From notorious serial killers to coercive cult leaders, miscarriages of justice to unresolved disappearances, true crime fans could be overwhelmed with choice searching for a documentary to dive into.
But our critics have done the hard work for you - selecting the best shows out there about some of the world's worst villains, bleakest tragedies and most haunting mysteries.
So just sit back, relax and read on...
Breaking Dad: Britain's Unlikeliest Drug Dealer
The startling story of a British father and coin dealer turned drug dealer
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
'We all make mistakes. But I was enjoying myself, so was it such a mistake?' After stints in stockbroking and estate agency, Richard Lubbock forged a career in the coin business with his father, with whom he had a tricky relationship. Richard was also secretly gay and, after his dad died, started to explore that side of his life more.
This ultimately had an impact on his marriage and when he confessed his feelings to his wife it turned out that she was gay, too. Then, after he started dabbling in the drugs scene while partying in South Africa, Richard began to deal drugs in the way he dealt coins.
Based on the book by Richard's son James Lubbock, who also contributes to this documentary, this two-parter is a startlingly open portrait of a life and a wholly unusual path into criminality that makes it all seem strangely accessible. 'My dad has always loved getting deals, whether it's through the coins or the supermarket,' observes James at one point. That turned out to apply to drugs, too. (Two episodes)
The Fall: Skydive Murder Plot
Detectives investigate after a skydiver survives a parachute malfunction
Year: 2024
Certificate: 12
You will remember this - it's not the kind of news story you forget. In 2015, Victoria Cilliers survived a 4,000ft free fall when her parachute and reserve failed to open. In 2018, her husband Emile was convicted on two counts of attempted murder.
This three-part docuseries has all the usual suspects - interviews with the investigating detectives, archive footage and dramatic reconstruction - but it's the latter that really sets it apart. MyAnna Buring (recently seen in The Responder) plays Victoria, and the approach is unique and profoundly affecting - as is the appearance at the end of the first episode of the real Victoria who goes on to give her most in-depth interview on the whole shocking series of events.
Unusually for a true-crime show, there's a happy ending for the victim. Not only because she survived her seedy and manipulative husband's murderous plot, but also because she was able to free herself from his insidious brainwashing, even if it takes her far longer than you might think. (Three episodes)
Dancing For The Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult
Documentary series investigating a murky management company exploiting TikTok dancers
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
TikTok is peppered with chirpy happy dance videos that pull in millions of views, but is there a darker side to this hugely popular - and hugely lucrative - part of the entertainment landscape? This three-part documentary series investigates the cult-like tactics used by one Los Angeles-based management company to control and manipulate the dancers signed up with it.
Central to the series is the chilling story of the Wilking sisters, Miranda and Melanie, who had dreamt of dance success all their lives. However, after Miranda signed up with 7M, the company and the firm's founder Robert Shinn steadily encouraged her to cut herself off from her sister and parents, and to only rely on him - and the church which Shinn also ran - for support.
Interviews with the Wilkings and those who have managed to escape 7M's clutches paint a chilling picture of psychological coercion as well as physical and financial exploitation. (Three episodes)
Cult Massacre: One Day In Jonestown
Documentary series telling the story of the 1978 Jonestown massacre
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
Against the background of racial strife in 1970s America, church leader Jim Jones decided to set up his own idealised community far away from it all in the jungles of Guyana. Jonestown was created with the idea of founding a Utopian paradise on earth but it swiftly became a hell of abuse, manipulation and domineering control that ended in 1978 with the murder-suicide of 918 people.
This gripping three-part documentary series tells the story in full, from Jones's early days through to the horror of the end as rumours of the deaths spread and the US dispatched troops to try to halt what was going on. Testimony from survivors and eye-witnesses only adds to the shuddering power of the films as they recount the unfolding of a genuine tragedy. (Three episodes)
The Plymouth Shootings
The tragic 2021 massacre in Devon - and what caused it
Year: 2024
Gun crime and mass shootings are usually associated with America but they do happen here. In 2021, 22-year-old Jake Davison killed five people in a quiet cul-de-sac in Plymouth - including a three-year-old girl and her father, two passers-by and his own mother. It was the worst mass shooting in Britain since the 2010 killings in Cumbria.
