In Henan Province, in central China, millions of people have been tuning in every week to watch an extraordinary talk show called Interviews Before Execution, in which a er interviews murderers condemned to death. The show ran for just over five years, until it was taken off air on Friday. Every Monday morning, er Ding Yu and her team scoured court s to find cases to cover on their programme. They had to move quickly, as prisoners in China can be executed seven days after they are sentenced. To Western eyes the show's format may seem exploitative, but Ding disagrees. "Some viewers may consider it cruel to ask a criminal to do an interview when they are about to be executed. "On the contrary, they want to be heard," she says. "Some criminals I interviewed told me: 'I'm really very glad. I said so many things in my heart to you at this time. In prison, there was never a person I was willing to talk to about past events.'" I witness the transition from life to death Ding Yu Interviews Before Execution was first broadcast on 18 November 2006 on Henan Legal Channel, one of 3,000 state-owned TV stations in China. Ding interviewed a prisoner every week until the programme was taken off air. The move follows a handful of s about the show in foreign media, which were triggered by a documentary to be screened on the BBC tonight and on PBS International in the near future. The aim of Interviews Before Execution, the programme-makers say, was to find cases that would serve as a warning to others. The slogan at the top of every programme called for human nature to awaken and "perceive the value of life". In China, 55 crimes carry the death penalty, from murder, treason and armed rebellion to bribery and smuggling. Thirteen other crimes, including VAT fraud, smuggling relics and credit fraud, were only recently removed from the list of capital offences. Interviews Before Execution, however, focused exclusively on cases of violent murder. Bullet or injection There are thought to be more executions than in any other country, although the exact number is a state secret There is no presumption of innocence in Chinese law and confessions are sometimes taken before the suspect has had access to a lawyer Convicted prisoners are killed by a single shot to the back of the head or by lethal injection inside a mobile execution truck It never interviewed political prisoners or cases where the crime was in question, and the team received the Henan high court's consent in every case. "Without their consent, our programme would end immediately," Ding told the BBC documentary team. Broadcast every Saturday night, the programme was frequently rated one of Henan's top 10 shows, with nearly 40 million viewers out of the 100 million who live in the province. It made Ding Yu a star, known to many as "Beauty with the Beasts". If people failed to heed the warnings the programme offered, she says, then it was right that they should face the consequences. "I feel sorry and regretful for them. But I don't sympathise with them, for they should pay a heavy price for their wrongdoing. They deserve it." Many of the cases featured in the programme were motivated by money and one case in particular stands out for Ding. The perpetrators were boyfriend and girlfriend - young, educated college graduates. Bao Ronting Bao Ronting was the first openly gay man Ding Yu ever met The couple planned to rob her grandparents but it went wrong and the young man, 27-year-old Zhang Peng, ended up killing them both. "They are so young. They never had the chance to see this world, or to enjoy life, a career, work, and the love of family. "They've made the wrong choice, and the price is their lives," Ding says. But after more than 200 interviews, little surprises her. "I've interviewed criminals even younger than that young student, some just 18 years old. That is the minimum age you can be sentenced to death." Homosexuality is still a huge taboo in China, and when in 2008 the show covered the case of Bao Ronting, a gay man who murdered his mother, ratings soared. It was the first time Ding had ever met an openly gay man. "I had never come close to a gay man, so I really couldn't accept some of his practices, words and deeds. "Though he was a man, he asked me in a very feminine tone, 'Do you feel awkward speaking to me?' Actually I felt very awkward," she recalls.

• published: 22 Sep 2015
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