unsolved murder 24 years on
The brother of murdered TV presenter Jill Dando says despite the case remaining unsolved 24 years, he has a theory about who could be behind her death.
The execution style killing of one of Britain’s best-loved broadcasters in broad daylight on her own doorstep in April 1999 shocked the nation, leaving the press, public and police united in disbelief.
One of the biggest homicide investigations in British history – finally resulting in a conviction one year after her murder, only to be overturned seven years on – remains unsolved to this day.
Her brother, Nigel Dando, has told Sky News he believes it was “a random killing” carried out by a stranger, and that the presenter “was just in the wrong place at the wrong time”.
Speaking ahead of a new Netflix documentary, looking into the murder and resulting police investigation, Mr Dando said that even all these years after his sister’s death, he is hopeful “the killer is out there watching” and could “come forward… to confess what they’ve done and get it off their chest”.
(R-L): Jill Dando, with her father Jack and brother Nigel
‘It’s a heck of a story’
Receiving news of the death of a loved one is hard – and all the more so when that death is sudden and violent.
Mr Dando says he hadn’t seen Jill for around three weeks before her death, but then received a phone call telling him his sister had been killed.
He says: “Within a couple of minutes, really, of hearing that Jill had died, half of my brain wanted to grieve for her loss and be close to my dad… He was in his eighties and not in the best of health. So, you had the family side of things.”
However, as a fellow journalist, Mr Dando also had a second part of his mind clicking into gear.
He goes on: “But, you know, one of the leading TV celebrities in this country gunned down on her own doorstep. It’s going to… It’s a heck of a story. And you kind of knew what was going to come down the line.
“I was trying to prepare myself to deal with that, knowing that you had to deal with the media. But trying to protect my dad from any excesses of it.”
It is of course that same power of the story that attracted true crime producer Emma Cooper to the case, and she would go on to spend over a year heading up the three-part documentary.
She explains: “An act that violent with a gun happening in an area of London, that would be outlandish now in 2023. So, to look back at that happening at that time is extraordinary.”
But she says it was also key to remember the person at the heart of the story: “It was very important to all of us that Jill was very present in the series and that we reminded people who knew her and remember her. And also [it was important] we brought it to a new audience of young people who don’t necessarily know about Jill and don’t necessarily know what happened to her and what a huge part she was in all of our lives.”
Pic: South Coast Press/Shutterstock
Who was Jill Dando?
Born in the seaside resort of Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, Dando’s first job was as a trainee with her local weekly newspaper, the Weston Mercury, where her father and brother also worked.
Quickly progressing from print journalism to television, her talent paired with a girl-next-door persona saw her rise through the ranks of regional shows to national TV, going on to present Holiday, the Six O’ Clock News and Crimewatch.
Just two years before her death, she was voted BBC personality of the year.
On 26 April 1999 she was shot dead outside her home in Gowan Avenue, Fulham, southwest London. She had been due to present the Six O’ Clock News the following evening.
Pic: Nick Scott Archive/Alamy
The many theories about Jill’s killer
One of the theories of a possible motive behind her killing, was that her presenting role on Crimewatch had made her vulnerable to criminals who might bear a grudge against her for her part in bringing them down.
Another was that a Serbian assassin could have killed her, in revenge for NATO bombing, after seeing her front an appeal for aid for Kosovar Albanian refugees.
However, Mr Dando doesn’t believe such theories stand up to robust investigation, calling them “interesting lines of inquiry” but which “never went anywhere”.
Of the Crimewatch connection he says “there was no evidence, it was just someone jumping on the bandwagon”.
And of the theory of links to Serbian mafia – Mr Dando says there was “no real evidence of a Serbian hitman”.
But he does have his own thoughts about who could have been behind his sister’s death.
“My theory before this happened and that’s been reinforced since by watching this documentary, is that Jill was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that somebody walking down the street, holding a gun for whatever reason, spotted her, either knowing her or not knowing who she was, and shot her dead.”
Mr Dando adds that some of the “theories would make great stories in fiction, but… There’s no line that really holds a huge amount of water apart from you know, a random killing, which I think it was.”
Barry George. Pic: Undated police handout
Who is Barry George, and how does he fit into the case?
Local man, Barry George, who had previous convictions and a history of stalking women, was arrested for Jill’s murder almost a year after her death, and later convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Mr George spent seven years in jail, but was later acquitted due to unreliable forensic evidence, leaving the case again unsolved.