In the aftermath of the horrific events in Plymouth, questions were asked about the perpetrator and his state of mind. His online footprint pointed to a fascination with the Incel movement, where young men consider themselves unable to attract the opposite sex, and are often hostile towards women and men who are sexually active.
This documentary examines this aspect of Davison's life, as well as exploring what went wrong to enable a disturbed young man to commit mass murder - and have access to a firearm. (45 minutes)
The Jinx: Part Two
The six-part sequel series follow the investigation into Robert Durst
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
When HBO's great true-crime documentary The Jinx ended in 2015, it signed off in a way that none of its kind has equalled since - with Robert Durst's apparent confession: 'What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.'
The evidence uncovered in the series led to the LAPD renewing their investigation into the murder in 2000 of Bob's friend, Susan Berman, and he was arrested the night before the final episode aired. Justice was not swift, though - Durst was only convicted of her murder in 2021 and died the year after, aged 78.
That span of time is where this sequel series fits in, following the investigation that led to that conviction. 'There's a certain image, even as a seasoned prosecutor, that you have of a killer. You can't help yourself. And it's not Bob,' says LA Deputy District Attorney John Lewin, who is one of the guiding voices in this steadily gripping series.
As soon as you start watching, you realise how much space there is to fill in, and with how much fascinating detail, like this from when he was found by the FBI: 'When they end up going into the room they find drugs, a bunch of money, a loaded firearm and a map of Cuba. There was also a very expensive latex mask.' (Six episodes)
My Wife, My Abuser: The Secret Footage
Shocking documentary charting 20 years of domestic abuse
Year: 2024
Certificate: 18
This is a sensitive look at a disturbing domestic violence case, featuring extensive commentary from the police who attended the case, as well as from the victim, Richard Spencer.
Spencer lived with his wife Sheree in a tidy six-bedroom suburban home that looked a picture of domestic bliss. The reality was a living nightmare for Richard who, over the two decades of his marriage, had been subjected to verbal and physical abuse, keeping it a secret from family and friends and suffering in silence.
Richard was able to take control of his situation in one small way, by secretly recording the abuse on hidden cameras. This documentary features that shocking footage, as well as audio recordings that will chill you to the core. It's an eye-opening look at domestic violence, regardless of the gender of the victim or perpetrator. (90 minutes)
Mastermind: To Think Like A Killer
Documentary series uncovering the FBI's groundbreaking female expert on serial killers
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
Fans of the late and very much lamented Netflix thriller show Mindhunter will find a lot to enjoy in this three-part documentary series. Its central figure Dr Ann Burgess provided much of the inspiration for that show's fictional character Wendy Carr (played by Anna Torv) and helped revolutionise not only the FBI's approach to the profiling of serial killers in the mid-1970s but also the way in which women were treated in law enforcement.
This is an absolutely gripping documentary series that revolves around exclusive interviews with the wry and fiercely intelligent Burgess, who moved from nursing into profiling at the FBI's fledgling Behavioral Science Unit. She explains how she travelled to prisons around the US to interview captured killers including Ed Kemper and Ted Bundy (complete with recordings of those chilling chats), then used the knowledge she gleaned about them and their victims to help solve new cases. (Three episodes)
Homicide
Documentary series following the work of Los Angeles murder detectives
Year: 2024
Certificate: 18
Star producer Dick Wolf, creator of the Law & Order universe, cut his teeth on shows about fictional murder, but recently he's turned his attention to real-life cases too. The five-part first series of his Homicide show looked at murder cases in New York but, for series two, the focus turns to the west coast of the US.
This time the show examines everything from the high-profile celebrity Hollywood prosecution of record producer Phil Spector to the more commonplace but no less tragic death of young mother Teresa Boudreaux, which remained unsolved for more than two decades.
