Dead good! The 80 best true crime shows and podcasts – because there’s never been a better time to play armchair detective...

  • These podcasts, documentaries and dramas examine notorious crime cases  
  • Here we present 80 of the very best true crime shows and podcasts 
  • Lockdown means there has never been a better time to play armchair detective 

As a nation we’re hooked on true crime – a genre that promises murder, mystery and lashings of intrigue. And TV has never covered it better. Notorious cases have been re-created by top-notch actors in a huge selection of big-budget dramas, while in-depth documentaries examine the most tantalising crimes. There are more on the way too. Here we present the 80 best true crime shows and podcasts – because there’s never been a better time to play armchair detective...  

1. THE SERPENT

Charles Sobhraj, played by French actor Tahar Rahim (right), with his partner Marie-Andrée Leclerc, a role taken in The Serpent by Victoria¿s Jenna Coleman (left), stood by him despite his promiscuity

Charles Sobhraj, played by French actor Tahar Rahim (right), avoided detection thanks to a mixture of charm, good fortune and loyal support. His partner Marie-Andrée Leclerc, a role taken in The Serpent by Victoria’s Jenna Coleman (left), stood by him despite his promiscuity

French serial killer Charles Sobhraj (centre) and his wife Nihita Biswas (left) are guided by Nepalese policemen towards a waiting vehicle after a court hearing in Kathmandu in 2011

French serial killer Charles Sobhraj (centre) and his wife Nihita Biswas (left) are guided by Nepalese policemen towards a waiting vehicle after a court hearing in Kathmandu in 2011

Sobhraj killed a dozen travellers in Asia in the 70s. Now a new drama - with Jenna Coleman as his conniving girlfriend - reveals how they caught him 

He was the murderer with the million-dollar looks – the charmer with psychopathic tendencies. 

The story of Charles Sobhraj, who drugged and killed at least a dozen Westerners on the Hippie Trail in Asia in the 1970s, will be told in eight-part drama The Serpent. 

But it won’t glamorise his actions. As executive producer Preethi Mavahalli says, ‘We are bringing Herman Knippenberg’s determined story to the screen, not Sobhraj’s life of crime.’

Knippenberg was the Dutch diplomat in Bangkok who exposed Sobhraj as a multiple killer. 

He will be played by British actor Billy Howle, best known as Leonard Vole in the BBC’s adaptation of The Witness For The Prosecution. 

Billy, 30, admits that the story of Sobhraj, who poisoned, strangled and drowned his victims, is so extraordinary he thought it a work of fiction at first. ‘Sadly, for his victims, it is what happened,’ he says.

Sobhraj, played by French actor Tahar Rahim, appears to have avoided detection thanks to a mixture of charm, good fortune and loyal support. 

His partner Marie-Andrée Leclerc, a role taken in The Serpent by Victoria’s Jenna Coleman, stood by him despite his promiscuity and full knowledge of his crimes.

The Serpent brings Herman Knippenberg¿s (played by British actor Billy Howle, right) story to life. Knippenberg was a Dutch diplomat in Bangkok who exposed Sobhraj as a multiple killer

The Serpent brings Herman Knippenberg’s (played by British actor Billy Howle, right) story to life. Knippenberg was a Dutch diplomat in Bangkok who exposed Sobhraj as a multiple killer

Initial attempts to bring him to justice in Thailand were halted for fear a murder trial would be bad for the tourist industry. 

It was only when Knippenberg became involved in 1975 that the net started to close. 

His brief was to help Thai police investigate the deaths of two Dutch students who had been invited to Thailand after meeting Sobhraj in Hong Kong. 

Unable to interest the Thai police in his work, he launched his own investigation and gained permission to enter Sobhraj’s home, after the suspect had left for Malaysia. 

There he found victims’ blood-stained documents and passports, as well as poisons and syringes.

A sighting of Sobhraj in Kathmandu in 2003 led to his arrest for the murders of two Canadians there in 1975, and at his trial the prosecution relied on evidence accumulated by Knippenberg. 

‘I think they were all killed for refusing his offers to join him in his nefarious activities, including drug trafficking,’ he says.

BBC1 and BBC iPlayer drama, coming soon

2. CONVERSATIONS WITH A KILLER: THE TED BUNDY TAPES

Ted Bundy (pictured) is one of the world's most notorious serial killers. In Conversations With A Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes four hour-long films share journalist Stephen Michaud's story

Ted Bundy (pictured) is one of the world's most notorious serial killers. In Conversations With A Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes four hour-long films share journalist Stephen Michaud's story

Journalist Stephen Michaud knew it would be the scoop of a lifetime – the chance to talk exclusively to one of the world’s most notorious serial killers about his heinous crimes and write a book based on the interviews.

What he couldn’t have anticipated when he accepted the offer to talk to Ted Bundy was the impact the interviews would have on him.

Conversations With A Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes was released by Netflix at the start of last year. 

There are four one-hour films, which begin with the story of how Stephen Michaud and his colleague and mentor Hugh Aynesworth accumulated 150 hours of audio conversations with Bundy, who abducted, raped and murdered 30 women and girls across seven US states. 

Episodes two and three give an account of Bundy’s crime spree and his escapes from custody. 

The final chapter deals with his trial and execution at Florida State Prison in 1989.

Horrified by the sheer wickedness of the offences Bundy talked to him about so callously, Michaud would often need to stop his car on the way back to his hotel in order to be sick. 

‘He left an indelible mark on everything he touched,’ said Michaud. ‘You don’t just walk away from him – and I never will.’

Netflix documentary

3. THE HAROLD SHIPMAN FILES: A VERY BRITISH CRIME STORY

Harold Shipman (played by actor James Bolam, pictured) managed to escape justice for years. This three-part documentary will consider the Mancunian GP¿s extraordinary litany of crimes

Harold Shipman (played by actor James Bolam, pictured) managed to escape justice for years. This three-part documentary will consider the Mancunian GP’s extraordinary litany of crimes

Harold Shipman managed to escape justice for years. This three-part documentary will consider the Mancunian GP’s extraordinary litany of crimes, which began with him forging prescriptions before going on to poison his patients.

But it will also ask how he literally got away with murder – the 15 for which he stood trial plus hundreds more. 

Producer Chris Wilson believes the faith we place in doctors is key to an understanding of the case. 

‘It’s fundamentally about an abuse of trust,’ says Wilson. ‘There have been many films about Harold Shipman and most have attempted to take us “inside the mind” of a serial killer, but what we are going to be doing is exploring the historical, cultural and social context in which Shipman operated, a culture that enabled a medical professional to take the lives of hundreds of trusting patients over more than two decades. It’s a chilling story about power, authority and a betrayal of trust.’

The GP was jailed in January 2000, guilty of murdering 15 women with lethal injections of heroin. 

An inquiry launched after the trial concluded that Shipman had probably murdered more than 200 of his patients, many of them in perfectly good health.

The series will include interviews with officers who investigated the case, lawyers and doctors who were involved in the inquiry, as well as relatives and friends of the victims.

A dramatised version of the Shipman story, Harold Shipman: Doctor Death, originally seen on ITV and featuring New Tricks star James Bolam in the lead role, can be bought at Amazon.co.uk.

BBC4 documentary, coming soon

4. APPROPRIATE ADULT

Emily Watson (left) as Janet Leach and Dominic West (right) as Fred West. Appropriate Adult is a thriller based on the relationship that developed between the social worker and murderer

Emily Watson (left) as Janet Leach and Dominic West (right) as Fred West. Appropriate Adult is a thriller based on the relationship that developed between the social worker and murderer

Monica Dolan is pictured as Fred's wife Rosemary West. The drama bagged four BAFTAs, including ones for Watson, Dominic West and Monica

Monica Dolan is pictured as Fred's wife Rosemary West. The drama bagged four BAFTAs, including ones for Watson, Dominic West and Monica

Appropriate Adult is a thriller based on the relationship that developed between Fred West (Dominic West), the builder convicted of 12 murders in Gloucestershire, and Janet Leach, the trainee social worker who provided him with support during his police interviews.

Played by Emily Watson, Leach was there to safeguard his interests and make sure this supposedly vulnerable man was afforded some protection. 

The drama bagged four BAFTAs, including ones for Watson, Dominic West and Monica Dolan, who played Fred’s wife Rosemary. 

Dominic West’s performance was haunting. Producer Jeff Pope said, ‘When Fred’s daughter Mae first saw Dominic playing her father, she was mesmerised. 