Speaking about Mr George’s original conviction, Mr Dando says: “At the time I thought that the police had got the right person, and a jury agreed with that sentiment because he was obviously found guilty and jailed for life. But the legal system moves on.”
But Mr Dando does have one concern – that Mr George chose not to give evidence, at either his trial or re-trial.
Mr Dando says: “I would just liked to have seen him tell a jury exactly what he was doing on that day, because he’s never actually explained where he was. It’s all a bit jumbled up. It would have been interesting to have heard him explain where he was, and for him to have been cross-examined about his movements on that day.”
While the conviction against Mr George was quashed, he has been unsuccessful in his attempts to gain compensation for wrongful imprisonment.
Mr George is also a contributor to the Netflix documentary.
Executive producer Emma Cooper says she felt it was vital to have Mr George’s side of the story in the film, to present “as clear of a rounded picture of all the events as possible from as many different perspectives as possible”.
In the documentary, she asks Mr George outright, “Did you kill Jill Dando,” to which Mr George answers, “No”.
She says: “I thought it was important to ask, I thought that the audience would expect that of us to ask him a straight question. And so, we did.”
Pic: Michael Fresco/Evening Standard/Shutterstock
One of the biggest homicide investigations in British history
Mr Dando says he bears no anger towards the police over the lack of a conviction, calling the investigation “a difficult job” and adding: “I don’t have any negative feelings towards the police at all with their inquiries. I didn’t at the time, and as the years have gone on, I don’t.”
As the documentary shows, while Dando’s fame ensured that news of her murder travelled far and wide, it also played a part in hindering the investigation.
Mr Dando says officers were inundated with people trying to “do the right thing” by offering up information, and the result was an avalanche of tips “overwhelming all the potential lines of inquiry that came in”.
While the investigation was moved into “an inactive phase” nine years ago, Met Police told Sky News detectives “would consider any new information provided” in a bid “to determine whether it represented a new and realistic line of enquiry”.
Offering further information around the combined reward of £250,000 which was initially offered for information leading to an arrest, the Met told Sky News, “Any discussion about any reward would have to take place in the event that new information came to light.”
Jill’s legacy
Mr Dando says he is still approached in public – in the supermarket, at the carpet shop – by people “wanting to talk about Jill” and “how they remembered her”.
Jill was just 37 when she died, and five months away from getting married to her fiance, Alan Farthing.
Mr Dando says: “She was on an upward trajectory… Whether family life would have taken over from her broadcasting career or whether she could have juggled the two. Who knows what would have happened, where she would have been today.”
Jill with fellow Crimewatch presenter Nick Ross. Pic: ANL/Shutterstock
Will we ever get an answer?
Ms Cooper says: “It’s really important for a shared audience to look back at that and for new people to discover what happened. And for older people to be reminded about it and to be reminded of the fact that it is still unsolved.”
The film documents aspects of the investigation that most – including some of Jill’s family – have never heard about before.
Other contributors to the film include Dando’s ex-partner, television producer Bob Wheaton, her agent Jon Roseman, and former detective chief inspector Hamish Campbell who headed up the murder case.
Ms Cooper says: “If somebody could see something that could jog a memory that has been unclaimed for 20 years, that would be an amazing outcome for all of us.”
Mr Dando too, has hopes – even if they are vanishingly slim – that the documentary could lead to some sort of answer for himself, and all those who loved and knew Jill.
He says: “We’ve lived for 24 years not knowing who did it, but maybe more importantly, why they did it. Why would you go up to a stranger and do what you did? I just don’t know. So, it would be nice to have some closure from that point of view to know why that person pulled the trigger.”
He goes on: “Maybe even the killer is out there watching this documentary and their conscience, even after all these years may be pricked and it may just encourage them to come forward to confess what they’ve done and get it off their chest.”
Who Killed Jill Dando? is released on Netflix on Tuesday 26 September.
A British version of long-running US sketch show Saturday Night Live (SNL) will be coming to Sky next year.
An American pop culture institution, SNL launched the careers of stars including Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Eddie Murphy, Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell.
Donald Trump on a Mothers Day episode SNL in 1993. Pic: AP
It’s also featured a host of celebrity and political guests, including tech billionaire Elon Musk and Donald Trump when he was a presidential candidate.
