The series focuses on murders committed by women. It was revived as a regularly scheduled series and began airing on December 24, Two major changes were made: Lynnanne Zager replaced original narrator Marsha Crenshaw, [ 3 ] and the number of cases in each episode was reduced from four to three.
The episodes were also recorded and presented in a widescreen format. The series ended in , after 14 seasons. Dubbed versions are also produced. Each episode has a unifying theme such as jealousy, financial gain, mental illness , or crimes committed by teenagers or the elderly. The titles of the episodes reflect the theme. The stories are told through re-enactments and interviews. Episodes also feature contributors in relevant fields e. Diane Fanning , M. Janis Amatuzio have made multiple appearances.
At the end of each segment, the actress playing the subject and those playing her male and female coconspirators, if any break the fourth wall and look directly at the camera as their fates are revealed. Beginning in the ninth season, photos of the actual subjects are also shown usually mugshots taken following their arrests, or artist renditions of said subjects if they lived before the days of modern photography.
It covered four cases of women throughout history who committed murders using poison. Between and , Nannie Doss fatally poisoned four of her husbands, two of her kids, her mother, one of her mothers-in-law, and two of her grandsons. She received the nickname "The Giggling Granny" because she seemed to giggle when she confessed to the murders. Avoiding the death penalty because of her gender, she was sentenced to life in prison on May 17, , and remained in prison until she died 10 years later, in In the United Kingdom during the early s, Mary Ann Cotton murdered 21 people by poison, including three of her husbands, her mother, a lover, a friend, and 12 children, 11 of whom were her own.
She was sentenced to death and executed by hanging on March 24, In , at Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Northampton, Massachusetts, nurse Kristen Gilbert injected poison into six of her patients, killing four of them.