'She felt he had captured the evil essence of him. And Janet Leach was spooked by him. When she came on set, she found it very hard to go near Dominic.’

BritBox drama

5. FOUR LIVES

He’s famous for playing it for laughs, but Stephen Merchant’s next big project will be devoid of them. When Four Lives finally reaches our screens it will be one of the darkest dramas around.

The three-parter will tell the story of Stephen Port, the man dubbed the Grindr Killer, who received a life sentence in November 2016 for the rape and murder of four young men in their 20s – Anthony Walgate, Gabriel Kovari, Daniel Whitworth and Jack Taylor. 

He’d met them through dating websites and taken them back to his flat in Barking, East London, before drugging, raping and murdering them.

Sheridan Smith is Sarah Sak (pictured), the mother of Anthony Walgate

It’s been written by Jeff Pope and Neil McKay and will tell the story from the point of view of the families of Port’s victims. Port will feature prominently and it’s a landmark role for Stephen Merchant, whose comedy career includes hit sitcoms The Office and Extras.

‘I’ve done a lot of comedy but don’t watch it much,’ he says. ‘I watch drama or more serious-minded stuff and I’d always wanted the chance to be able to do that kind of work. That’s definitely been a goal.’

Four Lives will show the investigations undertaken by the family of Port’s fourth victim Jack Taylor, which showed police the striking similarities between his death and the previous three murders. 

It will also feature the private investigations undertaken by John Pape, landlord of Port’s victim Gabriel Kovari, a hunt that started when he Googled ‘unexplained deaths in Barking’ for further details about Kovari and found a newspaper report about Anthony Walgate, a fashion student from Hull whose body had been found in strikingly similar circumstances to Kovari’s.

W1A star Rufus Jones plays John Pape and Sheridan Smith is Sarah Sak, the mother of Anthony Walgate.

Stephen Port was finally caught by the police in October 2015 after killing the men between June 2014 and September 2015, and the drama will be shown after the victims’ inquests have been held, so producers can take the results into account.

BBC1 drama, coming soon

6. DARK ANGEL

Mary Ann Cotton, played by Liar star Joanne Froggatt (pictured) in this two-part chiller, coldly ended the lives of three of her four husbands in the mid-1800s

Mary Ann Cotton, played by Liar star Joanne Froggatt (pictured) in this two-part chiller, coldly ended the lives of three of her four husbands in the mid-1800s

Mary Ann Cotton, played by Liar star Joanne Froggatt in this two-part chiller, coldly ended the lives of three of her four husbands in the mid-1800s so she could claim on their life insurance policies. 

She may have claimed up to 21 victims, including 11 of her 13 children. They all suffered an agonising death from arsenic poisoning.

‘What really shocked me was the way she went about her deathly business,’ said Joanne. ‘She was very calm and calculating, and troubled neither by mental illness nor any kind of hallucinations. She just saw an opportunity and went for it.’

BritBox drama 

7. THE PEMBROKESHIRE MURDERS

Luke Evans as DCS Steve Wilkins. Wilkins is the man who led the police's cold case inquiry known as Operation Ottawa

Luke Evans as DCS Steve Wilkins. Wilkins is the man who led the police's cold case inquiry known as Operation Ottawa

Welshman John Cooper lost more than just a game of darts when he appeared on ITV’s Bullseye. 

His brief and unsuccessful appearance would help lead to the permanent loss of his liberty.

The year was 1989 and Cooper was eager to grab one of the star prizes – speedboats, cars, £5,000 cash – on the show hosted by Jim Bowen. 

Cooper and his partner began well and secured £220. But his female opponent was faster on the draw when it came to general knowledge, and he flopped when at the dartboard so was left empty-handed. 

He glared at the TV camera as the Bullseye credits rolled. A month later he killed for the second time.

The Bullseye footage had been consigned to a video library in Leeds for the best part of 20 years, but then suddenly it assumed significance for this cold case murder story which is being dramatised in a three-part series, The Pembrokeshire Murders, due to air on ITV soon.

Based on a book by journalist Jonathan Hill, who found the Bullseye evidence, and DCS Steve Wilkins, who led the police’s cold case inquiry known as Operation Ottawa, it reveals how the pair desperately searched for new evidence to link the murders to Cooper – already in prison for violent robbery – as he approached the end of his sentence, which would mean he would be free to kill again.

Jim Bowen with the real Cooper on Bullseye. Finding the image of Cooper on the show was to gain huge importance as it was the only image police had of him from the time

Jim Bowen with the real Cooper on Bullseye. Finding the image of Cooper on the show was to gain huge importance as it was the only image police had of him from the time

Wilkins had long suspected that Cooper was also guilty of the murders of millionaire farmer Richard Thomas and his sister Helen in 1985, as well as the deaths of Peter and Gwenda Dixon four years later, who were shot while walking on the idyllic Pembrokeshire coast.

Finding the image of Cooper on the show was to gain huge importance as it was the only image police had of him from the time; and it matched an artist’s impression given by one of the few eyewitnesses who had seen Peter Dixon’s killer.

The story focuses on the huge effort Wilkins put in to nail Cooper for the brutal murders. 

His team went through every bit of evidence, toiling for long, frustrating months until pioneering forensic methods discovered fibres that linked the robberies Cooper had been convicted of to the murders. 

Gwenda Dixon, from Oxfordshire, was one of Cooper's victims

Gwenda Dixon, from Oxfordshire, was one of Cooper's victims

During the investigation, they also discovered he was guilty of a series of sex assaults. 

Cooper was convicted at Swansea Crown Court in 2011 of the four killings and was also found guilty on separate charges of rape, sexual assault and attempted robbery.

The series stars Keith Allen as Cooper and Luke Evans as Steve Wilkins. Luke, who grew up holidaying in Pembrokeshire, says, ‘The task of playing Steve Wilkins carries with it a huge responsibility for me, as the drama depicts a true crime which to this day still affects the families of those whose lives were tragically taken. 

'I feel privileged to be bringing this man’s work to the screen.’

ITV drama, coming soon

8. A CONFESSION

Joe Absolom as Christopher Halliwell in A Confession. It is a six-part ITV drama that tells the real-life story of Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher

Joe Absolom as Christopher Halliwell in A Confession. It is a six-part ITV drama that tells the real-life story of Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher

It was a stroke of genius on the part of ITV, to shock and surprise viewers by asking an actor known for playing one of the channel’s most genial characters to appear as someone truly evil.

A Confession was the critically acclaimed exploration of the case involving Christopher Halliwell, the Swindon taxi driver who murdered two young women, Sian O’Callaghan, 22, and 20-year-old sex worker Becky Godden-Edwards, and may well have killed several more.

Joe Absolom, lovable pub landlord Al Large in Doc Martin since 2004, took on the role. 

Martin Freeman is pictured as DS Fulcher

In a final, devastating sixth episode, his character shows a total lack of remorse for his crimes as he is questioned in the witness box.

Absolom says, ‘We used some of Halliwell’s actual words from court transcripts and the odiousness of this pathetic man was there for all to see. Preying on young women: it doesn’t get much lower than that.’

A Confession begins as the police try to track down Sian, who has gone missing after a night out in her home town of Swindon in March 2011. 

DS Steve Fulcher (Martin Freeman) believes she could still be alive and, when Halliwell becomes the prime suspect, reckons he might be keeping her captive. 

The detective feels he has to do whatever he can to discover her whereabouts. Jeff Pope, writer and executive producer, explains, ‘Fulcher was supposed to caution Halliwell and the first line of that caution reads, “You have the right to remain silent.” But he didn’t want Halliwell to remain silent. So he didn’t caution him.’

Fulcher was found guilty of gross misconduct, and felt he had to resign. But justice was eventually done – at least with regard to Halliwell. 

When tried in 2012, he was only convicted of Sian’s murder, but he was found guilty of killing Becky in 2016.

BritBox drama

9. FIVE DAUGHTERS

Five Daughters stars Aisling Loftus, Jaime Winstone (above, right) Eva Birthistle and Nathalie Press as four of Suffolk strangler Steve Wright's victims

This three-part series, originally made for the BBC, focuses on the five women attacked and killed by Suffolk strangler Steve Wright between October and December 2006. 

The series, which starred Aisling Loftus, Jaime Winstone, Eva Birthistle and Nathalie Press as four of his victims and Sarah Lancashire as one of their mothers, looked at how falling into drugs and prostitution meant they were easy targets for twisted forklift truck driver Wright.

