Who Killed the Pageant Queen? The Prime Suspect

The abiding image of murdered six-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey is the disturbing one of a very young girl dressed and made up to look like a girl three times her age.

Those pictures and videos were flashed around the world after the shocking events of Christmas night 1996, when JonBenet's body was found, battered and assaulted, in the basement of her home.

The strange, sexually dubious images, and the fact that her parents, Patsy and John, were seen as scarily ambitious on their daughter's behalf - and claimed to have slept through their daughter's murder - made them instant suspects.

The world pointed a finger at the couple, and the local police in Boulder, Colorado, were determined to prove them guilty. But no charges were ever pressed, although the rumours persisted.

Then, in 2002, ITV broadcast a Real Crime documentary which, to many people's surprise, showed that the Ramseys could be in the clear. Now this new documentary goes one step further, claiming to have pinpointed the man who is most likely to be the killer.

Since that earlier programme, the American investigation has been taken out of the hands of the discredited local police and re-activated.

The District Attorney has taken over and some of the region's top private detectives have been employed - with remarkable results. "We have gained more information in the past year than probably in the prior four or five years," explains one investigator.

This documentary tells the story of the original, bungled investigation and reveals new, compelling evidence. It points to two violent and perverted men who lived in Boulder City at the time of the killing. One of them is now dead (in a very dubious "suicide") but the other is still free (but missing).

At times the programme is padded out and repetitive - the commentary so often trumpets the fact that it is going to reveal "a new prime suspect" that you may feel like shouting: "For heaven's sake just get on with it." But it tells an intriguing and convincing story.