Douglas Flowe, associate professor of history in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, will be featured in “The Lie Detector,” a PBS documentary about the invention, promise and unintended consequences of the polygraph machine.
Written and directed by Rob Rapley and produced by Cameo George, “The Lie Detector” explores how development of the polygraph, in the early 20th century, transformed police work, seized headlines and caught the popular imagination — through movies, television and comics — as an infallible crime-fighting tool. Yet that promise soon soured, the filmmakers argue, and the lie detector too often became an apparatus of fear and intimidation.
“The Lie Detector” will premiere Jan. 3, 2023, launching the 35th season of “American Experience,” the most-watched history program on television. For more information, visit pbs.org.