Producer Simon Lewis said: ‘These girls were not exceptional. A couple of bad events, a couple of things going wrong and then one mishap tumbling upon another, you can find yourself very readily in dire straits. 

'I think this drama will surprise, because people think they know the story and they don’t.’ Its screening in 2010 led to a debate about the safeguarding of prostitutes.

Amazon drama

10. IN PLAIN SIGHT

Douglas Henshall (left) as detective William Muncie who pursued killer Peter Manuel (Martin Compston, right). Manuel killed seven people between 1956 and 1958

Douglas Henshall (left) as detective William Muncie who pursued killer Peter Manuel (Martin Compston, right). Manuel killed seven people between 1956 and 1958

Martin Compston postponed his honeymoon for a stint as a serial killer. 

The role the Line Of Duty star couldn’t say no to back in 2016 was that of Peter Manuel, who murdered seven across Lanarkshire and southern Scotland between 1956 and 1958 and is thought to have killed two more. 

He was dubbed ‘The Beast of Birkenshaw’, a reference to the Lanarkshire village where he grew up.

The drama focuses on Manuel and detective William Muncie, who pursued him.  Manuel’s arrogance extended to dropping birthday cards through Muncie’s front door.

BritBox drama

11. JACK THE RIPPER – THE CASE REOPENED

Jack The Ripper ¿ The Case Reopened is presented by criminologist Professor David Wilson  (left) and actress Emilia Fox (right) who believe they've finally solved the mystery

Jack The Ripper – The Case Reopened is presented by criminologist Professor David Wilson  (left) and actress Emilia Fox (right) who believe they've finally solved the mystery

For more than a century, speculation has surrounded the identity of Jack the Ripper, the monster who viciously murdered five women in London’s Whitechapel in 1888. 

But Jack The Ripper – The Case Reopened, presented by criminologist Professor David Wilson and actress Emilia Fox, believes that it has finally solved the mystery.

It points the finger at Aaron Kosminski, a Pole who had been living in the area at the time of the killings. 

A contemporary illustration of Jack the Ripper first published in the Police Gazette

A contemporary illustration of Jack the Ripper first published in the Police Gazette

‘When I began making the documentary I didn’t think I would be able to say anything certain about the killer’s identity,’ said Wilson. ‘But we were led by the evidence and I am absolutely confident we named the right man.’

Their programme drew on new technology to make its assertion, in particular a recently refined, computer-based Home Office system called HOLMES (Home Office Large Major Enquiry System). 

As Wilson explained, ‘It links together criminal inquiries in a way that wouldn’t have happened 130 years ago at the time of the Ripper killings, and which hadn’t been done before in relation to this particular case.’

After the murder of the Ripper’s fifth victim, Kosminski was put under surveillance and when in 1890 he attacked his sister he was locked up in a mental institution. Significantly, no more killings were then linked to the Ripper.

Wilson and Fox aren’t the first to name Kosminski, but there are other names still in the frame including American quack doctor Francis Tumblety, barrister Montague Druitt and Queen Victoria’s grandson Albert Victor, the Duke of Clarence. 

But, said Emilia Fox, whose interest in crime sprang from her appearances as pathologist Dr Nikki Alexander in Silent Witness, ‘I believe that the investigation carried out by me and David was as definitive as we could have hoped for.’

BBC iPlayer documentary  

12. RIPPER

Peter Sutcliffe (pictured) murdered at least 13 women across Yorkshire

Peter Sutcliffe (pictured) murdered at least 13 women across Yorkshire

Peter Sutcliffe murdered at least 13 women across Yorkshire between 1975 and 1981 and seriously injured seven others. 

He chose vulnerable women and violently attacked them with hammers, knives and screwdrivers.

For six years he led a reign of terror as police, flooded with information (the floor of the incident room had to be reinforced to cope with the weight of the paper), made mistake after mistake. 

He was interviewed by police nine times, but still evaded capture. 

It was only when he was stopped for using fake number plates that he was charged with being the Yorkshire Ripper in 1981 after his home was searched. 

He was found guilty and handed 20 life sentences. This series takes a fresh dive into his crimes and the police investigation.

Police are pictured searching the ground behind Sutcliffe's home in Bradford following his arrest in January 1981

Police are pictured searching the ground behind Sutcliffe's home in Bradford following his arrest in January 1981

Netflix documentary, coming soon

13. MANHUNT

Martin Clunes has revealed he always resisted the temptation to play police officers. He plays DCI Colin Sutton (pictured in character) in Manhunt

Martin Clunes had always resisted the temptation to play police officers. ‘I thought there were too many cliches, too much, “Go, go, go!” as they zoomed off in their cars in pursuit of the bad guys,’ says the Doc Martin star. 

‘But then I read the script for Manhunt, recognised the extraordinary work of the man I would be playing, DCI Colin Sutton, and changed my mind. I wanted to bring his story to the screen.’

Sutton helped bring Levi Bellfield to justice, for the murders of Marsha McDonnell, Amélie Delagrange and Milly Dowler, who was 13 when she was snatched off the street while walking home from school in Surrey in 2002.

Bellfield was convicted of the first two murders in 2008 and of Milly’s killing three years later. 

On both occasions, the judge recommended that Bellfield never be released from jail.

Clunes says key to the success of the much-acclaimed three-part Manhunt was capturing Sutton’s doggedness and determination, as well as the tempo of the investigation he led. 

‘Colin is the most passive man you could imagine but he never loses an argument and in a very quiet way sticks to his guns and gets results. And his determination to succeed rubs off on those around him.

‘I spent time with the Major Investigation Team at Hampshire Police ahead of filming, and the leader of it said there was a buzz during an investigation which there would have been during the Bellfield investigation led by Colin. I hoped we succeeded in bringing that buzz to the screen.’

BritBox drama  

14. AMERICAN CRIME STORY: THE PEOPLE V OJ SIMPSON

David Schwimmer is pictured as Robert Kardashian, Simpson¿s close friend and lawyer, who battled with his own belief in Simpson

David Schwimmer is pictured as Robert Kardashian, Simpson’s close friend and lawyer, who battled with his own belief in Simpson

From the moment police followed superstar sportsman OJ Simpson down the Los Angeles freeway in his white Ford Bronco as he tried to evade arrest for the murder of his ex-wife and her friend in June 1994, this story has been an international obsession. 

It has traces of everything that makes a scandal scintillating: a glamorous, rich leading man, a tale of crime and passion, a racial element that couldn’t be ignored, and even the Kardashians.

Often forgotten, though, are the victims of the crime; Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman, who were brutally stabbed to death outside her home. 

This compelling ten-part series, which won a clutch of awards, still doesn’t put them at the centre, but it makes the whole thing more real. 

It focuses on the high profile eight-month trial, one of the first cases to be broadcast live on US television. 

Sarah Paulson is pictured as the chief prosecutor Marcia Clark, who was pilloried for losing the case and for daring to be a strong woman

Sarah Paulson is pictured as the chief prosecutor Marcia Clark, who was pilloried for losing the case and for daring to be a strong woman

It ended with the acquittal of Simpson (played by Cuba Gooding Jr) in front of 100 million viewers.

A pivotal moment came with the revelation that one of the chief investigators was racist and the verdict partly split the country on racial lines. 

‘When I finished this role I was a wreck,’ admitted Gooding Jr. ‘It moved me to grief, hatred, anger and frustration.

‘The day we filmed the funeral scene, I wept. I was thinking, “Why are you so upset?” And I think it’s because of my guilt. 

'When that not guilty verdict came in I jumped up, I was yelling, “F*** the man who tried to do another black man wrong”, and I never grieved for those two families and their loss.’

Simpson had amassed the best lawyers money could buy. John Travolta is the wily defence team leader, Robert Shapiro. 

Friends star David Schwimmer plays Simpson’s close friend and lawyer Robert Kardashian, who battled with his own belief in Simpson.

On the other side, Sarah Paulson won an Emmy for her incredible performance as chief prosecutor Marcia Clark, who was pilloried for losing the case and for daring to be a strong woman.

Netflix drama     

AMERICA'S MOST OUTRAGEOUS 

15. McMILLION$

This six-part documentary series, which will help launch the Sky Documentaries channel, details how former cop Jerome Jacobson was the mastermind behind a scam which saw $24 million (£19.5 million) being stolen from the McDonald’s Monopoly game over 12 years from 1989.

