10 of the best true crime dramas to watch now
True crime drama series continue to capture our curiosity and fascination with the macabre, with an onslaught of upcoming mainstream TV adaptations of infamous real-life cases being made.
While many make for compelling viewing, others present a fresh perspective on a time in history through a modern-lens which can be informative and educational.
So as we await new all the new true crime dramas that have been temporarily halted due to the coronavirus pandemic, here are round-up of gripping adaptations based on real-life people and crimes available to watch now.
Mindhunter
David Fincher's dark and unsettling Netflix drama follows charismatic FBI agents Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) and Bill Tench (Holt McCallany) as they attempt to analyse the psychology of serial killers in their 1970s Behavioural Science Unit.
The understated, slow-burn drama features the detectives trying to get into the mind of a killer as they interview real-life serial killers including Edmund Kemper, Dennis Rader and Jerry Brudos. Season two sees the agents meeting Charles Manson and discovering the shocking Atlanta child murders.
Appropriate Adult
Neil McKay's BAFTA award-winning 2011 drama views Fred and Rosemary West's gruesome and sadistic crimes from the perspective of real-life social worker Janet Leach (played by Emily Watson) who accompanied Fred (Dominic West) during police interviews.
Leach was a 38-year-old mother-of-five and unpaid volunteer when she was asked to sit in on Fred's questioning in 1994 - unaware of his abhorrent murders with wife Rosemary. The series focuses on their interactions and his subsequent attachment to Leach, and how she refused to continue to be his appropriate adult unless he confessed to his crimes.
The Moorside
Sheridan Smith takes the lead as Julie Bushby, a concerned community member who organises the search party for missing Yorkshire schoolgirl Shannon Matthews. Based on the true story of Shannon's kidnapping in 2008 - calculated by her mother Karen and boyfriend Michael Donovan - this story is told through the eyes of Julie, who was close friends with Karen, as Shannon's whereabouts are finally discovered.
Gentleman Jack star Gemma Whelan is unrecognisable and utterly convincing as Karen Matthews.
Dirty John
Based on the LA Times podcast from investigative journalist Christopher Goffard, Dirty John is the foreboding story of twisted conman John Meehan, who ingratiates himself into the life of a wealthy and naive widow in Los Angeles. Debra Newell meets supposed surgeon Meehan online before beginning a whirlwind relationship with him, despite protestations from her suspicious family. Their affair culminates in a violent altercation. Eric Bana, Ozark's Julia Garner, Connie Britton and Juno Temple make up the star cast.
Fans of the anthology series can look forward to the next series chronicling the high-profile divorce of Dan and Betty Broderick, which ended in murder.
The Assassination of Gianni Versace
Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning Darren Criss gives a chilling performance as serial killer Andrew Cunanan in the lead-up to his assassination of Gianni Versace in 1997. Ryan Murphy's drama unspools back in time as Cunanan transitions from narcissistic fantasist to cold-blooded murderer, and details the homophobia of the US government during Bill Clinton's presidency in the late 1990s.
The next instalment in the award-winning anthology series will be based on Bill Clinton's affair with intern Monica Lewinsky, with Lewinsky serving as producer.
Unbelievable
Adapted from the Pulitzer prize-winning ProPublica/Marshall Project story, Unbelievable centres on a young woman who is charged by police for recanting her story of rape. Two female detectives step forward and tirelessly unravel the truth in this astonishing true story.
Kaitlyn Dever, Merritt Wever and Toni Collette give award-worthy performances in the unflinching eight-part drama.
Quiz
ITV's three-part drama Quiz explores how Diana and Charles Ingram who were convicted of fraud for cheating their way to the £1million prize on Who Wants to be a Millionaire back in 2001. The series aims to tell the story from the perspective of the creators of the show, and the Ingrams themselves -who were harassed and abused by the press and public during their trial.
The Act
Patricia Arquette and Joey King play tragic real-life mother and daughter Dee Dee and Gypsy Blanchard in this disturbing true story. Dee Dee - who is believed to have suffered from Munchausen syndrome by proxy - brutally controlled her young daughter and made money off of her by faking her illnesses, until Gypsy and her boyfriend conspired against her.
When They See Us
Ava DuVernay's Emmy award-winning drama gives a harrowing account of racial injustice in America in 1989, when five teens from Harlem are ripped from their families and falsely accused of raping a jogger in Central park.
The distressing four-part drama makes for uncomfortable but essential viewing, and features an impressive ensemble cast including Michael Kenneth Williams, Niecy Nash, Jharrel Jerome, Marquis Rodriguez and John Leguizamo.
White House Farm
ITV's drama is based on the horrific murders of five members of the same family at an Essex farmhouse in 1985, and the ensuing police investigation and court case that follows. Freddie Fox plays the seemingly grieving family member Jeremy Bamber, who discovers the gruesome crime scene, and soon becomes the number one suspect.
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