Autopsy: The Last Days of… Robin Williams

Autopsy: The Last Days of… returns to Seven this week, with an episode on Robin Williams.

Robin Williams was one of the funniest and most gifted comedians of his generation. He burst to prominence in 1978 in the hit TV sitcom Mork & Mindy and won an Oscar for Good Will Hunting in 1997. But just before midday on 11th August 2014, he’s found hanging from a belt secured to a closet door in his home in Tiburon, California.

Now, Dr Richard Shepherd is piecing together the events of Robin Williams’ last hours and evidence from the autopsy report to uncover what triggered this suicide.

The star had overcome major heart surgery, was winning a lifelong battle with drink and drugs and, at the age of 63, was set to reprise one of his most famous roles in a sequel of box office smash Mrs Doubtfire.

Yet beneath this surface Robin Williams was a troubled man, secretly coping with a recent diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease, taking medication used for severe psychiatric conditions and displaying bizarre signs of paranoid behaviour.

However, Dr Shepherd reveals it’s a rare and undiagnosed brain disease that finally is the driver that causes Robin Williams to take his own life.

Alongside sensitive and factually based drama we talk to close friends, biographers and a psychologist and painstakingly investigate the tragic death of a comedy legend.

9:30pm Thursday 15 October on Seven.