All the true crime TV dramas coming in 2021
True crime dramatisations dominated our television screens last year, and the nation's appetite for the macabre shows no signs of abating in 2021.
BBC, ITV and Netflix will air dramas based on some of the most infamous cases in the UK and beyond, and feature acclaimed actors transforming into real-life serial killers.
Here are the series we can expect to be released later this year...
The Pembrokeshire Murders (ITV)
Luke Evans is the detective in charge in ITV's series The Pembrokeshire Murders, which depicts the pursuit of a cold-blooded serial killer.
The three-part drama is adapted from the true crime book Catching the Bullseye Killer, written by Senior Investigating Officer Steve Wilkins and ITV news journalist Jonathan Hill. Beauty and the Beast's Evans plays Wilkins, who in 2006 reopened two unsolved double murders from the 1980s.
Employing pioneering forensic methods, Wilkins and his handpicked team found microscopic DNA and fibres that potentially linked the murders to a string of burglaries committed in the 80s and 90s.
The cast also includes Keith Allen as John Cooper, Owen Teale as Gerard Elias, Alexandria Riley as Jackie Richards, Caroline Berry as Pat Cooper, Oliver Ryan as Andrew Cooper and David Fynn as ITV News journalist Jonathan Hill.
The Pembrokeshire Murders is airing on ITV now.
Four Lives (BBC One)
Stephen Merchant has transformed into real-life serial killer Stephen Port for BBC One's upcoming factual drama, which has now changed its name from The Barking Murders to Four Lives.
The series aims to go behind the sensational headlines by telling the case from the perspective of the families of Stephen Port's victims, and focus on their fight to uncover the truth about what had happened to their lost sons and brothers in the face of a now widely criticised police investigation.
The series is created by Jeff Pope and Neil McKay, whose credits include The Moorside, a dramatisation of the 2008 disappearance of 9-year-old Shannon Matthews, and Appropriate Adult, about serial killer Fred West.
The cast also includes Sheridan Smith, who plays Sarah Sak, the mother of 23-year-old victim Anthony Walgate, and Jaime Winstone.
Last year, actor Michael Jibson confirmed that the series was being postponed due to the ongoing criminal case.
Four Lives will launch on BBC One later this year.
The Serpent (BBC)
Jenna Coleman leads BBC and Netflix's The Serpent alongside acclaimed French actor Tahar Rahim as Charles Sobrhaj, one of the most elusive criminals of the 20th century.
Coleman plays Marie-Andrée Leclerc, Sobhraj's partner and frequent accomplice, with Billy Howle and Ellie Bamber cast as Herman and Angela Knippenberg.
Charles Sobhraj was the chief suspect in the unsolved murders of up to 20 young Western travellers across India, Thailand and Nepal's 'Hippie Trail' in 1975 and 1976, becoming Interpol's most wanted man at the time and had arrest warrants on three different continents.
The eight-part series also features Alice Englert (Top of the Lake), Mathilde Warnier (The Widow), Gregoire Isvarine (The Inside Game), Sahajak Boonthanakit (Only God Forgives), Fabien Frankel (Last Christmas), and Chicha Amatayakul (Girl From Nowhere).
The Serpent is airing on BBC One now and available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
Impeachment: American Crime Story (FX and BBC Two)
The next instalment in Ryan Murphy's anthology series will focus on Bill Clinton's abuse of power and subsequent affair with Monica Lewinsky between 1995 and 1997.
Booksmart's Beanie Feldstein will play Monica, who was a 22-year-old White House intern at the time, while British actor Clive Owen will play Clinton, who was 49 at the time. Sarah Paulson is playing Linda Tripp, and Annaleigh Ashford stars as Paula Jones.
Murphy recruited Monica Lewinsky to produce the series, so we will finally see the story from her perspective.
American Crime Story will air later this year on FX and BBC Two.
Mansfield Murderers (Sky Atlantic and NOW TV)
This four-part crime drama follows the shocking story of Susan and Christopher Edwards who murdered Susan's parents and buried their bodies in the garden.
Susan and Christopher Edwards shot Patricia and William Wycherley and buried them at the Wycherleys' home in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, in 1998.
The couple then stole thousands of pounds, and spent many of it on Hollywood memorabilia, before being found guilty in 2014.
Oscar-winner Olivia Colman will play Susan, and Giri/Haji and Flowers' star and writer Will Sharpe will direct.
Mansfield Murders will launch on Sky Atlantic and Now TV later this year.
My Name is Lizzie (Channel 4)
The Virtues actress Niamh Algar leads the cast in a four-part drama examining the controversial honeytrap at the heart of one of Britain's most high-profile cases.
The series shines a light on the high-pressure investigation into the devastating murder of Rachel Nickell in 1992. Revealing the complicated and toxic sexual politics of the early '90s and the police's obsession with the wrong man, a female undercover officer, codename 'Lizzie James', is asked to become sexual bait for a suspected killer.
With access to previously unheard audio, video and written materials, My Name is Lizzie includes scenes of verbatim dialogue as part of a fictionalised retelling of events, taking viewers behind the scenes of one of the UK’s most flawed and controversial police investigations.
My Name is Lizzie airs on Channel 4 later this year.
Anne (ITV)
ITV's four-part drama follows the real-life story of activist Anne Williams, who dedicated her life to campaigning for justice following her son’s death at Hillsborough. Written by novelist Kevin Sampson, who was present at Hillsborough Stadium on the tragic day that ninety-six football fans died, Anne stood defiantly alongside other parents and their families who fought for justice for the 96 loved ones who lost their lives at a football match.
Determined to unearth the truth about Hillsborough, Anne refused to believe the official line on how the disaster unfolded, seeking new medical opinion, tracking down witnesses whose statements were altered, and leaving no stone unturned in her fight for truth and justice.
Maxine Peake (above, in BBC One's award-winning Three Girls) will star as Anne Williams.
Inventing Anne (Netflix
Anne will air on ITV later this year.
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