SNL celebrated 50 years on air in February.
British comedians will be cast in the UK spin-off, which will be overseen by US producer Lorne Michaels alongside the US version.
Along with his production company Broadway Video, which has made The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and 30 Rock, the show will be led by UK production team Universal Television Alternative Studio.
The beginnings of SNL, which started in 1975, was recently made into the 2024 film Saturday Night, featuring Spider-Man star Willem Dafoe and Succession actor Nicholas Braun.
The success of SNL, which airs on NBC in the US, has led to past attempts at international versions of the programme, with a French version Le Saturday Night Live running for just one season in 2017.
OJ Simpson on SNL in 1978 with Gilda Radner (L), and Jane Curtin. Pic: AP
Cecile Frot-Coutaz, chief executive of Sky Studios and chief content officer at Sky, said: “For over 50 years Saturday Night Live has held a unique position in TV and in our collective culture, reflecting and creating the global conversation, all under the masterful comedic guidance of Lorne Michaels.
“The show has discovered and nurtured countless comedy and musical talents over the years and we are thrilled to be partnering with Lorne and the SNL team to bring an all-British version of the show to UK audiences next year – all live from London on Saturday night.”
Saturday Night Live UK will be broadcast on Sky Max and streaming service NOW in 2026.
Details about the UK version’s cast, hosts, and premiere will be announced in the coming months.
Entertainment
Wolf Hall director on streaming levies: ‘The government needs the guts to stand up to the bully in the White House’
The director of hit BBC period drama Wolf Hall says the government “needs to have enough guts to stand up to the bully in the White House” to protect the future of public service broadcasting.
Peter Kosminsky told Sky News’ Breakfast with Anna Jones that calls for a streaming levy to support British high-end TV production was urgently needed to stop the “decimation” of the UK industry.
His comments follow the release of a new report from the Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) committee, calling for the government to improve support measures for the UK’s high-quality drama sector while safeguarding the creation of distinctly British content.
Specifically, the report calls for streamers – including Netflix, Amazon, Apple TV+ and Disney+, all of which are based in the US – to commit to paying 5% of their UK subscriber revenue into a cultural fund to help finance drama with a specific interest to British audiences.
Kosminsky, who made the case for the levy and gave evidence to the committee in January, called global tariffs recently introduced by Donald Trump “the elephant in the room”.
He said he feared they would make the government reticent to introduce a streaming levy, but said it was a necessary step to “defend a hundred years of honourable tradition of public service broadcasting in this country and not see it go to the wall because [the government are] frightened of the consequences from the bully in the States”.
The second series of Wolf Hall, starring Mark Rylance (L) and Damian Lewis, nearly didn’t happen. Pic: BBC
Kosminsky also noted that the streamers would be able to apply for money from the fund themselves, as long as they were in co-production with a UK public service broadcaster.
Earlier this year, a White House memorandum referenced levies on US streaming services, calling them “one-sided, anti-competitive policies” that “violate American sovereignty”.
In response to the call for streaming levies, a Netflix spokesperson said such a move would “penalise audiences” and “diminish competitiveness”.
They added: “The UK is Netflix’s biggest production hub outside of North America – and we want it to stay that way.”
The Association for Commercial Broadcasters and On-Demand Services (COBA) said such a levy “risks damaging UK growth and the global success story of the UK TV sector,” and “would risk dampening streamers’ existing investment in domestic content and would inevitably increase costs for businesses”.
Pic: BBC
COBA said it welcomed the committee’s support for targeted tax breaks for domestic drama.
Kosminsky also told Sky News the second series of Wolf Hall was nearly called off just six weeks before it was due to start shooting due to financial pressures, adding: “It was only because the producer, the director, writer and the leading actor all agreed to take huge cuts in their own remuneration that the show actually got made.”
He said that both he and the show’s executive producer, Sir Colin Callender, had “worked on the show unpaid for 11 years on the basis that we would get a payment when the show went into production”, calling it “a bitter blow” to see that disappear.
Working in public service broadcasting for his entire career, Kosminsky said it was “absolutely heartbreaking for me and others like me to see that the industry we have been nurtured by and we care about is being decimated”.
While he said he was a “huge fan of the streamers”, he said it was their “very deep pockets” that had “driven up the price of what we do”, to the point where the traditional broadcasters can no longer afford to make high-end television.