Now TV and Sky Documentaries, coming soon

16. TIGER KING: MURDER, MAYHEM AND MADNESS

The action centres on gun-toting, gay, country singer Joe Exotic. He runs a zoo in Oklahoma, with lions and tigers. 

The seven episodes reveal absurd details of his life and his plan to kill cat sanctuary boss Carole Baskin.

Netflix documentary

17. THE CONFESSION KILLER

Henry Lee Lucas was jailed for killing his mother – but how many more victims did he slay? 

He’s infamous for confessing to 600 murders in 1983, only for many to be proven false. The five-part series sifts truth from fiction.

Netflix documentary

18. THE CASE AGAINST ADNAN SYED

A case brought to attention by the podcast Serial, this four-part series sheds new light on Adnan Syed, accused of killing his ex-partner in 1999.

Sky On Demand and Now TV documentary 

19. LEAVING NEVERLAND: MICHAEL JACKSON AND ME

In 2005 when Michael Jackson was tried for child molestation, his young friend Wade Robson came to his defence. 

But in 2011 Robson said Jackson sexually abused him, then James Safechuck (right, with Jackson) made the same accusation. 

This two-part series sees the two men reveal their claims of how Jackson had abused them for years.

All 4 documentary  

20. KILLER INSIDE: THE MIND OF AARON HERNANDEZ

Aaron Hernandez was 23, had just signed a $40m contract with one of American football’s biggest teams and had become a father for the first time when he was arrested for murder in 2013. 

This three-part series unravels some of the reasons why someone with so much going for him should turn to the dark side.

Netflix documentary  

21. THE STAIRCASE

This is the twisting story of how Kathleen Peterson was found dead at the foot of the stairs in the North Carolina home she shared with her husband, Michael in 2001. 

He was charged with murder and the 13-part series tells of his fight to clear his name.

Netflix documentary

22. THE ACT

Gypsy Rose Blanchard was the tragic girl who, according to her mother Dee Dee (played in this dramatisation of the true story by Patricia Arquette), had leukaemia, asthma, muscular dystrophy and more. 

Except Gypsy Rose was healthy, the illnesses made up by Dee Dee to get attention – so Gypsy Rose plotted a gruesome revenge.

Amazon drama 

23. MAKING A MURDERER

Steven Avery is a Wisconsin man who wrongly spent 18 years in prison for rape. 

Upon release in 2003, he filed a civil suit that could bankrupt the local police force. 

But soon he was arrested for murder and the series shows his lawyers’ fight to prove police set him up. Then his nephew changes it all.

Netflix documentary 

 

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24. DES

Dennis Nilsen (pictured) is one of the most notorious serial killers in British history
David Tennant plays him in a new ITV drama

Dennis Nilsen (pictured left) is one of the most notorious serial killers in British history. David Tennant (right) plays him in a new ITV drama

At this time of year Cranley Gardens in Muswell Hill, north London, is beautiful. The blossom is out on the tree-lined street and it’s the very image of peaceful and affluent suburbia. 

But it once harboured a house of horrors and, when he drove down the road, actor Danny Mays would wonder about the man who lived there – one of the most notorious serial killers in British history... Dennis Nilsen.

Danny, 42, plays DCI Peter Jay in Des, a new three-part ITV drama focusing on Nilsen (David Tennant), his biographer Brian Masters (Jason Watkins), and Jay, who was called by a concerned landlord.

‘There was stuff blocking the drains which looked and smelled like human remains,’ says Danny. ‘Once they worked out which flat had caused the blockage, Peter Jay waited for Nilsen to come back from work, then asked to see his flat.

‘There was part of a torso on the coffee table. Jay recalled how Nilsen told him, “Thank God you’re here.” Jay said, “Where’s the rest of the body?” Nilsen replied, “Over there, in the wardrobe.” When they took him down to the police car one of the officers said, “Are we talking about one body or two here?” Nilsen flippantly said, “I think it’s more like 15.”’

As Jay and DI Steve McCusker (Barry Ward) investigated, more remains were found at Nilsen’s flat, along with parts of bodies at his previous home. 

At this time of year Cranley Gardens in Muswell Hill, north London, is beautiful. The blossom is out on the tree-lined street. Nilsen's house is pictured
Barry Ward, left, and Danny Mays as DI Steve McCusker and DCI Peter Jay

Nilsen's real house (left) and as depicted in the TV show (right). Pictured right, Barry Ward, left, and Danny Mays as DI Steve McCusker and DCI Peter Jay

While Nilsen has admitted killing around 15 boys and men between 1978 and 1983, some victims were never identified. 

He was found guilty of the murders of six men and two attempted murders and was sentenced to life in prison. He died there in 2018.

A homosexual who struggled to form relationships, he picked up young men and plied them with drink before strangling them. 

He’d bathe them and keep their bodies until they started decomposing. ‘Once Jay got Nilsen into an interrogation room, he came out with absolutely everything,’ says Danny. ‘He just didn’t stop talking.’

Pictures released of former Doctor Who and Broadchurch star David Tennant show how uncannily he looks like Nilsen. ‘It was eerie,’ says Danny. ‘David is spellbinding in the role.’

ITV drama, coming soon 

25. THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MADELEINE McCANN

On 3 May, 2007, doctor Kate McCann suffered the gut-wrenching moment that every parent dreads.

Returning to the family’s rented apartment in the Portuguese resort Praia da Luz at 10pm, she found her three-year-old daughter Madeleine was missing.

Madeleine McCann (pictured) went missing on May 3, 2007, in Portugal

Madeleine McCann (pictured) went missing on May 3, 2007, in Portugal

Kate ran to the tapas bar where she and her doctor husband Gerry had been dining with friends to get help. 

They called the police and so began the most publicised missing child case ever.

Netflix’s eight-part series deals chronologically with the sequence of events that followed, starting in the immediate aftermath as the McCanns pleaded with the police and public for help in finding Madeleine. 

There are re-enactments from the night she disappeared and heartbreaking home videos. 

The McCanns didn’t take part in the series, but there are contributions from politicians and journalists involved with the case. There’s even an interview with Robert Murat, the first suspect.

It makes for fascinating but uncomfortable viewing. The quest to find Madeleine continues to this day and it still attracts huge public interest.

Netflix documentary

26. SEE NO EVIL: THE MOORS MURDERS

This is a powerful two-part series, produced in consultation with the murdered children’s relatives, about one of the most shocking crimes of the 20th century. 

It is the untold story of how child killers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, played by Sean Harris and Maxine Peake, were finally caught and is based on two years of research involving interviews with detectives and key witnesses. 

It reveals how Brady tried to involve Dave Smith (Michael McNulty), Hindley’s brother-in-law, into the pair’s depraved world but when he realised what they were up to, he alerted the police to their evil crimes.

Amazon drama 

27. WHO KILLED JONBENET RAMSEY?

Six-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey (pictured) was found dead in the basement of her Colorado home in 1996

Six-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey (pictured) was found dead in the basement of her Colorado home in 1996

Six-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey was found dead in the basement of her Colorado home in 1996, eight hours after her parents reported her missing. 

They and her brother Burke, then nine, were then subject to gossip that one of them killed her. 

This film has new footage of family members answering questions about her death.

Amazon documentary 

28. THE JINX

It is rare a documentary leads to an arrest but The Jinx, about New York real estate heir Robert Durst, did. 

On the night the finale aired in March 2015, he was arrested due to evidence found on the show that he killed his friend, author Susan Berman, in 2000. 

The six-part series examines her death, the disappearance of Durst’s wife in 1982 and the death of his neighbour in 2001.

Sky On Demand and Now TV documentary  

29. LITTLE BOY BLUE

Sinead Keenan is pictured as Mel Jones in Little Boy Blue with Sonny Beyga as Rhys Jones

Sinead Keenan is pictured as Mel Jones in Little Boy Blue with Sonny Beyga as Rhys Jones

The murder of Rhys Jones in a car park as he walked home from football training in 2007 stunned the nation. 

Rhys was the innocent victim of a gang turf war. This four-part series tells the story from the point of view of his parents Melanie and Steve (Sinead Keenan and Brian F O’Byrne), and DS Dave Kelly (Stephen Graham) who spent months bringing the perpetrator to justice.

BritBox drama 

30. WHITE HOUSE FARM

When Nevill and June Bamber were found shot dead inside their farmhouse, alongside their daughter Sheila Caffell and her six-year-old twins in 1985, police thought it was a murder-suicide. 

Sheila’s brother Jeremy had called police saying his dad had phoned him to say she had gone ‘berserk’ with a gun. 

