Faking It: Tears of a Crime — How Criminals Deceive on TV

Investigation Discovery's Faking It: Tears of a Crime premiered in 2017 as a forensic examination of one of true crime's most disturbing phenomena: criminals using televised appeals to manipulate public sympathy. Over two seasons and approximately 19 episodes, the series provided viewers with an unprecedented look at how perpetrators of serious crimes attempted to deceive audiences through calculated emotional performance.

The show's core premise rested on detailed frame-by-frame analysis of iconic television appeals made by those claiming to be grief-stricken family members or innocent suspects. Rather than accepting these performances at face value, Faking It systematically deconstructed them, revealing the micro-expressions, verbal patterns, and physical behaviors that betrayed deception.

To accomplish this forensic work, Investigation Discovery assembled a specialist panel of three experts, each bringing decades of experience in criminal psychology and behavioral analysis. Kerry Daynes, a psychologist with over 20 years of research into British psychopaths, provided insights into the mindset and motivations of those committing crimes. Cliff Lansley, a body language analyst, examined non-verbal communication—the involuntary gestures and facial movements that often contradict spoken words. Professor Dawn Archer, a linguistics specialist, analyzed the language choices, sentence structures, and verbal tics that distinguish genuine distress from rehearsed performance.

This tri-disciplinary approach allowed the series to examine criminal deception from multiple angles simultaneously. A suspect's carefully controlled facial expression might align with their verbal narrative, but their hand movements or eye contact patterns could tell a different story. The experts explained these discrepancies in accessible terms, making complex psychological and behavioral concepts comprehensible to general audiences.