'There’s always a chance that someone will come forward' - Brother of Jill Dando on new documentary

  • Watch our interview with Nigel Dando, Jill's brother

On the morning of 26 April 1999, British journalist Jill Dando was shot and killed on the doorstep of her London home at the age of 37.

She was known as 'the golden girl of British television' and her death led to an outpouring of grief from the nation.

Her murder sparked one of the largest criminal investigations in the UK since the search for the Yorkshire Ripper. 

Barry George was jailed for the crime, but eight years later released as an innocent man and the case remains unsolved. 

Jill Dando was shot and killed on the doorstep of her London home in 1999. Credit: PA

Now a new three-part Netflix documentary series 'Who Killed Jill Dando?' has been released which re-examines what happened to the Crimewatch presenter.

The documentary looks at how Jill Dando went from a budding print journalist in her hometown of Weston-super-Mare to becoming a BBC star so loved she was regularly dubbed 'TV's Diana'.

Her brother Nigel Dando features in the documentary and spoke to ITV News West Country on Thursday 28 September. He called the documentary “a powerful piece of work”. 

Nigel said: “Netflix came to me with the idea they wanted to do, perhaps a fuller piece about Jill - her life, what happened on the day she died, and the police investigation to try to catch her killer. 

“It is a thorough piece of work and it really highlights, not only Jill’s qualities, what led her to becoming probably the TV star of her day, but also the efforts that the police put in in trying to catch whoever murdered her.”

Jill Dando started out as a budding print journalist in her hometown of Weston-super-Mare

Nigel hopes the documentary will cause someone to come forward with new information that might reveal who killed his sister that day. 

He said: “You live in hope that somebody is going to be arrested for that crime and convicted of it but the police have worked exhaustively on this case and we just await the day, unlikely to happen probably in my lifetime, but you just don’t know. There’s always a chance that someone will come forward and confess.” 

Nigel revealed he was working for the Bristol Evening Post at the time he was told what happened. 

Despite her fame, Nigel said his sister was “just always Jill” - on and off screen. 

He said: “What you saw on TV was what you got in private. Jill was very bubbly, she was very warm, she was very friendly, very outgoing, very caring. She carried that over from the screen into her private life. 

“I think it was the natural qualities that she brought to the screen that really made her such a beloved figure.”