Born to Kill (TV series)
television series

Born to Kill is a British television drama, produced by World Productions, that was first broadcast on Channel 4 from 20 April to 11 May 2017. The four-part serial stars Jack Rowan as Sam Woodford, a seemingly ordinary 16-year-old schoolboy who harbours secret psychopathic tendencies. The series also stars Romola Garai as Sam's mother, Jenny; Lara Peake as Sam's girlfriend, Chrissie; Earl Cave as Sam's only friend, Oscar; Daniel Mays as Chrissie's father, Bill; and Richard Coyle as Sam's father, Peter. The series was written and created by Tracey Malone and Kate Ashfield, becoming Malone's second original television production following Rillington Place. The series is distributed worldwide by BBC Worldwide.
The series serves as Rowan's first leading television role, having only previously appeared as a regular character in Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands. The series achieved average viewing figures for its time slot, with 2.43 million viewers tuning in for episode one, and a slight drop to 1.74 million for episode two. The complete series was released on DVD on 12 June 2017.
Cast
Jack Rowan as Sam Woodford, a 16-year-old schoolboy with psychopathic tendencies
Romola Garai as Jenny Woodford, Sam's mother who works as a nurse at the local hospital
Lara Peake as Chrissie Anderson, a fellow student with whom Sam enters a relationship
Daniel Mays as Bill Anderson, Chrissie's father
Richard Coyle as Peter Woodford, Sam's biological father
Earl Cave as Oscar, a schoolboy that Sam befriends
Jeany Spark as Lauren, Oscar's mother
Simon Bubb as Mike, Oscar's father,
Elizabeth Counsell as Margaret Anderson, Bill's mother and Chrissie's grandmother
Karl Johnson as Mr.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Born to Kill (TV series)” is television series. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Born, Kill and series, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “television series” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q30606616. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2017.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Born to Kill (TV series)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Born to Kill (TV series) primary sources, Born to Kill (TV series) archive and Born research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Born to Kill (TV series)”?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Born to Kill (TV series)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.