Love true crime? Here are 10 of the latest documentaries to binge

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Our love of true crime is not a new phenomenon. Long before podcasts and dramatic re-enactments, newspapers catered to a morbidly fascinated public, taking off in the 1880s when the Jack the Ripper murders coincided with the invention of the rotary press. The middle classes took tours of London’s underbelly where the crimes took place, hoping for a vicarious thrill. Now we have documentaries to sate that thirst. Here are 10 of the latest binge-watches allowing us to explore the darker side of humanity from the safety of the sofa.

Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story

While this doco about Britain’s worst serial killers, husband and wife Fred and Rosemary West, features “recently discovered” police interviews (no mention of how they were “lost”) and interviews with relatives of some of the victims, there’s little new information. For viewers not familiar with the horrifying crimes carried out by the Wests against at least 12 women (including, horrifyingly, one of their daughters), the three-part series reveals the whole sordid story, and the footage of Fred West directing police where to dig up the family’s Gloucester garden is one of the most chilling true-crime moments on camera. Netflix

Hey Beautiful: Anatomy of a Romance Scam

This bingeable three-parter starts like all docuseries about women being swindled on dating sites, but takes some extraordinary turns. Just when you think the reveal is coming, there’s another juicy twist. It follows three women who fall in love with the same handsome man online – who just happens to need money urgently transferred to him. Frequently.

Each of them had video calls with him (who went by different names), and despite not having met him in person, trusted him. The series follows their attempts to uncover the truth and leads to some extraordinary revelations – and the truth about the man whose identity these scammers have stolen. This is a seriously gripping one. Disney+

The Mortician

For most of the first episode, I was a little underwhelmed by this tale of the Lamb Funeral Home scandal in California, which begins with David Sconce, who reluctantly joined his family’s business, and set about trying to undercut his rivals in the crematorium game. Freshly out of prison, he’s one of the main interviewees, so I knew there was more to come. And man alive, do things escalate quickly. Sconce starts out bulk-burning bodies to save money, but his desire for profit soon sees him and his associates – many of whom were gang members – committing increasingly heinous crimes. I’m talking war-crime level. This one is not for the squeamish. Max

Australian Crime Stories

Let’s not forget Australia has its own share of grisly crime. Nine’s long-running series, now in its fifth season, examines a different crime in-depth each episode, from historic unsolved murders, such as that of Sydney designer Florence Broadhurst in the 1970s and the disappearance of journalist Juanita Nielsen in 1975 to more recent crimes such as the story of barrister Nicola Gobbo, aka Lawyer X.

The latest season also has a grim treat for hardcore crime fans – the tale of serial killer Derek Percy, who came to the attention of Victorian cops in the mid-1960s when he began stealing female underwear and mutilating dolls with razor blades. Strap in. 9Now

Surviving Ohio State

Australian filmmaker Eva Orner had to be talked into working on this tale of sexual abuse at Ohio State University by producer George Clooney, feeling she wasn’t right for the job. But Orner’s outsider status didn’t hinder her investigation into the horrifying story of what went on at the university at the hands of sports medicine doctor Richard Strauss.

The once-respected physician worked in the athletic department for 20 years, from 1978, during which time he abused at least 177 male students.

Strauss was known among the students as “Jellypaws”, and the university received complaints about his behaviour as early as 1979, but nothing was addressed until 1996 – and even then, he kept his job. This is another tough watch. Max

Amanda Riley fabricated a terminal cancer for financial gain.

Scamanda

An adaptation of a true-crime podcast (an ever-growing genre), this is the story of America’s own Belle Gibson: Christian blogger Amanda Riley, who fabricated a moving tale of battling terminal cancer for financial gain.

If you haven’t heard the podcast, prepare to be outraged, as the already comfortable (and white) Riley, beloved in her church community, scams not only her fellow congregation members out of money, but also former friends, with her online “journey” of dealing with Hodgkin’s lymphoma for more than a decade. As well as the crime itself, this series examines the idea of societal bias – would Riley have attracted so much sympathy (and cash), had she been from a different race or socioeconomic background? Disney+

Grenfell: Uncovered

This one is an extremely difficult watch, examining the horrific 2017 fire that broke out at a London tower block, killing at least 72 people, and uncovering the ways in which the disaster could easily have been prevented.

Opening with the first emergency call, it follows a linear narrative of the horrific fire, interspersed with accounts from survivors, bereaved families and emergency workers. Then there are the experts whose commentary on the cladding, which caused the fire to rip through the building, is beyond damning. The corporate greed and malfeasance that led to the completely unavoidable deaths of dozens of people are rage-inducing. Netflix

Trainwreck: Poop Cruise

I want to say I’m including this as a palate cleanser, but given what happens (the clue is in the title), that’s perhaps not the best description. When an engine fire disables the electricity on board a cruise from Texas to Mexico, it plunges the ship into darkness – and stops other things plunging down the toilets. The plan is to tow the ship to port, but after it drifts out to sea, passengers are left without running water and toilets for four days. But the biggest horror, according to passenger accounts, is the red bags supplied for “pooping” in. And that’s before a free bar is opened, the toilets start overflowing and things turn into a fecal-themed Lord of The Flies. Netflix

Exposed: Naked Crimes

This true-crime series is peak America – at once titillating, voyeuristic and exploitative. Comprising cobbled-together clips of various crimes being committed by naked perpetrators, it also features firsthand accounts from cops, witnesses and the occasional nude criminal themselves.

The (mercifully) grainy footage is culled from CCTV, home security cameras and police body-worn cameras, and the crimes range from everything to DUI arrests to petty theft. While some of it is amusing, it’s hard not to feel for the birthday-suited crims, many of whom are clearly not in their right minds. Unbelievably, this cheaply produced series is in its third season. Max

British historian Lucy Worsley dives into true crime for her latest series.

Lucy Worsley Investigates

The historical crimes featured in historian Lucy Worsley’s latest series are no less brutal than modern ones, but watching dramatic re-enactments of bloodthirsty murders at such a remove is somehow less stressful.

Worsley examines the Jack the Ripper murders, and how the breathless newspaper accounts of the murders became the prototype for all true-crime stories that followed, the motives behind the 1605 Gunpowder Plot, and the case of Queen Mary I, aka “Bloody Mary”, among others. Lovely Lucy and her posh bob ensure this one is more of a cosy true-crime binge, but no less compelling. ABC iview

Do you have a favourite true-crime documentary? Please tell us in the comments below.

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