20 of the Best True-Crime Shows

The bonkers tale of the Brobergs and the Berchtolds is so bizarre, so utterly out there that your brain will not allow you to believe it’s a true story. For the unacquainted, a family “friend” named Bob, or “B,” Berchtold abducted a little girl named Jan Broberg twice in the 1970s: once when she was 12, and again when was 14. A convoluted rabbit hole of mindfuckery, affairs, and even aliens, Jan’s story will break your heart and turn your mind to mush.

WATCH

Hugh Grant and Ben Wishaw team up for this retelling of the affair that landed former member of Parliament Jeremy Thorpe in the hot seat. During the 1960s, when being gay was illegal, Thorpe (Grant) began a sexual relationship with a male model named Norman Scott (Wishaw). But it wasn't his homosexuality that attracted the attention of authorities and the public; it was Thorpe's unsuccessful attempt at offing his ex-lover.

WATCH

One of the most underrated actors working today is Taryn Edgerton. He stars opposite Paul Walter Hauser in this Apple TV+ series that is just. so. good. Of course, Hauser is amazing also—his 2023 Golden Globe win confirms that—but Edgerton as Jimmy Keene, a good guy turned bad who gets 10 years in lockdown—gives a career-defining performance. As Jimmy, he befriends a serial killer and works to elicit his confession to raping and murdering more than 18 women. And, yes, it all actually happened.

WATCH

Before Elizabeth Olsen took on the role of Candy Montgomery for HBO, Jessica Biel was going full ax-wielder over on Hulu. The true story on which both dramatizations are based involves a love triangle between Candy; her lover, Allen Gore; and her lover’s wife, Betty Gore. It’s the latter who gets 41 whacks courtesy of Candy, an otherwise churchgoing do-gooder. The setting is Wylie, Texas, back in the ’80s, and Biel’s interpretation of Candy is so effective, you won’t even recognize the actress.

WATCH

The truth about Chernobyl is that the 1986 nuclear disaster was a manmade catastrophe that killed more than 30 people within seconds of the explosion, with a botched evacuation and criminal Communist cover-up leading to more deaths, the displacement of 350,000 people, and a ruined city. With HBO’s drama series, the creators zhoosh up service of the story with Hollywood moments, of course, but they also do an incredible job capturing the tragic perils of lying to the public.

WATCH

Based on Delhi Police crime files, Netflix’s series details the manhunt that followed the horrific fatal gang rape of 23-year-old medical student Jyoti Singh Pandey in 2012. At the time, officials protected Pandey’s privacy by referring to her as Nirbhaya, meaning “fearless” (this is where the Nirbhaya case gets its name); however, an unashamed and determined Singh family made sure her name was never forgotten, their plight helping to change the country’s rape laws.

WATCH

In the 2010s, a surgeon named Christopher Duntsch maimed more than 30 patients and killed two. His shocking medical malpractice was initially uncoiled via the same-name podcast, gripping listeners for three seasons, or 25 episodes. So, it was only a matter of time the saga got the Hollywood treatment. Enter: Joshua Jackson, who plays Duntsch, and Christian Slater, who plays the doctor trying to stop Duntsch from ever picking up a scalpel again.

WATCH

The bodies of two people are exhumed in the backyard of a humble house in England. They belong to William and Patricia Wycherley, an elderly couple who were shot and buried by their daughter and her husband in 1998. On the run ever since, the two, Susan and Christopher, return to Mansfield to face the music. Olivia Colman and David Thewlis embody the mild-mannered couple capable of murder, and their gripping performances elevate a story that is at once shocking and heartbreaking.

WATCH

Kindly step aside; Elizabeth Olsen has entered the chat. The other Olsen sister takes on the true story of Candy Montgomery and the brutal killing of her lover's wife, Betty Gore. And even though Olsen doesn't necessarily look the part—her natural beauty not hindered by the curly wig Jessica Biel sported in her series—Olsen’s interpretation of the complicated Southern woman who claimed self-defense after striking her friend more than 40 times with an ax is better than a box of chocolates all to yourself.

WATCH

There are parts of this brooding series that have been invented for storytelling purposes, like leading characters Holden (Jonathan Groff) and Bill (Holt McCallany), for instance. But for most part, this methodical binge with director David Fincher attached rings true. Inspired by the life of John E. Douglas, one of the first criminal profilers, the series goes inside the minds of the notorious monsters filling the case files of the Federal Bureau Investigation.