But, as this six-part series shows, junior officers, led by DS Stan Jones (Mark Addy), began to suspect Jeremy (Freddie Fox, above at the front).

BritBox drama 

31. A VERY ENGLISH SCANDAL

A brilliant Hugh Grant uncannily transformed into MP Jeremy Thorpe and Ben Whishaw is pictured, right, as former stable boy Norman Scott

A brilliant Hugh Grant uncannily transformed into MP Jeremy Thorpe and Ben Whishaw is pictured, right, as former stable boy Norman Scott

MP Jeremy Thorpe was intelligent, handsome and charismatic. But there was a fly in the ointment for the Liberal Party leader – former stable boy Norman Scott could expose their affair.

With a brilliant Hugh Grant uncannily transformed into Thorpe and Ben Whishaw as Scott, this series dramatises how a leading politician hired a hitman to bump off his former lover – then stood trial for conspiracy to murder.

On a Devon moorland road in 1975, the hitman Andrew Newton shot dead Scott’s dog but the gun jammed when he went for Scott, who managed to escape.

Thorpe, along with others, was put on trial in 1978 but walked free, yet his reputation was tarnished for good and he never returned to public life.

Amazon drama 

32. FALCONIO: AN OUTBACK MURDER?

Bradley John Murdoch is behind bars for the fatal shooting of backpacker Peter Falconio (pictured with his girlfriend Joanne Lees) in the Australian Outback in 2001

Bradley John Murdoch is behind bars for the fatal shooting of backpacker Peter Falconio (pictured with his girlfriend Joanne Lees) in the Australian Outback in 2001

Bradley John Murdoch is behind bars for the fatal shooting of backpacker Peter Falconio in the Australian Outback in 2001. But was he really responsible? This new four-part documentary will raise serious doubts. 

Channel 4 commissioning editor Nicola Brown says, ‘This has taken years of re-investigation and asks fresh questions.’

Murdoch, 62, who has always denied the crime, was found guilty of killing 28-year-old Falconio. 

He allegedly then tied up Falconio’s English girlfriend Joanne Lees, who says she slipped out of the cable ties and escaped into the desert. 

The investigation had been hampered by a rare deluge of rain that covered up tracks, but a tip-off led to small-time drug runner Murdoch. 

He was linked to the crime by DNA, which was questioned by his defence. Brown adds, ‘For some, the guilty verdict feels clouded with doubt.’

Channel 4 documentary, coming soon

33 SALISBURY

International espionage cast a dark shadow over Salisbury in 2018. Sergei Skripal, a 66-year-old former Russian military officer and double agent for the UK, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were poisoned in the city. 

Two Russians, using the names Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov, were revealed as the men who had carried out the attack using a novichok nerve agent – they brought enough to potentially kill thousands. 

This three-part drama, starring Anne-Marie Duff, Rafe Spall, Mark Addy and MyAnna Buring, will focus on the impact on the city.

BBC2 drama, coming soon 

34. DON’T F**K WITH CATS: HUNTING AN INTERNET KILLER

This astonishing three-part story is about obsession; both of a killer who wanted fame and notoriety, and the internet strangers who would spend two years tracking him down.

In 2010, model Luka Magnotta posted his first slaying on YouTube, showing him, with his face concealed, suffocating two kittens. 

It sparked online outrage with some determined to see him punished. 

According to one of those people, Deanna Thompson, ‘rule zero’ of the internet is, ‘you don’t f*** with cats’.

She helped set up a Facebook group with other concerned users, who used all the tools of the internet to hunt him across the globe. 

His activities grew more sinister – culminating in the brutal murder of Chinese national Jun Lin in 2012 and his eventual capture.

Netflix documentary  

35. THE ASSASSINATION OF GIANNI VERSACE

Penelope Cruz is pictured as Donatella Versace, Gianni Versave's sister. Cruz is friends with Versace is real life

Penelope Cruz is pictured as Donatella Versace, Gianni Versave's sister. Cruz is friends with Versace is real life

It might be titled The Assassination Of Gianni Versace, but the multi-award-winning series which was originally shown on BBC2, isn’t really about the fashion designer whose brutal murder shocked the world in 1997, but his enigmatic killer Andrew Cunanan.

Played by Darren Criss, formerly known for Glee, Cunanan drives this fascinating nine-part series, which goes back and forth in time and changes pace from quick horror to agonisingly slow tension.

The cast includes Penelope Cruz as Versace’s sister Donatella (who she is close friends with in real life), Edgar Ramirez as the fashion designer and Ricky Martin as his lover Antonio D’Amico.

Versace was Cunanan’s fifth murder in the space of three months. He’s in the subset of serial killers called a spree killer – someone who kills in a frenzied way in a short space of time.

Darren Criss is pictured as Versace's enigmatic killer Andrew Cunanan. Cunanan gunned Versace down outside his Miami Beach house

Darren Criss is pictured as Versace's enigmatic killer Andrew Cunanan. Cunanan gunned Versace down outside his Miami Beach house

Versace was one of the world’s most flamboyant designers, loved by Princess Diana and Elton John, before his death aged just 50. 

Cunanan gunned him down outside Versace’s Miami Beach house after he’d followed his normal routine of getting a newspaper and coffee from a local stand.

A controversial early scene shows an excited Cunanan meeting Versace in a nightclub in San Francisco some years earlier, followed by the pair having a chat at the San Francisco Opera. 

There are arguments over whether these meetings actually happened as Cunanan, who said they did, was a fantasist. 

Cunanan is pictured in July 1997

Cunanan is pictured in July 1997

But unlike the popular perception of weird, lonely serial killers, he was a gregarious person.

‘He was astute and clever,’ says Criss, who won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his portrayal. ‘He was voted the “least likely to be forgotten” at high school. 

'People who grew up with him come up to me and the majority of things they say about him are endearing. You have to wonder, what happened?’

Cunanan had a middle-class upbringing in California. But when he was 18, his stockbroker father, suspected of fraud, fled, leaving the family nearly broke. 

Cunanan dropped out of university and became a gigolo for rich, gay men. His life started to spiral downwards as his wealthy lovers dropped him and he became hooked on drugs.

In April 1997 he told friends he was moving to San Francisco, then bought a ticket to Minnesota. 

There he met with his ex-lover David Madson and friend Jeffrey Trail. He killed Trail with a hammer and, having kidnapped Madson, shot him in the head two days later. 

He drove to Chicago where he met millionaire Lee Miglin, 72, who he bound and stabbed, and cut his throat. 

He then drove to New Jersey where he shot William Reese, 45, for his pickup truck, and travelled to Miami. 

His obsession with Versace meant he was planning one more murder; the one that meant everyone would know his name.

Netflix drama 

36. KIDS WHO KILL: EVIL UP CLOSE

The idea of kids who kill feels even more abhorrent than adult murderers, particularly as they often kill other children. 

This five-part documentary series examines the motives behind five of the most disturbing cases. One episode focuses on 16-year-old Aaron Campbell who abducted his six-year-old neighbour Alesha MacPhail on the Isle of Bute, then raped and killed her.

Crime + Investigation documentary, Monday, 9pm

37. THE LADY KILLERS

The woman who laced her former lover’s curry with poison, the ex-girlfriend of a pop star who murdered a French nanny... 

This ten-part series has interviews with the detectives who investigated crimes committed by women, beginning with Susan Warne, who killed her 80-year-old uncle John so she could steal £300 to gamble with.

Sky On Demand documentary

38. MINDHUNTER

Holt McCallany (left) and Jonathan Groff (right) as FBI agents in Netflix's Mindhunter

Holt McCallany (left) and Jonathan Groff (right) as FBI agents in Netflix's Mindhunter

Based on the true-crime book Mindhunter: Inside The FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit, this is a drama about the early days of offender profiling when specialists would interview imprisoned serial killers, hoping that understanding them would help solve ongoing cases. 

Series one begins in 1977 and sees Holt McCallany and Jonathan Groff play FBI agents interviewing serial killer Edmund Kemper. 

Series two follows their hunt for the Atlanta child murderer.

Netflix drama

39.  MURDEROUS MINDS: INSIDE SERIAL KILLERS

Dr Josef Mengele, the Nazi ‘Angel of Death’ who performed horrific experiments on inmates at Auschwitz, and the monstrous Ed Gein, the American serial killer who inspired such films as Silence Of The Lambs, are two of those featured in this grisly eight-part series exploring what drove some of the world’s most notorious murderers to commit their crimes.