It's glossy, enthralling and frequently gruesome stuff, using interviews with veteran detectives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department, prosecutors, and the friends and family of the victims to chart the twisty route towards solving each case and bringing the killer to justice. (Two series)
My Son Jeffrey: The Dahmer Family Tapes
Conversations between the killer and his father, Lionel
Year: 2023
Certificate: 18
It's easier to think of serial killers as isolated people without families, because it makes what they do seem more understandable. Documentaries such as this challenge that perspective.
Originally produced for Fox in the US, this four-parter is based on conversations - between Jeffrey Dahmer and his father Lionel, when the killer was in prison - that had not been made public prior to the show's release.
Fleshing out the series are conversations with Mike Kukral, who went to the same school as Dahmer and remembers how the future killer always had his nose in a book as a child: 'He was one of those really shy kids... he liked to read fantasy fiction, stuff like that... he'd always be reading a paperback and he held them real close to his face.'
Mike also recalls how keen 'Jeff' was on dissection in biology class and, when he was out fishing outside of school, he'd cut open his catch because 'he wanted to see what it looked like inside'.
Such details provide insight but it's the portrait of his tricky family life that's most instructive, and especially the way father and son talk about it as adults. Not uplifting viewing, certainly, but insightful and grimly fascinating. (Four episodes)
Confessions Of A Teenage Fraudster
Docuseries following the story of an international fraudster from Glasgow
Year: 2024
Certificate: 12
Scotsman Elliot Castro lived the life of an international fraudster, attempting to the mirror the lifestyle of Frank Abagnale Jr, who was immortalised by Leonardo DiCaprio in Steven Spielberg's 2002 movie Catch Me If You Can. But life on the run wasn't all it was cracked up to be and a lonely Elliot called time on his global crime wave.
This three-part docuseries features extensive interviews with Castro, who is now a reformed character. It's a cautionary tale and one that began for Elliot when he was just 16 years of age. While his friends used fake IDs to get into nightclubs, he set his sights far higher. (Three episodes)
Illusions For Sale: The Rise And Fall Of Generation Zoe
Crime documentary examining one of the largest pyramid schemes in Argentinian history
Year: 2024
Certificate: 12
Generation Zoe seemed to herald a revolution in personal finance for the people of Argentina. Swiftly growing from an online coaching aid to become a financial business which claimed to generate huge returns for its subscribers from mining, car sales, health, real estate and professional football, it was dealing in millions of dollars every day. It even spawned its own church and its own burger franchise.
Trouble is, it was all a scam. Its founder Leonardo Cositorto had set up a huge Ponzi scheme that relied on new investors pouring in cash in order to keep paying money to the old investors. This fascinating documentary examines the charismatic Cositorto and his elaborate scam, and follows the officers who set out to track him down from country to country when he fled Argentina in the wake of Generation Zoe's inevitable collapse.
The Disappearance Of Gabby Petito
The case of a missing 22-year-old that gripped America
Year: 2024
Certificate: 12
In some ways this is a story as old as time: a beautiful young woman is murdered by her lover. But it's also a story of the modern age, as Gabby Petito was a social media star - a blogger and YouTuber. She disappeared while chronicling a campervan journey across America in 2021 with her boyfriend Brian Laundrie. He came under immediate suspicion, and then he, too, vanished.
This three-part documentary series features interviews with Gabby's parents and internet sleuths who attempted to work out the mystery of Gabby's disappearance. (Three episodes)
Stalking: State Of Fear
Powerful call to arms to make Britain safer for victims of stalking
Year: 2024
Certificate: 12
In 2021, 23-year-old Gracie Spinks was murdered by a colleague who had been stalking her for months, and who went on to kill himself. Her killer was known to police - Gracie had already reported him - and Gracie was not the first woman he had harassed.
This one-off film is highly critical of the police and of a broader system of law and justice that fails victims such as Gracie. An estimated two million women are living in fear of stalking and harassing behaviour - clearly, something has to change. As well as Gracie's devastated parents, who are among those campaigning for urgent reforms, this features other women who recount their stories of stalking and harassment.
It does not make for pleasant viewing and there are many instances of shocking failings by the police and the Criminal Prosecution Service, including of a force who accidentally gave a perpetrator the home address of the woman he had been convicted of stalking. Let's hope the right people are watching.
