The cultural boom of true crime has created numerous docuseries, prestige dramas, and investigative features. But the best true crime shows aren’t afraid to confront ugly truths and complicated lives.
Whether you have an interest in the macabre or a curiosity about the darkest parts of humanity, true crime has become an obsession for many. With endless podcasts, documentaries, thrillers, mini series, and more, discovering history’s most infamous crimes has become one of Team Honeycombers’ go-to rainy day activities! While some works of media have been accused of being exploitative and disrespectful to victims, the best true crime shows are the ones that don’t sacrifice empathy for salaciousness. Instead, they uncover the whole picture of crimes beyond lurid headlines, exploring the real lives affected by the incidents.
Best true crime shows that tackle complicated truths
1. Captive Audience: A Real American Horror Story (2022)
A tragic tale of a family whose lives were changed forever by not one, but two tragic crimes, Captive Audience: A Real American Horror Story tells the story of the Stayner family. In 1972, seven-year-old Steven Stayner was abducted by a serial predator. It wasn’t until 1980 that Steven would escape his ordeal and return home – motivated by saving five-year-old Timothy White, who was kidnapped after Steven had grown “too old”. Steven’s ordeal and the media frenzy that followed is recounted in this docuseries by the remaining Stayners. However, it soon emerges that this is a story about two brothers in the family. In 1999, Steven’s older brother Cary would inexplicably murder four women. Did Steven’s abduction have an influence on Cary’s mindset and actions? Captive Audience seeks to understand these crimes and the one family in the centre of it all.
Watch Captive Audience: A Real American Horror Story online via Disney+.
2. When They See Us (2019)
One of the most infamous criminal cases of all time is tackled in one of the best true crime shows ever: the award-winning miniseries, When They See Us. When Trisha Meili is horrifically attacked in Central Park, the subsequent mishandling of her case forever changes the lives of five black boys. Reckoning with the racial climate of America in 1989, everything leading to Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, Korey Wise, and Raymond Santana’s wrongful convictions is scrutinised. With incredible character studies of five lives facing immense odds, the show follows the group to their eventual 2002 exoneration. When They See Us masterfully depicts how racial injustice made one tragedy beget another, exposing how these convictions were no accident – but a series of purposeful steps taken by a flawed justice system.
Watch When They See Us online via Netflix.
3. Mindhunter (2017-2019)
While not a traditional true crime show but rather a crime thriller dramatising the FBI’s start into the study of serial killers, Mindhunter is nevertheless a must-watch. Jonthan Groff and Holt McCallany shine as FBI agents who team up with Anna Torv’s psychologist to launch research into serial killers, creating what would become the Behavioral Science Unit. Cut painfully short at just two seasons, Mindhunter threads the history of serial crimes into its narrative, depicting various interview sessions with famous criminals. As the team attempts to study the psyche of killers like Edmund Kemper, Richard Speck, David Berkowitz, and even Charles Manson, they question what – if anything – creates a killer.
Watch Mindhunter online via Netflix.
4. Unsolved Mysteries (2020-present)
The most recent reboot of the iconic true crime docuseries dating back to 1987, Netflix’s Unsolved Mysterious profiles real mysteries each episode. The show reviews cold cases, notorious crimes, and even unexplained paranormal encounters through re-enactments, interviews, and more. From a family annihilation in France to mysterious lights over Michigan in the US, Unsolved Mysterious presents a full view into what may have occurred, and why these cases remain unsolved.
Watch Unsolved Mysteries online via Netflix.
5. Under the Bridge (2024)
Under the Bridge is one of the best true crime shows that demonstrates care in its handling of the real lives behind a story. Loosely based on the true crime novel of the same name by Rebecca Godfrey, Riley Keough stars as Godfrey with Lily Gladstone as a local cop/childhood friend. Delving into the murder of teenage Indian-Canadian Reena Virk in British Columbia, Under the Bridge explores the sometimes volatile nature of teen girlhood. A study of how a girl ends up murdered by a clique of teens she’s trying to befriend, this mini-series looks into the varying circumstances of life in that area. While brilliantly led by Gladstone and Keough, the younger stars like Vritika Gupta and Izzy G truly steal the spotlight.
Watch Under the Bridge online via Disney+.
6. Don’t F*ck With Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer (2019)
The name Don’t F*ck With Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer may at first sound peculiar. However, as you delve into the crowd-sourced investigation of eventual murderer Luka Magnotta, the title makes gruesome sense. Approaching crime through the eyes of amateur internet sleuths – perhaps the most polarising faction of true crime fans – the show gives an interesting take on the genre. Depicting the journey of these sleuths discovering a disturbed individual, everything eventually comes to a head with a grisly murder. Although Don’t F*ck With Cats isn’t the most polished of shows, its fascinating look into amateur investigating is worth a watch.
Watch Don’t F*ck With Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer online via Netflix.
7. The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story (2016)
The first season of the anthology series American Crime Story, The People v. O. J. Simpson goes deep into one of the most notorious murder cases in recent American history. When Nicole Brown Simpson (ex-wife of football star O. J. Simpson) and Ron Goldman are murdered in Los Angeles, a divided city brings O. J. to trial for the crime. Largely following the landmark criminal court case against the former athlete, the season is elevated by incredible performances from Sarah Paulson, Sterling K. Brown, and Courtney B. Vance. The People v. O.J. Simpson isn’t interested in simply answering the still-debated question: “did O. J. do it?” Instead, the show turns the cameras on a city wracked with racial tensions following the Rodney King case, and how these dynamics turned a murder trial into a symbolic beacon of race relations in the US.
Watch The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story online via Disney+.
