The Men Who Killed Kennedy

Broadcast history and critical response

A controversial British documentary series first aired on ITV on October 25, 1988, consisting of two 50-minute episodes. Produced by Central Television, the program was followed three weeks later by a studio discussion called The Story Continues, hosted by Peter Sissons. The broadcast caused an uproar in the UK by naming three men as President John F. Kennedy's assassins: Lucien Sarti, Roger Bocagnani, and Sauveur Pironti. All three later had solid alibis—Sarti was receiving medical care in France, another was incarcerated, and the third served in the French Navy.

One of the living accused threatened legal action, and Central Television's own probe concluded the allegations were "total nonsense." Producer Turner, who refused to interview one of the men because he claimed the individual was "too dangerous," faced censure from the British Parliament. The Independent Broadcasting Authority forced Central Television to air a third episode on November 16, 1988, dedicated to debunking the false claims, an event later called a "studio crucifixion" of Turner and his errors.

The US company Arts & Entertainment bought the rights to the original two segments. In 1989, the series earned a Flaherty Documentary Award nomination. ITV re-edited the material into three 50-minute episodes, aired on consecutive nights in November 1991, with an additional episode appearing in 1995. The series typically ran every November and occasionally at other times. Entertainment Weekly's David Browne called it "well-researched, but still farfetched."

In November 2003, the History Channel added three more segments under the title The Final Chapter: The Smoking Guns, The Love Affair, and The Guilty Men. The Smoking Guns explores alleged changes to Secret Service protocols on the day of the assassination, bullet damage to the presidential limousine's windshield suggesting a shot from the front, and inconsistencies between observations by Parkland Hospital doctors and the official autopsy and photographs used by the Warren Commission.

Episode list

The first two episodes were followed by The Story Continues on 16 November 1988, a critical studio discussion. The final episode was followed by The Guilty Men: A Historical Review on 7 April 2004. Episodes include The Coup D'Etat (25 October 1988 UK, 27 September 1991 US), The Forces Of Darkness (25 October 1988 UK, 4 October 1991 US), The Cover-Up (11 October 1991 US), The Patsy (18 October 1991 US), The Witnesses (25 October 1991 US), The Truth Shall Set You Free (18 November 1995 US), The Smoking Guns (17 November 2003 US), The Love Affair (17 November 2003 US), and The Guilty Men (17 November 2003 US).