Adolescence. Pic: Netflix
Just this week, Adolescence, created by British talent Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham, became the fourth most popular English-language series in Netflix’s history with 114 million views.
But while some very British shows might get taken on by the streamers due to universal appeal, Kosminsky said dramas including ITV’s Mr Bates Vs The Post Office and Hillsborough, and BBC drama Three Girls about the grooming of young girls by gangs in the north of England were examples of game-changing productions that could be lost in the future.
He warned: “These are not dramas that the streamers would ever make, they’re about free speech in this country. That’s part of what we think of as a democratic society, where we can make these dramas and programmes that challenge on issues of public policy that would never be of any interest in America.”
Mr Bates vs the Post Office. Pic: ITV/Shutterstock
The CMS report comes following an inquiry into British film and high-end television, which considered how domestic and inward investment production was being affected by the rise of streaming platforms.
Chairwoman of the CMS committee, Dame Caroline Dinenage, said “there will be countless distinctly British stories that never make it to our screens” unless the government intervenes to “rebalance the playing field” between streamers and public service broadcasters (PSBs).
A DCMS spokesperson said: “We acknowledge the challenges facing our brilliant film and TV industry and are working with it through our Industrial Strategy to consider what more needs to be done to unlock growth and develop the skills pipeline. We thank the committee for its report which we will respond to in due course.”
Entertainment
New Universal theme park set to open in UK – with promise of ‘billions’ of pounds for the economy
A deal for a new Universal theme park in Bedfordshire has been confirmed, which Rachel Reeves says will bring “billions” to the economy and create thousands of jobs.
It will be the first Universal-branded theme park and resort in Europe and is set to open in 2031, when it is expected to become the UK’s most popular visitor attraction.
The government said it will bring an estimated £50bn into the British economy and will create about 28,000 jobs – nearly 20,000 during the construction phase, and 8,000 more in hospitality and the creative industries when it opens.
A 500-room hotel and a retail and entertainment complex is planned alongside the theme park, which will be built on a former brickworks.
Universal, which is owned by Sky News’ US parent company Comcast, expects the 476-acre site just south of Bedford to generate nearly £50bn for the economy by 2055, with 8.5m visitors in its first year.
The plan remains subject to a formal planning decision process from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Universal has committed to working with local colleges and universities to train students for hospitality jobs.
There are Universal theme parks in Florida (pictured), California, Japan, Beijing and Singapore. Pic: AP
Among some of the famous Universal films are Wicked, Minions, Oppenheimer, Bridget Jones, Fast and the Furious, and Jurassic World.
There are five Universal theme parks already: Orlando in Florida, Hollywood, Japan, Beijing, and Singapore.
The new Universal theme park will be just south of Bedford
Speaking to Wilfred Frost on Sky News Breakfast, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said the deal was “huge”.
“This is not just about numbers on the spreadsheet,” she said.
“This is about good jobs. It’s about growth. It’s about raising people’s living standards and putting money in people’s pockets. And it’s a massive vote of confidence in the United Kingdom.”
Welcoming the timing of the announcement, Ms Nandy added: “This deal comes off the back of one of the most tumultuous few weeks in global markets that I think anyone can remember within living memory.”
She said the fact that the government had been able to show it kept a “cool head” and “we don’t take knee-jerk decisions in response to global events” was one of the reasons it was able to announce the deal.
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The proposals to transform the site, a former brickworks, remain subject to a formal planning decision process
The government has said about 80% of employees at the theme park are expected to come from local areas, and it will support the “Oxford-Cambridge corridor” revived by the chancellor in January after the Conservatives scrapped plans for an Abingdon-Milton Keynes train link in 2021.
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Chancellor responds to tariffs: ‘We’ve got your backs’
It will also commit to a “major investment” in infrastructure around the Universal site to ensure it is well-connected and easily accessible.
The announcement comes days after the government approved an expansion of nearby Luton Airport.
Mike Cavanagh, President of Comcast Corporation, said: “We could not be more excited to take this very important step in our plan to create and deliver an incredible Universal theme park and resort in the heart of the United Kingdom, which complements our growing US-based parks business by expanding our global footprint to Europe.
“We appreciate the leadership and support of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Minister for Investment Poppy Gustafsson, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy and their teams, as we work together to create and deliver a fantastic new landmark destination.”
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