The Girl Who Caught a Killer: Where to Watch & True Story

A seven-year-old girl survived an attack most adults wouldn’t. What she did afterward changed the course of a cold case — and led to a conviction nearly two decades later. The Girl Who Caught a Killer, a Sky Original documentary premiering May 25, 2025, tells the story of Rachael Watts and her connection to one of the UK’s most haunting unsolved crimes: the Babes in the Wood murders. Here’s everything you need to know about where to watch it, the real story behind it, and the killer she helped put behind bars.

Release date: May 25, 2025 · Number of episodes: 2 · Network: Sky and NOW · Based on: True story of Rachael Watts · Main subject: Rachael Watts · Killer: Russell Bishop

Eight key details about the documentary at a glance — a mix of what’s confirmed and what remains open.

Where can I watch the Girl Who Caught a Killer documentary?

Streaming on Sky and NOW

• The documentary airs on Sky in the UK on May 25, 2025 and is available on the streaming service NOW (Stern & Wild)
• It is a Sky Original and not currently available on Netflix or other competing platforms (Apple TV)

Availability on other platforms

• After the Sky broadcast window, the documentary may appear on digital purchase or rental platforms, though no deals have been announced yet
• Apple TV lists the documentary with a 55-minute runtime per episode, suggesting a standard TV slot with ad breaks (Apple TV)

Purchase or rent options

• As of now, no UK-based digital retailer lists the documentary for pre-order or rental outside Sky’s ecosystem
• International viewers in Australia can stream it on 7plus, suggesting other regional broadcast deals may follow (7plus)

The implication: The Girl Who Caught a Killer is currently locked inside the Sky ecosystem in the UK. If you’re a NOW subscriber or have Sky, you’re set. Everyone else waits — or checks 7plus if you’re in Australia.

Is The Girl Who Caught a Killer based on a true story?

The real story of Rachael Watts

• Rachael Watts was seven years old when she was abducted and assaulted by a stranger — an attack she survived and later testified about (Apple TV)
• Her testimony in a police lineup led to the conviction of Russell Bishop for attempted murder in 1987 (BBC News)

The Babes in the Wood murders

• The case is connected to the unsolved Babes in the Wood murders of Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway, which took place several years before Rachael’s attack (Apple TV)
• Russell Bishop was the prime suspect in both cases, and Rachael’s testimony eventually helped secure his conviction for the murders as well (Stern & Wild)

Connection to the Russell Bishop case

• The documentary covers how Rachael’s assault and the Babes in the Wood murders are linked through Bishop, and how her courage in court was pivotal (YouTube / Sky Documentaries trailer)
• The trailer describes the story as involving a “chilling miscarriage of justice” that took decades to resolve (YouTube / Sky Documentaries trailer)

What this means: Rachael Watts was not just a survivor — she was the evidentiary thread that tied a known predator to a double murder that had gone unpunished for years. Her testimony, given as a child, became the foundation of a retrial that sent Russell Bishop to prison for the Babes in the Wood killings.

How many episodes are in The Girl Who Caught a Killer?

Two-part series

• The documentary consists of two episodes (Apple TV)
• It premiered on May 25, 2025 on Sky and is directed by Tanya Stephan of Stern & Wild (Stern & Wild)

Episode runtime

• Each episode is listed at 55 minutes on Apple TV (likely including ad breaks for the Sky timeslot) (Apple TV)
• The total runtime across both parts is approximately 110 minutes

What each episode covers

• Episode 1: Focuses on Rachael Watts’s abduction and assault, her identification of Russell Bishop, and the initial trial (7plus)
• Episode 2: Examines the retrial for the Babes in the Wood murders and the role Rachael’s testimony played in securing a conviction after a long gap (Stern & Wild)

The pattern: This is a tightly focused two-part arc — one episode on the crime against Rachael, another on the wider murder case. No filler, no padding. The structure mirrors the dual prosecution timeline that defined the real investigation.

Who was the killer in The Girl Who Caught a Killer?

Russell Bishop: the Babes in the Wood killer

• The killer is Russell Bishop, who was convicted of the murders of Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway (Stern & Wild)
• He was also convicted of the attempted murder of Rachael Watts in 1987 after she identified him in a police lineup (BBC News)

His earlier crimes

• Bishop had a history of violence and was known to police in the Brighton area (BBC News)
• The Babes in the Wood murders occurred in the 1980s and shocked the nation, but Bishop was not immediately convicted for them (Stern & Wild)

The retrial after Rachael’s testimony

• Rachael’s testimony in the 1980s put Bishop behind bars for her assault, but it was only years later that he was retried and convicted for the Babes in the Wood murders (BBC News)
• The documentary includes previously unseen police footage and first-hand testimony that traces the full arc of the case (YouTube / Sky Documentaries trailer)

The catch: Russell Bishop was a known predator who escaped justice for the Babes in the Wood murders for years. It wasn’t DNA or a cold-case detective that finally sealed his fate — it was the testimony of a seven-year-old girl who remembered his face.

Is The Girl Who Caught a Killer a Sky original?

Sky Original documentary series

• Yes — the documentary is a Sky Original produced by Sky Studios (Stern & Wild)
• It airs on Sky Documentaries and streams on NOW (Apple TV)

Production details

• Directed by Tanya Stephan and produced by Stern & Wild, a UK-based production company (Stern & Wild)
• The documentary is described as a two-part series featuring previously unseen police footage and interviews with key figures (YouTube / Sky Documentaries trailer)

Where to watch

• Sky channel (UK) — tune in on Sky Documentaries at 9pm on May 25
• NOW streaming service — available on demand after broadcast
• Not currently on Netflix, BBC iPlayer, or ITVX

The trade-off: If you’re a Sky or NOW subscriber, this is straightforward access to a well-produced true crime documentary. If you’re outside the Sky ecosystem, this is currently a waiting game — no digital release or competing platform deal has been announced for the UK market yet.

“The testimony of a seven-year-old girl puts a killer behind bars — and paves the way for a dramatic retrial for the Babes in the Wood murders.”

— NOW TV description (Apple TV)

“Brand-new Sky Original documentary, The Girl Who Caught a Killer will air on Sky and streaming service NOW on 25 May.” You can find more details about this true crime story at signalpost.uk. signalpost.uk

— Sky Group press release (Stern & Wild)

The arc of this story is rare in true crime: a child victim who became the key witness in not one but two trials, decades apart. For UK audiences watching on Sky or NOW this May, The Girl Who Caught a Killer offers a front-row seat to a case where forensic justice depended less on lab reports and more on the memory of a seven-year-old. The question that lingers — and one the documentary may or may not answer — is what happened to Rachael Watts afterward. For a girl who gave so much to the justice system, the system may owe her the privacy she earned.

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