[Solemn music plays, noises of nature in background] Narrator: Broadmoor, a word that makes people shiver. Most think that Broadmoor is a prison, in fact it's a high secure psychiatric hospital, and home to some of the countries most dangerous and violent offenders. [Gate unlocking, mechanical noises] After five years of negotiation, and for the very first time, the hospital has allowed cameras in to meet the men who live behind these walls. [unintelligible yelling, sound of something slamming] [Running foot steps keys jangling] [more yelling and sounds of a struggle] [door slams] [foot steps echo in the hallway] Inmate: Broadmoores got this, this history about people being all these monsters here basically. But you can be violent, and it don't mean you're a bad person. 'Cause sometimes you don't....you're not intendin' it. Over radio: "Hello Brovo one, two, and go. Over radio: "One going to the [ unintelligible] all radio. Alpha four. Over." The easiest reaction in the world is to see somebody that has committed something atrocious, label them as evil, want to lock the door and throw away the key. Inmate: "I've probably actually never said the words of what I've I actually done. I've never admitted it. Still just a blur in my head". [knocking on door] Inmate 2: "I've got born into this Italian family. Very, very violent. In some cases it would have been better to have killed me than to have allowed me to have this horrible life that I've had. Narrator: With unprecedented access, and filmed over a year, this series reveals the secrets of life inside Brittians most notorious institution. [Bell rings] [Solemn music] Narrator: Broadmoor is perched above the Berkshire village of Crowthorne. Just 40 miles from the center of London. When people think of Broadmoore they think of Ronny Kray, Peter Sutcliffe, Robert Napper, and Kenneth Erskine. Some of the most dangerous killers the country has ever known. "The public perceive this place as 'oh, that's where the Yorkshire Rippers locked up, that's Rachel Nickell's killers locked up'. Broadmoor is an institution of lots of people. We're not all rapist pedophiles, or murderers. There is people in here for self-harming in prison, there's people in here for buggary and they've gotten in a prison, and there's people in here for very very evil things. and it brushes with all the same brush what station [unintelligible]". [loud string crescendo] Narrator: First built as a victorian lunatic asylum for the criminally insane, today Broadmoor is an NHS hospital. Over its 150 year history, its been a secretive and mysterious institution. Staff are under strict instructions not to discuss patients outside the hospital walls. [clicking as items are placed on conveyer and beeping of machinery] Many won't even admit to working here. Staff Member: " Close, close family members know that, obviously, where we work. But if we're in a normal mainstream than you would, you would probably say you work in the hospital or something. Don't really talk about the place." Staff Member #2: " Listen, if you said that you worked here. Ah, boy. You'd just spend the whole of a day, or the afternoon, with a barrage of questions about the place. So, it's just easy to say you work for the NHS". Narrator: They're told not to share personal information with the patients either, and to leave their private lives along with their possessions. At the front door. Broadmoor's most notorious patients, like Peter Sutcliffe and Kenneth Erskine, have chosen not to participate. But many of the men here have been front page news and are vilified by society. This is the first time they've been allowed to tell their stories. Alex: I've everything from taking hostages, more hostage taking, stabbings, ya' know. Uhhhh... more assaults, violent assaults, fire setting off. I set a whole stammers a fire in a hospital. A psychiatric hospital, the first one I ever went to. Umm.. yeah. Just mainly violence and whatnot. My history is mainly violence". Narrator: "Broadmoors 200 patients are all men suffering from mental disorders. They're classified as vulnerable adults and only those who have Capacity to Give Consent have been allowed to talk to us. Their faces have been blurred to protect their identities [Door closing] Female voice: "What are you like when you're not on medication?" Alex: "Ummm...I'm quite a nasty person. I'm quite violent, I'm very violent in most circumstances. Very antisocial. I don't like spending time with people. I'm paranoid. I'm, uh, very paranoid. [stammers] Every person around, I'm thinking 'what's their intention?' I come to that, sometimes I come very close to attacking people because I'm thinking that they're going to do something to me and I don't want to get hurt first. Uh, um..I remember one time when I'm off medication, spent 11 months locked in a cell. Segregated, due to the fact that I was too dangerous to come out". Narrator: 24 year old Alex arrived at Broadmoor 7 months ago. He was serving a life sentence in a dedicated prison unit for highly dangerous prisoners. They could no longer manage him. Alex: "When I was younger, we would chase a seagull... trails off Narrator: Now in a remissions ward he's been diagnosed with mental illness and personality disorder and put on medication. One of his symptoms is Auditory Hallucinations. He hears voices. Alex: "Oh, I was doing a fruit salad the other day for an assessment. That's when they do this assessment from personal motor, motor skills. It's like for learning disability. And....Umm... I was cutting a mango and I have never, I've never used a sharp knife. In the seven years I've been away I've not used a sharp knife and I was shaking. Literally. I nearly cut my fingers off cause' the voices were telling me to attack the people in the room, with the knife. And, like, they were goading me into it, and I thought ' I can't do that. I can't do that. and so I managed to finish fruit, the fruit salad, and I thought " wow like, what achievement'. Cause' mostly stammers a year ago, two years ago, my emotions would have done it. Ya know?" [unintelligible speaking] Man in Sweater: "No. We'll clean it afterwards. We are Going to give you bedding for now, okay"? Narrator: This is Cranfield, the intensive care ward. Home to the hospitals most acute mentally ill patients. [door shutting, keys jangling, people speaking unintelligibly] Female voice: "Hi, can we come in and talk to you, yeah?" Man in Sweater: "Sit on the bed for us" Narrator:Any contact with them has to be carefully planned and executed. This is a six person unlock. The door to this patients room can only be opened with six staff present. Hospital Staff: "There is always the risk of violence towards others if [can't understand] with chronic mental illness and they will be very distant throughout the day, but you have to learn to work with that. [person sobbing] My focus in working with this guys is after telling me that they are here not because of the illness, they are here because of violence. And they only progress from here if there's a reduction in that violence. So that message, you know. It might take time, but gradually over a period of time, is that goal through". [keys jangling, unintelligible talking in background] Narrator: On this ward, even the most routine tasks, run a risk of violence and involve a protocol. This patient has asked for a drink. Man in White: "Just keep on the bed trails off [unintelligible] Shukran. Shukran Shukran means thank you, right? You know, you taught me all this. laughs [unintelligible speaking]" Inmate: [unintelligible] "give me some more?' Man in White: [unintelligible response] "Thank you!" Female voice: "Thank you guys." Narrator: Life in Broadmoor can be a game of snakes and ladders. With patients moving between the hospitals 15 wards according to their mental state. [door closing] Patients who have responded to treatment can progress to one of the hospitals Assertive Rehab Wards, where they're given greater freedom. Daniel is one of 12 patients on this ward. Daniel: "I've been here five years. Luckily I never went to a high dependency ward, I came straight to rehab. And, to be honest, its been... I wouldn't use the word wonderful... Cause' eh... it's not wonderful. But, I've been grateful basically to come here. In my spare time I try and engage in artwork mostly. This was the, uh... my first real attempt at an actual portrait. All done completely in graphite, and then I moved on to using charcoal along with, uh.. graphite. And the charcoal allows you to, to have so much more...uhhh...depth in the tone or quality. And then, yeah....I did a self-portrait. The whole, The whole picture was a statement about when I got locked up, when I was 14 and I'm now 24. This is me at 24, but uh, that me..... back then...sort of thing...." Narrator: Mental Disorder is no respecter of class or education.