Heath Ledger was Hollywood’s rising star. Richly talented with rugged good looks his first Oscar nomination came in mid twenties for his role as a sexually repressed ranch hand in Brokeback Mountain. Two years later Ledger’s versatility saw him deliver one of the big screen’s most unforgettable performances as Batman’s psychopathic nemesis The Joker. But at 3.36pm on 22 January 2008 Ledger was pronounced dead in the bedroom of his New York apartment. Using the evidence of his post-mortem exam, together with the testimony of friends and colleagues, Dr Jason Payne James investigates the final hours of Heath Ledger.