Psychopath night.

Part one of two DVDs of Channel 4's 'Psychopath Night'. Psychopaths are a ruthless breed who lie, manipulate and sometimes murder, with no hint of remorse. But the truth is that they are all around us, often in positions of power. Psychopath Night, narrated by Chris Ellison, unravels the mystery of this minority. The programme reveals how to spot a psychopath, interviews genuine psychopathic killers, and features well-known faces high on the psychopathic scale. It also includes a countdown of the Top Ten movie psychopaths, as selected by experts. The countdown begins with Norman Bates, protagonist of Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ (1960). But ironically, Bates would probably be diagnosed with multiple personality disorder rather than psychopathy. Next up is Hannibal Lector, picked by Mary Ellen O’Toole, a real-life Clarice Starling who uses Hollywood movies to educate her FBI trainees. She talks us through Starling and Lector’s first encounter in ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ (1991), believing the scene accurately reflects the psychopath’s tendency to look out for signs of weakness in their ‘prey’. Moving on to how to spot a psychopath, we are introduced to psychologist Robert Hare, who developed a checklist based on key personality traits. Psychopathy specialist Michael Stone puts the checklist through its paces in a meeting with convicted serial killer Charles Frederick Albright, AKA the Eyeball Killer. Now in a maximum security prison in Texas, Albright displays a number of traits from Hare’s list, including superficial charm, grandiosity and pathological lying. O’Toole explains that psychopathic killers treat their victims as possessions, and are typically reluctant to reveal details such as the whereabouts of body parts, in this case the victims’ eyes. Eighth place goes to the replicants in Ridley Scott’s ‘Blade Runner’ (1982), chosen by neuroscientist James Fallon and psychology professor Kevin Dutton. Although the psychopaths in this case aren’t human, they can only be distinguished from humanity via a fictional empathy test. For most psychologists, lack of empathy is the cornerstone of psychopathy. We meet attorney and author M. E. Thomas, a self-described sociopath. Thomas identifies with Scott’s replicants, who live in fear of slipping up and revealing their true selves. According to Hare, around 1% of the population consists of psychopaths, and many more show psychopathic tendencies. Clinical psychologist Oliver James explains how to spot the psychopath in your office. Top professions by rate of psychopathy include banking, law, the media, sales and surgery in that order. For journalist Maia Szalavitz this is hardly surprising given these professions’ association with money and power. Although not criminal, corporate psychopaths can destroy companies, and may have played a key role in the global economic crisis. Dick Fuld, former CEO of the collapsed firm Lehman Brothers, displayed many of the characteristic traits. Psychopaths are notoriously drawn to risk, another factor in their high representation amongst bankers. Next up is Oliver Stone’s ‘Wall Street’ (1987), featuring corporate psychopath and epitome of greed Gordon Gekko. The sixth entry is James Bond, dare-devil, risk-taker and perpetrator of violence without remorse. Bond also scores high on the psychopathy checklist for superficial charm and grandiosity. In contrast to the majority of experts, Dutton believes we need psychopaths. Many psychopathic traits are not necessarily bad in themselves, he explains. He recruits 50 volunteers to test his theory. After undergoing tests, he selects the two most and least psychopathic individuals, and asks them to perform a bungee jump. True to form, the high scorers go through with the task while the low scorers refuse. For Dutton, this demonstrates psychopaths’ optimism and courage in the face of risk – traits associated with heroes rather than killers. England Goalkeeper David James, who has scored high on the psychopathic scale, outlines the benefits to his profession, including a high degree of focus and emotional detachment from pressure.