Amazon documentary 

40. MAKING A MONSTER

The world’s leading forensic psychologists and psychiatrists share their insights into the minds of some of the most heinous criminals in history in this compelling eight-part series. 

Providing new insights into what drove Rosemary West, Robert Maudsley, Levi Bellfield, Robert Black, Aileen Wuornos, John Wayne Gacy, Stephen Griffiths and Michael Ross to kill – it becomes clear there is just as much that separates them as there is which links them.

Sky On Demand documentary 

41. RILLINGTON PLACE

Tim Roth is pictured as killer John Christie in Rillington Place, which was first seen in 2016

Tim Roth is pictured as killer John Christie in Rillington Place, which was first seen in 2016

This BAFTA-winning drama, first seen on BBC1 in 2016, tells the stories of mass killer John Christie (played by Tim Roth) and Timothy Evans (Nico Mirallegro), who went to the gallows in 1950 for a murder committed by Christie. 

It’s compelling but uneasy viewing – First World War veteran Christie’s creepy whisper (the result of a mustard gas attack, he claimed) and watery smile along with Evans’s pleas of innocence will stay with you. 

Christie himself was hanged in 1953 when three bodies were discovered in his kitchen. Evans was posthumously pardoned in 1966.

BBC iPlayer and Netflix drama 

4.2 BARRYMORE: THE BODY IN THE POOL

In 2001, Stuart Lubbock, 31, died during a party at Michael Barrymore¿s £2 million bungalow in Essex (pictured)

In 2001, Stuart Lubbock, 31, died during a party at Michael Barrymore’s £2 million bungalow in Essex (pictured)

In the 1990s Michael Barrymore, the host of hit ITV shows Strike It Lucky and Kids Say The Funniest Things, was as popular as Ant & Dec are now. 

But in 2001, Stuart Lubbock, 31, died during a party at Barrymore’s £2 million bungalow in Essex. 

His body was found floating in the pool, having suffered a sexual assault.

Channel 4 documentary Barrymore: The Body In The Pool, shown earlier this year, is a detailed account of what happened to Lubbock. Barrymore, 67, has always protested his innocence.

All 4 documentary  

43. THE TRIAL OF CHRISTINE KEELER

Christine Keeler is pictured in a pool in 1964
Sophie Cookson is pictured as Christine Keeler, the central figure in the Profumo Scandal of the 1960s

Christine Keeler (pictured left in 1964) is played by Sophie Cookson (right) in the BBC's drama The Trial of Christine Keeler

Stephen Ward paid a high price for introducing beautiful young starlets Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies to high society heavyweights like Lord Astor and government minister John Profumo in the early 1960s.

When Profumo’s career hit the buffers amid allegations he’d shared bedroom secrets with Keeler that she had passed on to Russian military attache Yevgeny Ivanov, Ward was a scapegoat.

His high society friends deserted him and, as detailed in this six-part drama with James Norton as Ward, Sophie Cookson as Keeler and Ellie Bamber as Rice-Davies, the society osteopath faced trumped-up charges of living off the immoral earnings of the girls. 

He took his life before sentence could be passed, and Keeler’s reputation never recovered.

BBC iPlayer drama 

44. HONOUR

Banaz Mahmod, 20, was murdered by members of her Iraqi Kurdish family for leaving her arranged marriage – claiming her husband was violent towards her – and finding a new boyfriend. 

This two-part series stars Keeley Hawes as the detective who won a Queen’s Police Medal for her determination to bring the killers to justice.

ITV drama, coming soon

45. THE INTERROGATION OF TONY MARTIN

In August 1999 Tony Martin, Norfolk farmer and serial burglary victim, shot at two intruders, killing one and injuring the other. 

He was arrested for murder but the case sparked a national debate about homeowners’ rights. 

This groundbreaking show, with Inside No 9’s Steve Pemberton as Martin, was created from police interview transcripts.

All 4 drama

46. ARTHUR & GEORGE

Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle turned sleuth himself in 1906 to free a young lawyer, George Edalji, who’d been jailed on flimsy evidence for a series of gruesome attacks on farm animals. 

‘Conan Doyle had been at a low ebb after the death of his first wife,’ said Martin Clunes, who plays him in this fascinating three-part series. ‘The case got him fired up again.’

BritBox drama 

47. THE FEAR OF 13

The man behind The Fear Of 13 initially intended to include several people but, after interviewing former Death Row inmate Nick Yarris, decided it should be a one-man show.

‘You’re not going to want to cut to someone else – they were never going to be as good as him,’ says director David Sington. 

The Fear Of 13 tells the story of a man who was on Death Row in America from 1982 until 2003, after being wrongly convicted of the murder of Linda Mae Craig, a woman he’d never met. 

At one point, he pleaded with the authorities to execute him. Aside from covering his crimes and alleged crimes, this is also the story of a man who educated himself while waiting to die.

‘What attracted me was that he’d transformed his life by reading all the master storytellers, and so had learned to tell his own story in a compelling way,’ says Sington.

Netflix documentary 

48. THREE GIRLS

Three Girls centres on three of the victims of the Rochdale child sex abuse ring, including Amber and Ruby Bowen (played by Ria Zmitrowicz and Liv Hill, pictured, with Lisa Riley as their mother Lorna) 

This three-part drama pulls no punches in its criticism of those who allowed girls in a Lancashire town to be groomed and raped by men, some of whom were old enough to be their grandfathers. 

The story, originally shown on BBC1 in 2017, centres on three of the victims of the Rochdale child sex abuse ring, including Amber and Ruby Bowen.

Three Girls shows the police and social services failing to investigate multiple allegations of rape because – it is claimed – they thought the victims would be unreliable witnesses when the cases against the British-Pakistani men came to court.

BBC iPlayer and Netflix drama 

49. THE LOST HONOUR OF CHRISTOPHER JEFFERIES

The frozen body of landscape architect Joanna Yeates was discovered on Christmas Day 2010 on the outskirts of Bristol. 

An arrest was made just five days after her body was found. But the police had got the wrong man – Joanna’s eccentric neighbour and landlord Christopher Jefferies was entirely innocent. 

An anonymous telephone tip-off put the police on the trail of engineer Vincent Tabak, who received a life sentence for the murder.

ITV’s drama recounts Jefferies’ arrest, release and isolation as he hid from the public and media gaze. 

Line Of Duty’s Jason Watkins won a BAFTA for his brilliant performance as Jefferies. He says his sense of responsibility grew as filming went on. 

‘I realised some people still thought Christopher had something to do with the murder. I felt duty bound to put them straight.’

BritBox drama 

50. WHO KILLED LITTLE GREGORY?

Five members of Grégory Villemin’s family have at various times been accused of killing the four-year-old boy in north-east France in 1984, a crime that remains unsolved. 

This jaw-dropping five-part series reveals the boy’s own mother, Christine, was the only person ever charged with his murder. 

The first suspect, Bernard Laroche, may have taken his guilt to the grave – he was shot by his cousin Jean-Marie Villemin, Grégory’s grieving father.

Netflix documentary 

51. THE SECRET

Cold Feet’s James Nesbitt is on top form in this four-part drama. Colin Howell was the dentist who killed his first wife Lesley and Trevor, the husband of his lover Hazel Buchanan. 

Lesley and Trevor were found in a fume-filled car in 1991, in what seemed like a suicide pact. In fact, they’d been asphyxiated by Howell, who wasn’t caught until 2011.

Amazon drama 

52. EPSTEIN: WAS IT REALLY SUICIDE? 

On 10 August, 2019, facing allegations of sex trafficking which threatened to drag in some of the richest and most powerful people on the planet, Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his prison cell. 

At first it looked like suicide; but there was plenty of scepticism about this. This Quest Red series promises new interviews delving into Epstein’s world and will reveal many of his sordid secrets, including his political connections. 

A second channel, Crime + Investigation, also has a series due to be released this summer about the wealthy sex trafficker, featuring interviews with many of the women at the centre of the allegations.

Quest Red (Freeview 38) documentary, coming soon

53. AMANDA KNOX

In November 2007 in Perugia, Italy, British student Meredith Kercher was discovered semi-naked and with her neck cut. 

This one-off looks at what happened next, focusing on the arrest and incarceration of her American flatmate Amanda Knox and Knox’s Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito (both right), and the mistakes made by Italian prosecutors. 

Knox and Sollecito were later acquitted.

Netflix documentary 

54. THE INNOCENCE FILES

Working with organisations that fight wrongful convictions, this nine-part series exposes the US justice system’s failings. 