What Jennifer Did
Documentary film investigating just who really killed a young Canadian woman's parents
Year: 2024
Certificate: 12
In 2010, a trio of armed men entered the suburban home of the Pan family near Ontario. They shot both parents, killing Mrs Pan and leaving Mr Pan badly wounded, but their 24-year-old daughter Jennifer was able to call 911 and summon help from the police, causing the three men to flee. Or at least that's what Jennifer told the police.
When law enforcement investigated the crime, they began to suspect that there was much more to events than there at first seemed. Slowly they began to wonder if Jennifer had actually arranged her parents' murder... A true-crime story of lies, coercion, domineering parents and a habitually deceitful daughter, this is a chilling watch. (87 minutes)
Gaia: A Death On Dancing Ledge
An investigation into the disappearance and death of 19-year-old Gaia Pope in Dorset
Year: 2023
Certificate: 15
Former Love Islander Zara McDermott presents this investigation into the 2017 disappearance and death of 19-year-old Gaia Pope in Swanage, Dorset. She was found, 11 days after she went missing, on a part of the coastline known locally as Dancing Ledge, a forbidding-looking place in a wintry November when the tragedy unfolded.
There are many unanswered questions surrounding Gaia's death, and her mum Natasha, identical twin Maya and older sister Clara are left struggling with their loss. It's especially heartbreaking to hear Maya explain how she keeps her hair short so that she isn't reminded of Gaia every time she looks in the mirror. (Three episodes)
Ministry Of Evil: The Twisted Cult Of Tony Alamo
Chilling docuseries based on the life of televangelist Tony Alamo
Year: 2019
Certificate: 15
This four-part docuseries is a deep dive into Susan and Tony Alamo's Christian Foundation. Founded in 1969 to bring those 'dirty hippies' into the fold, their message back then was: 'repent or perish'.
Susan, who had faked cancer for years, died of breast cancer in 1982, aged 56, and although Tony and her followers fully expected her to rise from the dead, Tony had to work hard without Susan's charisma to keep the ministry and its multiple businesses afloat.
Susan's estranged daughter Christhiaon is one of the more prominent contributors, describing Tony as 'extra baggage' and reminding us that it was Susan who 'started this mess'. Without her, the ministry was to descend into criminal chaos, when it was already pretty corrupt. (Four episodes)
Can I Tell You A Secret?
Terrifying documentary about the hunt for an online stalker
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
A message containing the words 'Can I tell you a secret?' dropping into their mailboxes was just the start of a nightmare for a number of British women. The man behind the message went on to infiltrate not just their lives but those of their family and friends, spreading discord and misery and threatening to destroy everything they held dear.
This tough, intimate and more than a little scary two-part documentary, produced by Louis Theroux, uses testimony from the women targeted to shape an account of the hunt for the man behind the online attacks, a hunt which ultimately ended up with a British judge handing down one of the toughest sentences ever seen for online stalking. (Two episodes)
Surviving R Kelly
Docuseries revealing the full horror of the singer's crimes
Year: 2019-2023
Certificate: 15
Settling down to watch three series (well over ten hours) of a documentary giving voices to the victims of one of the most prolific, highest-profile sexual predators in the entertainment industry is a gruelling task - the graphic descriptions of his crimes are nauseating and upsetting.
The story, however, evolves until, by the time we arrive at the final chapter, Kelly has been convicted (in 2021) and the victims, as well as the activists and journalists who supported them, can feel the full force of change that came from speaking out. The mood is one of jubilation.
Kelly will serve 20 years for child sex crimes, concurrent with a 30-year sentence for racketeering and sex-trafficking offences. More than that, light has been shone into some pretty dark corners, where those who were complicit in Kelly's horrific abuse can no longer hide. The conversation continues. (Three series)
A Killer Makes A Call
Fascinating true crime documentary series featuring real 999 calls
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
Watch and listen as frantic 999 calls twist and turn as the caller goes from panicked victim to desperate perpetrator. Following murders in seemingly sleepy rural villages, even if you know that 999 call doesn't give us the full story, it's still fascinating to watch the truth unfold. With dramatic reconstructions, interviews with investigating officers and forensic teams, as well as with friends and family of those involved in the crimes, this British series will certainly keep true-crime fans occupied. (One series)
Interrogation Raw
Watch footage of real, case-solving interviews from police interrogation rooms
Year: 2022
Certificate: 15
There are no dramatic reconstructions in this US docuseries that features a range of real footage to tell the true-crime stories featured. Studio interviews with law enforcement give us the background to the cases, but all the other footage is raw, including bodycam video of crime scenes and arrests, CCTV surveillance and interview-room recordings with suspects.
