Inside The Murder Trial: The Disappearance Of Margaret Fleming was granted in-court access by the Lord President, Lord Carloway trial judge Lord Matthews, the Crown Office and Police Scotland.

In 2016 an application for a personal independence payment raised suspicions. When authorities could not contact the applicant, the police were called and it was discovered a 35-year-old woman had seemingly vanished from a village on the west coast of Scotland.

Margaret Fleming was a vulnerable adult understood by authorities to be in the full-time care of Edward Cairney and Avril Jones, living in a remote coastal property in the village of Inverkip. But when police asked neighbours about Margaret, they were told she hadn’t been seen for nearly 20 years.

In the murder trial that unfolds across this series, Cairney and Jones stand accused of killing her, disposing of her body and claiming benefits in her name for 16 years.

Patrick Holland, controller of BBC Two, said: “This is a ground-breaking documentary for BBC Two that takes the audience into the very centre of a trial that gripped a nation. With access to the court, this series will follow the tragic case of Margaret Fleming and the efforts of police and prosecutors to bring her killers to justice.”

David Harron, commissioning executive at BBC Scotland, said: “This series will provide a compelling insight into the work of the police, and prosecutors in bringing these two suspects in this high profile case to trial.

“And it will also show the work of the defence teams representing the two accused. We have been delighted with the audience response to our Murder Case series, which was made by the same team, and this promises to give audiences yet another fascinating look at the work which goes on behind the scenes of Scotland’s justice system.”