It features personal stories like that of Chester Hollman III, who was jailed for 28 years for a murder he didn’t commit and saved finally by advances in DNA testing. 

Among the other stories are those of Kenneth Wyniemko, who served nine years for a sex assault, and Alfred Dewayne Brown, who spent nearly a decade on Texas’s death row for killing a police officer.

Netflix documentary  

55. DIRTY JOHN

Connie Britton as Debra Newell is pictured with Eric Bana as John Meehan, a charming psychopath who made a career out of conning women and stealing drugs

Connie Britton as Debra Newell is pictured with Eric Bana as John Meehan, a charming psychopath who made a career out of conning women and stealing drugs

Eric Bana may be best known for playing a scientist who turns into green superhero The Hulk, but the Australian actor said he’s never struggled to understand a character as much as Dirty John.

John Meehan is a charming psychopath who made a career out of conning women and stealing drugs. 

‘This was a pretty unique opportunity as the story was so fascinating,’ said Bana of his first TV role. ‘I saw it as a chance to fully form this character that the audience think they know but they don’t.

'I usually try to find an emotional line into a character to connect and empathise with them. 

'But I realised at a certain point in my research this was a waste of time with Meehan.’

Meehan, it could be said, was born to be bad. His father was a small town gangster who ran a casino and encouraged John to lie and cheat to get on. 

By the time we meet him in this gripping eight-part series he’d already been jailed for drugs offences and had a history of blackmailing women.

Debra Newell was a rich and successful Los Angeles interior designer who had already been married four times
Meehan's father was a small town gangster who ran a casino and encouraged John (pictured) to lie and cheat to get on

Meehan (right), it could be said, was born to be bad. His father was a small town gangster who ran a casino and encouraged John to lie and cheat to get on. Debra Newell (left), a rich and successful Los Angeles interior designer who had already been married four times, was an entirely different prospect

But Debra Newell, a rich and successful Los Angeles interior designer who had already been married four times, was an entirely different prospect. 

They met via an online dating website for the over-50s, with Meehan posing as a doctor who’d served as a volunteer in Iraq. 

In fact, he’d been trained as an anaesthesia specialist but was disbarred for stealing drugs.

Debra Newell’s apparent gullibility is jaw-dropping. While her two daughters Ronnie (Jacquelyn in reality) and Terra instantly hated Meehan, Debra, played by Connie Britton who was nominated for an Emmy for the series, was completely taken in. 

A second series to be shown later this year, Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story, sees Hollywood stars Christian Slater and Amanda Peet (pictured) portray one of America¿s most notorious marriage meltdowns of the 1980s

A second series to be shown later this year, Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story, sees Hollywood stars Christian Slater and Amanda Peet (pictured) portray one of America’s most notorious marriage meltdowns of the 1980s

Within just a few weeks, during a trip to Las Vegas, they got married.

The multi-layered series – which will have viewers shouting, ‘Don’t do it!’ at their televisions – tries to explain why Debra was so willing to give Meehan the benefit of the doubt, even after he stole from her. 

She had been brought up in a home that valued the idea of forgiveness which meant she struggled to let go – until it became apparent even to her that she’d put herself and her family in grave danger.

The series is based on a hugely popular Los Angeles Times podcast in which Debra and her family talk about how their lives were ripped apart by this man and how his terrifying grip on them only ended after a horrific killing.

Connie, who met Debra before filming began and copied both her high-pitched voice and her unique mannerism of cocking her head to one side, says it was fascinating working on a true crime story that had an important message. 

‘One of the things I found so interesting is that Debra’s the first to say, “Well, I always see the best in everyone.” She says it in a bittersweet way, because I think she now realises that this quality — which you could say is a lovely quality — is also one that can be extremely dangerous.

‘From the moment I heard the story I had a chill about just how easy it is to fall for a con man. 

'I felt the danger of being at the hands of someone who is good at being manipulative and that much of a sociopath.’

A second series to be shown later this year, Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story, sees Hollywood stars Christian Slater and Amanda Peet portray one of America’s most notorious marriage meltdowns of the 1980s. 

The show will reveal the acrimonious split that led to Broderick being convicted of killing her former husband Dan and his second wife.

A Netflix trailer shows Broderick unravelling as Dan wins sole custody of their children, then has a mid-life crisis complete with sports car and young lover and has Broderick committed to a ‘psych ward’. 

She’s shown driving her car into his house, vandalising the inside with spray paint and, in an even more sinister scene, with a gun in her hand. 

Her voice over the footage says, ‘I wanted a husband and a family. Dan needed a wife that could wait on him. I would have been treated better if I’d been a dog and served my master.’

She adds, ‘I was married for 16 years, then he turns 40 and he’s walking out with a 19-year-old and a sports car. I was amazed it only took one bullet to kill Dan.’

Netflix drama  

 

56. HATTON GARDEN

It wasn’t so much what was taken during the raid on a safe deposit vault in London in 2015 that caught the public’s eye. 

It was who took it. The gang, who netted £14m in cash and gems, were aged from 54 to 76. Timothy Spall, who plays Terry Perkins (above, far left) in the four-part drama about the heist, said, ‘There was a comedic charm about the fact these men are ill, old and yet doing this audacious crime.’

BritBox drama 

The Hatton Garden gang, who netted £14m in cash and gems, were aged from 54 to 76. Timothy Spall plays Terry Perkins (far left) in the four-part drama about the heist

The Hatton Garden gang, who netted £14m in cash and gems, were aged from 54 to 76. Timothy Spall plays Terry Perkins (far left) in the four-part drama about the heist

57. THE MOORSIDE

When Karen Matthews took part in a march to draw attention to her daughter Shannon’s disappearance, she knew just where the girl was – because she’d taken her.This two-part drama with Sian Brooke, Sheridan Smith and Gemma Whelan replays Karen’s plot.

BritBox drama 

58. THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY

This two-part drama considers our most infamous robbery of the 20th century first from the point of view of the criminals including Ronnie Biggs, then the police led by DCS Tommy Butler (Jim Broadbent, left).

Amazon drama 

59. LANDSCAPERS

Olivia Colman will play Susan Edwards in this drama reliving how Edwards killed her parents at their home in Mansfield in 1998, with her husband Christopher. They buried them in the garden, while stealing £280,000 from them to buy showbiz memorabilia.

Sky Atlantic drama, 2021 

60. THE WIDOWER

A re-telling of the true story of Malcolm Webster, who killed his first wife and tried to bump off his second to claim £1m in insurance. Reece Shearsmith and Archie Panjabi star.

BritBox drama

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61. THE TEACHER’S PET

Chris Dawson had everything he wanted. Blond and muscular, the former pro rugby star and popular PE teacher lived in an exclusive suburb of Sydney on Australia’s beautiful east coast with a doting wife and two small daughters.

But Dawson was sexually obsessed with a 16-year-old former pupil, Joanne Curtis. He had groomed the insecure teenager and moved her into his home – telling his trusting wife Lynette that Joanne was to be their live-in babysitter.

That was 1982. When Lynette finally started to question her husband’s behaviour, she disappeared... and has been missing for the past 38 years.

The cold case was dramatically revived by Australian investigative journalist Hedley Thomas, with an investigation that has enthralled armchair detectives all over the world and generated nearly 30 million downloads. 

Earlier this year it achieved an equally dramatic result, when Dawson was brought to court on a charge of murder. He pleaded not guilty, and the trial is expected to go ahead later this year.

After an investigation in the early 80s, police concluded that Lynette had vanished of her own accord. Chris Dawson claimed he had spoken to her on the phone, and that apparently was all the evidence police needed to close the case.

For decades, friends and family pleaded for the file to be re-examined. The authorities refused. 

Many suspected that the last thing Sydney’s police and politicians wished to see was a probe into a case with implications of rampant sex abuse in the city’s high schools.

Numerous former pupils, boys as well as girls, from Cromer High came forward to tell the podcast they were sexually abused by a ring of male and female teachers. 

This practice extended to other schools and involved adults from far beyond the education system.

What Chris Dawson was doing with Joanne was only the tip of a scandal – and over the years many people had helped him to cover it up. 

This jaw-dropping podcast tears the scandal wide open. Eighteen episodes. 

62. HOLLYWOOD & CRIME

The killing of aspiring actress Elizabeth Short in 1947, whose corpse was found mutilated and posed on LA wasteland, came to be known as the Black Dahlia murder and was immortalised in film. 