It's the latter that constitutes the business end of each episode, as investigators get to the truth and explain the tactics that lead to confessions and convictions. Featuring everything from killers for hire to cold cases, this is a must for true-crime fans. It does not glamourise the criminal acts, but shows the real nitty-gritty of getting killers behind bars. (One series)
Six Silent Killings: Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
The unsolved disappearances of six young women in Ireland in the 1990s
Year: 2023
Certificate: 15
The scale of the unsolved crimes revealed by this two-part documentary is deeply disturbing. It focuses on the mysterious disappearances of six young women in Ireland in the 1990s, in an area that has become known in the media as 'The Vanishing Triangle'.
The cases of Annie McCarrick, Josephine Dullard, Fiona Pender, Ciara Breen, Deirdre Jacob and Fiona Sinnott are explored by the journalist Geraldine Niland and the forensic scientist David Kenny, and we also hear moving reflections from the family and friends of those missing. It's a hauntingly made account of a deeply sad situation, and of attitudes that may have hindered the investigation at the time - and one can only hope that its creation leads to a resolution of some kind for those left behind. If you'd like a dramatic treatment of the same story, seek out The Vanishing Triangle on Acorn TV. (Two parts)
Escaping Twin Flames
Documentary laying bare the Twin Flames online cult
Year: 2023
Certificate: 15
When YouTube influencers Jeff and Shaleia Divine set up an online dating system, it initially seemed harmless enough. After all, they were just encouraging people to find their 'twin flame', their one true love. They were hardly alone in offering lonely people a chance at that. But there was something darker lurking at the heart of their operation.
This three-part documentary series reveals how the pair pressured and controlled the people who came to them looking for love, encouraging stalking and demeaning choices that people made in relation to their gender and sexual identity. It's a chilling look inside the growth of an insidious online cult. (Three episodes)
The Other Mrs Jordan
Devastatingly compelling true-crime documentary on a bigamist con-man
Year: 2023
Certificate: 12
'Don't ever think it can't happen to you.' This three-part series, which launched a new series of true-crime documentaries on 'cons and swindles', is utterly jaw-dropping. If you've ever wondered how women get duped by conmen then it's a must-see, with testimony that lays bare the chilling lengths these criminals go to in order to make their lies and manipulations convincing.
Mary Turner Thomson is thoroughly engaging as she tells the story of her relationship - including a marriage and two children - with conman William Allen Jordan, who claimed to work for the CIA. Cut to New Jersey a decade later and the 'other' Mrs Jordan tells her side of the story (this time, her husband 'worked' for the Ministry Of Defence).
It's a story that criss-crosses the globe and hears honest and heartbreaking testimony from the women and now grown-up children who fell into Jordan's web of lies. 'When he was around he was brilliant,' recalls Thomson, before her story takes a darker, more devastating turn. The women Jordan duped are stronger together, and are joined by retired US Marshal Tex Lindsey on the hunt for the twisted swindler. (Three episodes)
Kids Behind Bars: Life Or Parole
True crime series asking whether it's fair to lock up under-18s for life
Year: 2019
Certificate: 15
If you like true crime shows that don't just focus on the crimes but also dig deeper into the justice system, then this series tackles an especially difficult aspect of the law in America. Until 2012, under-18s were tried as adults in capital murder cases, meaning that many convicted juveniles are serving life terms without the chance for parole.