WATCH

Telling the true story of the rise of cartel leader Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, Narcos: Mexico is a prequel to the award-winning Narcos released three years earlier. Weaving archival footage, news reels, and old clips into the action, the series stays pretty true to actual events, including the life of Gallardo (Diego Luna), also known as El Padrino, and the abduction, torture, and killing of Enrique “Kiki” Camarena (Michael Peña), the DEA agent pursuing him.

WATCH

Steve McQueen’s stellar anthology series includes five mini movies that each focuses on the true stories of London’s West Indian community from the late 1960s to ’80s. John Boyega and Letitia Wright carry a lot of the load, telling the stories of the Mangrove Nine, Leroy Logan, and Alex Wheatle. Not every installment zeroes in on crime necessarily, though—some episodes are more celebrations of reggae, heroism, and Black joy—but each depicts a time shaped by police violence and rampant racism.

WATCH

Another starry installment in the Murphy-verse, Season 2 of American Crime Story delves into the worlds of fashion and obsession, and the fatal intersection where they collided. On July 15, 1997, legendary designer Gianni Versace was shot and killed on the steps of his Casa Casuarina mansion in Miami Beach. The series, which unfolds over nine episodes, attempts to go inside the mind of the deeply disturbed man who pulled the trigger.

WATCH

Blood testing with just one drop of blood: It was the promise of Elizabeth Holmes and her biotechnology company, Theranos—expressed, of course, with a super-deep, unbelievably contrived tone as phony as the founder’s pledges. After years of defrauding investors out of more than $140 million, Holmes is now serving time behind bars. To see just how she got there, turn to Amanda Seyfried who does an amazing job donning the turtleneck and dropping her octaves.

WATCH

Ryan Murphy is a gift. In 2016, the producer extraordinaire launched American Crime Story, his anthology franchise exploring the crimes that historically shifted our nation’s narrative—with all the camp one would expect from Murphy. Season 1 chronicles the Trial of the Century, recruiting A-listers Sarah Paulson, Sterling K. Brown, Courtney B. Vance, and others to not only relive the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, but consider the effects of the media and a racially charged America.

WATCH

Leave it to Netflix to unearth an underreported crime story. Here, Tahar Rahim takes on Charles Sobhraj, the scam artist-turned-serial killer who terrorized the so-called Hippie Trail that stretched across Southeast Asia in the 1970s. Killing some 20 backpackers before his spree hit a speed bump, Sobhraj was brought down by the Dutch Embassy. This series, a winding saga with more twists and turns than an infinity snake, is that story.

WATCH

Another brilliant Netflix addition to the true-crime adaptation canon, Trial by Fire offers a peek into the lives of Neelam and Shekhar Krishnamoorthy, two parents who lost their teenage children in the massive Uphaar Cinema fire of 1997 and have not stopped fighting for justice since. The two wealthy brothers who own the cinema, though charged with negligence, escaped lengthy jail times, leaving the families and victims to bear the weight of brutal legal battles.

WATCH

Andrew Garfield is superb as Jeb Pyre, the detective whose LDS faith is tested as he investigates the murder of an Utah woman and her baby girl in this FX series. Now, the killings of Brenda Wright Lafferty and her 15-month-old baby, Erica, did actually happen, their brutal slayings rocking the suburbs of Salt Lake Valley. But Garfield’s Jeb is entirely made up—a conduit for creator Dustin Lance Black to trace the origins of the LDS religion and the aftermath of unwavering belief.

WATCH

Waxed pecs. Tear-away pleather. Horny women. Hulu’s true-crime series is the erotic watch you think it is, but this origin story about Somer “Steve” Banerjee, the Indian immigrant who moved from Bombay to Los Angeles in the ’80s and founded the all-male burlesque troupe, is riddled with very real, very grisly criminal activity. We’re talking corruption, arson, racketeering, and even murder-for-hire plots both successful and not. Kumail Nanjiani takes the lead as ’dales daddy Steve and does not disappoint.

WATCH

Thirteen years after five Black and Latino teens from Harlem were wrongfully convicted of raping a white woman in Central Park, the last of the quintet was exonerated. Bringing their stories of desperation, resilience, and forgiveness to the small screen, director Ava DuVernay exposes a shameful chapter in the history of New York City, its legal failures under the spotlight with nowhere to hide. The series unfolds over four parts, with each actor offering a tour-de-force performance.

WATCH