Presenter Tracy Pattin investigates the case but also focuses on less well-known crimes in the city of movies. Thirty-two episodes. 

63. 22 HOURS: AN AMERICAN NIGHTMARE

In 2015 a man driving through a wealthy area of Washington DC saw smoke billowing from a house. 

When firemen arrived they found four bodies – but they had not burned alive: they’d been bound, stabbed and beaten. Twelve episodes. 

64. WHO KILLED ELSIE FROST?

A murderer ambushed 14-year-old Elsie Frost (pictured) as she walked home from her sailing club at around 4pm

A murderer ambushed 14-year-old Elsie Frost (pictured) as she walked home from her sailing club at around 4pm

This moving account of the murder of a 14-year-old schoolgirl in Wakefield, Yorkshire, in 1965 begins with a crime that baffled police half a century ago and is still difficult to comprehend today – a murderer ambushed Elsie as she walked home from her sailing club around 4pm. Ten episodes. 

65. BELIEVED

There’s no mystery about the identity of the criminal here. Former doctor to the USA’s national gymnastics team Larry Nassar has been sentenced to 60 years in prison for sexually molesting young girls. 

The podcast explores how he was able to do this over two decades. Nine episodes. 

66. BEAR BROOK

For lovers of the traditional murder investigation, this can’t be bettered. It begins in the 1980s with the discovery of two bodies in a barrel in remote woodland in New Hampshire. Seven episodes.

67. FAKE HEIRESS

Anna Delvey posed as a German heiress and fooled New York society – and her story is fascinating. Six episodes.

68. SERIAL

Investigator Sarah Koenig questions the evidence behind the conviction of Adnan Syed (pictured), serving life in prison for the killing of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee

Investigator Sarah Koenig questions the evidence behind the conviction of Adnan Syed (pictured), serving life in prison for the killing of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee

Investigator Sarah Koenig questions the evidence behind the conviction of Adnan Syed, serving life in prison for the killing of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee in Baltimore in 1999. 

Two further series of the podcast tackle crimes with the same level of scrutiny. Thirty-two episodes. 

69. CRIMINAL

Each stand-alone Criminal podcast seems to be going in one direction for the first ten minutes, then takes an unexpected and often jaw-dropping turn. 

For fans of short stories that leave you guessing till the last word, this is unbeatable. 138 episodes. 

70. S-TOWN

When watch-mender John B. McLemore contacted a US radio programme to tell them about rumours of a murder in his Alabama hometown, they suspected that he was a nut. 

But McLemore was persistent. Then their investigation took a macabre turn... Seven episodes. 

71. FATAL VOYAGE

Fatal Voyage explores three perplexing celebrity deaths, beginning with the 1981 drowning of Natalie Wood, and continuing with Princess Diana and JFK Jr. Thirty-eight episodes. 

72. INTRIGUE: THE RATLINE

Barrister Philippe Sands conducts a forensic probe of the facts surrounding the trial, escape and death of Austrian Nazi Otto von Wachter after World War Two. Ten episodes. 

73. CASEFILE

Many of the world’s best-known recent crimes are re-examined in this award-winning Australian series. The host’s identity is a secret, adding to the show’s air of mystery. 140 episodes. 

74. CULPABLE

Culpable seeks to expose the guilty parties who have eluded prosecution or fooled juries. 

The first series centres on the 2014 death of Christian Andreacchio, who apparently shot himself. 

Host Dennis Cooper investigates the questions surrounding his death. Fifteen episodes. 

75. DR DEATH

Hailed as the ‘scariest podcast of the year’ by GQ magazine, Dr Death describes how Texas neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch charmed his way into the circles of the wealthy elite – but left two patients dead and more than 30 paralysed. Ten episodes. 

76. REPORTER: MURDER IN THE GRAVEYARD

Wendy Sewell, 32 (pictured), was found dying after a sexual assault in Bakewell in 1974. Police didn¿t hesitate to arrest the teen who said he had found her

Wendy Sewell, 32 (pictured), was found dying after a sexual assault in Bakewell in 1974. Police didn’t hesitate to arrest the teen who said he had found her

When Wendy Sewell, 32, was found dying after a sexual assault in Bakewell in 1974, police didn’t hesitate to arrest the teen who said he had found her. 

His parents are among those interviewed here. Eight episodes. 

77. WEST CORK

This probes the murder of Frenchwoman Sophia Toscan du Plantier, whose body was found outside her holiday home near Schull, Co. Cork, in 1996. 

Locals are convinced they know who did it – and he still lives among them. Thirteen episodes. 

78. THE MISSING CRYPTOQUEEN

Do you know what cryptocurrencies are? Few do, and it’s this that helped con artist Dr Ruja Ignatova trick thousands into investing in her bogus ‘global financial revolution’, OneCoin. Journalist Jamie Bartlett investigates. Eight episodes. 

79. UNHEARD: THE FRED & ROSE WEST TAPES

Journalist Howard Sounes looks back on his investigations at the ‘House of Horrors’ and reveals unheard interviews with family members. Twelve episodes. 

80. BREAK IN THE CASE

With evidence straight from the detectives, this podcast is produced by the New York City Police Department and gives a unique insight into two murders. Six episodes. 

Spot the real rogues in this gallery: From Phil Spector's bouffant to Harold Shipman's beard, some of our finest actors have brought the world's most notorious criminals back to life. So can YOU nail the real villain?

Dr Harold Shipman is pictured in this undated Greater Manchester Police file photo
James Bolam stars as Harold Shipman in Harold Shipman: Doctor Death, available on Amazon

Can you tell the difference between Harold Shipman and James Bolam dressed up in character?

Stephen Merchant is pictured in his parent's garden in 2015
Comedy giant Stephen Merchant as he plays serial killer Stephen Port

You’d struggle to recognise comedy giant Stephen Merchant as he plays serial killer Stephen Port in upcoming BBC drama Four Lives

Rosemary West is pictured in 1995
Monica Dolan as Rosemary West in Appropriate Adult

 The eyes have it in Monica Dolan’s chilling portrayal of Fred West’s wife in BritBox drama Appropriate Adult

Lord Lucan
Rory Kinnear as the vanishing earl

Rory Kinnear lays on the charm as the vanishing earl in BritBox drama Lucan

Mary Ann Cotton, an English serial killer believed to have murdered up to 20 people, mainly by arsenic poisoning. She was Britain's first convicted serial killer, pictured circa 1870s
Joanne Froggatt as Mary Ann 'Dark Angel' TV Series in November 2016

Downton Abbey’s Joanne Froggatt has her bonnet back on as Victorian poisoner Mary Ann Cotton in Dark Angel on BritBox

Murderer John Christie was responsible for the deaths of at least six woman at his home in 10 Rillington Place London
Tim Roth is evil John Christie in Rillington Place on BritBox and Netflix

Tim Roth is evil John Christie in Rillington Place on BritBox and Netflix

Myra Hindley is pictured in 1966
The Moors Murders' Maxine Peake plays Myra Hindley

Maxine Peake in the Amazon drama See No Evil: The Moors Murders

This May 23, 2005 file photo shows music producer Phil Spector during his trial at the Los Angeles Superior Court
Yes, that really is Al Pacino beneath the extravagant hairdo as the legendary music producer in drama Phil Spector, available to watch on Amazon

Yes, that really is Al Pacino beneath the extravagant hairdo as the legendary music producer in drama Phil Spector, available to watch on Amazon

Freddie Fox looks a dead ringer for Jeremy Bamber in the dramatisation of the White House Farm murders on BritBox
Jeremy Bamber was charged with murder in 1986

Freddie Fox looks a dead ringer for Jeremy Bamber in the dramatisation of the White House Farm murders on BritBox

OJ Simpson pictured in court in Las Vegas in September 2007 where he was given $125,000 bail. 11 charges were laid against Simpson stemming from an alleged robbery in a Las Vegas hotel.
Cuba Gooding Jr. as OJ Simpson in the FX new series American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson (2016)

Cuba Gooding Jr is menacing and magnetic in The People v OJ Simpson on Netflix

Hugh Grant on set as MP Jeremy Thorpe for the first day of filming 'A Very British Scandal' in Central London in 2017
British politician, Jeremy Thorpe, served as Member of Parliament for North Devon from 1959 to 1979, and as leader of the Liberal Party between 1967 and 1976

Hugh Grant gives an uncanny portrayal of Jeremy Thorpe in A Very English Scandal, available on Amazon

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