Since the Supreme Court ruled in 2012, prisoners have the opportunity to have their capital sentences reassessed, taking into account mitigating circ*mstances and their own mental capacity at the time. This series follows eight such cases and the story that consistently emerges is that the young offenders, some as young as 14 when they committed an offence, were victims of neglect and abuse themselves. (Nine episodes)
The Devil On Trial
Documentary investigating a young boy's claim he was possessed by the devil when he killed a man
Year: 2023
Certificate: 15
In 1981, 19-year-old Arne Cheyenne Johnson brutally killed his 40-year-old landlord Alan Bono. When the case came to trial, Johnson claimed his actions were the result of influence from satanic forces, in the first and only instance of someone employing demonic possession as a defence in a US court.
Using home videos, media coverage and testimony from many of the figures involved in the case, this more-than-a-little-creepy documentary looks into what happened at the time, the trial itself and the aftermath. It's weird and dark but absolutely fascinating. (81 minutes)
Body On The Beach: What Happened To Annie?
True-crime documentary series investigating a suicide in Scotland that doesn't add up
Year: 2023
Certificate: 15
This true-crime documentary has a tantalising opener that hints at a cover-up, and from there we hear compelling reasons why the friends and family of 30-year-old Swedish national Annie Börjesson do not buy the police verdict that she committed suicide.
Annie died in 2005, her body found on Prestwick beach in Scotland, when friends and family were expecting her to return to Sweden. Sadness turned to horror when Annie's body was returned to Sweden for the funeral and family and undertakers spotted extensive bruising that was not recorded in the autopsy. Her long hair had also been hacked off - 80cm of length is missing.
The police concluded that Annie was depressed, chopped off her own hair and drowned herself. That story, so readily put forward by Scottish police, doesn't add up for multiple reasons explored here over four punchy 30-minute episodes. Scottish journalist Hazel Martin pours over the evidence and seeks expert help in an effort to unpick this complex, troubling story, but when it comes to the authorities she meets silence, and even classified documents. (Four episodes)
Who Killed Jill Dando?
The murder of the TV presenter in 1999 remains unsolved
Year: 2023
Certificate: 12
When Crimewatch host Jill Dando was shot and killed on her doorstep in west London in 1999, speculation about her death spiralled. Had she been shot by Serbian gangsters? Was her death the act of a jilted lover? Had her murder just been a case of mistaken identity? The huge police investigation eventually snared local man Barry George, but after eight years in prison he was retried and cleared.
Since then no other suspect has been charged and the crime remains unsolved. Through interviews with experts, investigators and Dando's friends and colleagues, this detailed and engrossing three-part series unpicks the events of a case that still fascinates almost a quarter of a century after Dando's death. (Three episodes)
The Russell Murders: Who Killed Lin And Megan?
Delving into the horrific 1996 hammer killing of a mother and daughter
Year: 2023
When mother and child Lin and Megan Russell were murdered at their home in the idyllic Kent village of Chillenden in broad daylight in the summer of 1996, the crime left the local community shaken. The shockwaves continued throughout the country as Megan's sister, Josie - who had survived the attack - recovered from her injuries enough to relate her account of the horrific events. The search for suspects began slowly but Michael Stone was convicted of the killing and, in 1998, began serving three life sentences - but, in 2023, the serial killer Levi Bellfield also confessed to the murders. Has a miscarriage of justice occurred?
This three-parter digs into all that to fascinating effect, both conveying the emotional impact of the case and the nuts and bolts of how it all unfolded, including the turning point that led to the discovery of Stone as a suspect - an appeal on Crimewatch - and exploring whether Stone or Bellfield is the more likely suspect. We hear a lot from Stone's legal team, and even from Stone himself via them, along the way. (Three episodes)
The Never Ending Murder
Documentary series investigating the unsolved disappearance of Nicola Payne
Year: 2023
Certificate: 12
When 18-year-old mother-of-one Nicola Payne vanished while walking to her parents' Coventry home in 1991, it sparked one of the biggest missing person's cases in the history of West Midlands Police. As weeks turned to months, then years and eventually decades, the assumption was that Nicola had been killed and the investigation became a murder case, despite no trace of a body ever being found.
This detailed and occasionally painfully bleak four-part series charts the events of the investigation, interviewing members of Nicola's family as well as many of the officers who were involved in the case. (Four episodes)
