Shoot to Kill (1990 film)

Shoot to Kill
Promotional image: Jack Shepherd as DCC John Stalker
Genre	Television drama documentary
Written by	Michael Eaton
Directed by	Peter Kosminsky
Starring	Jack Shepherd David Calder T. P. McKenna
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of episodes	2
Production
Producer	Nigel Stafford-Clark
Running time	120 and 60+70 minutes
Production companies	Zenith Productions for Yorkshire Television
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	3 June (1990-06-03) – 4 June 1990 (1990-06-04)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Shoot to Kill is a four-hour drama documentary reconstruction of the events that led to the 1984–86 Stalker Inquiry into the shooting of six terrorist suspects in Northern Ireland in 1982 by a specialist unit of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), allegedly without warning (the so-called shoot-to-kill policy); the organised fabrication of false accounts of the events; and the difficulties created for the inquiry team in their investigation.

The film, written by Michael Eaton, produced by Nigel Stafford-Clark and directed by Peter Kosminsky, was made by Zenith Productions for the ITV company Yorkshire Television, and screened in two parts over successive nights in June 1990. However, the programme was not broadcast in Northern Ireland itself, a precaution that Ulster Television said reflected legal advice that it might prejudice future inquests on the deceased, which had been suspended.

The programme was made with the co-operation of John Thorburn, Stalker's deputy with day-to-day responsibility on the inquiry, and was said to reveal significant new information about the underlying events and how the inquiry had progressed.

Shoot to Kill was widely applauded by critics. It won the 1990 award for Best Single Drama from both the Royal Television Society and the Broadcasting Press Guild, and a nomination in that category for a BAFTA Award. The score was written by Rachel Portman.