Top 20 True Crime Series of The Century (So Far)

Unlike many true crime shows, “The Act” is quite complicated, with difficult characters and no obvious line between good and evil. The show adapts the story of Dee Dee Blanchard and her allegedly abused daughter, Gypsy Rose. Blanchard was found dead on June 14, 2015, and both Gypsy Rose and her boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, were convicted for her killing. “The Act” is led by mesmerizing performances from Patricia Arquette and Joey King, both of whom received Emmy nominations (with Arquette winning). They give rich and nuanced turns as Dee Dee and Gypsy Rose, respectively, imbuing their characters with surprising complexity. “The Act” deftly mixes horror with psychological drama, providing viewers with a surprisingly layered true crime series.

In the pantheon of true crime, “Unsolved Mysteries” stands tall as one of the greats. The show has been on and off television since the mid ‘80s and became enormously popular thanks to its tantalizing stories and the iconic narration of the late Robert Stack. Netflix revived the series in 2020, and while Stack was painfully absent, the show still brought the excitement and intrigue. The stories are engrossing, and they set the social media sphere alight with theories. “Unsolved Mysteries” is a unique program, as it shares a distinctive give-and-take relationship with its viewers. It asks us to participate in the mystery, and that gives it a certain quality that many other true crime shows sorely lack.

The best documentaries are often the ones that illuminate a fascinating but forgotten or little-known story. “Wild Wild Country” certainly belongs in that category. The Netflix doc tells the story of Indian mystic Rajneesh and the community of his Rajneesh movement known as Rajneeshpuram. They lived in rural Oregon and allegedly carried out various atrocities. This includes giving 751 people food poisoning in 1984, which is widely considered the first instance of bioterrorism in 20th century America. The story is gripping and expertly told, offering up rich plot developments galore. It’s also an introspective and sympathetic glimpse into fanaticism and how these types of communities develop. Put simply, it’s gripping from all angles.

It seems like true crime is all the rage nowadays, and that trend continued with this show. A dramatization of the life of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, “Monster” was half character study, half monument to his many victims. The story of Dahmer is obviously one of the most popular in all of true crime, and Evan Peters received widespread acclaim for his performance. The show was also an enormous commercial success, becoming one of the most-watched English programs in Netflix’s history. Serial killer dramas are a dime a dozen, but few have the craft of “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.”

True crime isn’t just killings and disappearances. It can also be instances of blatant fraud, as is evidenced in the wonderfully-acted Hulu drama “The Dropout.” Amanda Seyfried won an Emmy for playing Elizabeth Holmes, the founder and CEO of the disgraced company Theranos. Theranos claimed that it had revolutionized the technology behind blood testing, but this was all a ruse. In actuality, Holmes was defrauding her investors, and she was eventually sentenced to just over eleven years in prison. “The Dropout,” based on the podcast of the same name, is an engrossing character study that examines the life of Holmes and explores the circumstances that led her down a criminal path.

This title promises a lot. It prepares us for a “genius” antagonist, and it claims to tell of the “most diabolical” bank heist in American history. Luckily, the show manages to meet the title’s sky-high claims. The four part documentary explores the 2003 death of Brian Wells, a pizza delivery man who robbed a bank while wearing an explosive collar. The core story is absolutely wild, and it takes viewers on a crazy ride involving bank robberies, explosions, inheritance money, and scavenger hunts. The magic of “Evil Genius” lies in the story that it tells, as it twists and turns like a captivating crime drama. It’s another binge-worthy notch in Netflix’s long belt of true crime documentaries.

America is currently in the midst of an opioid epidemic, and that epidemic is dramatized in the Peabody-winning “Dopesick.” An expansive story beautifully told, “Dopesick” follows many facets of the epidemic, including the controversial pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family. The acting throughout the show is uniformly excellent, resulting in six of the show’s fourteen Emmy nominations. Michael Keaton was the cast’s only winner, playing the composite character Dr. Samuel Finnix. The show contains difficult subject matter, as the opioid epidemic has victimized millions of people. But it’s a necessary story to tell, however painful it may be.

This HBO documentary is quite interesting. It’s not about a specific crime necessarily, but about the very business of true crime. It follows the late author Michelle McNamara as she writes her book “I'll Be Gone in the Dark,” which is about the Golden State Killer, Joseph DeAngelo. Like the documentary, McNamara’s book concerned both the case itself and the author’s process of researching and investigating it. This is evidenced in its subtitle, “One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer.” McNamara makes for an absorbing central figure, and her personal story is lovingly told by her widower and the documentary’s producer, Patton Oswalt.

The world went into lockdown in March of 2020 owing to the COVID pandemic. And while we were all hunkering down in our homes, we turned on Netflix and became entranced by one show. And that show was “Tiger King.” It’s easy to see why the true crime documentary captivated audiences around the world. It tells an enthralling story and stars a very colorful cast of characters, including the now-famous Carole Baskin and the mulleted Joe Exotic. An old disappearance, animals that may have consumed human meat, the reported abuse of wildlife - it’s all entwined in this ridiculously bizarre documentary. We’ve never seen anything like “Tiger King,” and that’s exactly why we love it.

For those of us who have a morbid fascination with drug empires, you can’t do much better than “Narcos.” This Spanish-language show from Netflix is largely remembered for its first two seasons, which followed the most notorious drug kingpin in history, Pablo Escobar. Brazilian actor Wagner Moura shone as Escobar, sprinkling in a little sympathy with the cold-blooded and dead-eyed brutality. “Narcos” came pre-equipped with the spellbinding true story of Pablo Escobar, and it tells this story with a commendable degree of accuracy. The titular narcos make for intriguing villain protagonists, and while they are written and performed with a humanistic edge, the show never once sugarcoats their deplorable actions. Add in some notable editing and cinematography, and you have an unforgettable crime drama.

The first season of this FX anthology drama proved that true crime could be art. Millions of people know the infamous story of O.J. Simpson, but that didn’t make this show any less engrossing. The themes and problems that the story presents are just as topical today as they were in the mid ‘90s, including issues of race, media, and celebrity. The show is remarkably produced, and the cast is absolutely stacked with outstanding performances. There’s not a single dud in the mix, and everyone turns in career-best roles - even screen veterans like John Travolta. With a staggering 22 Emmy nominations and nine wins, “The People v. O. J. Simpson” is not just an exceptional true crime drama - it’s an exceptional show, period.

Netflix sure knows how to produce a memorable true crime series. “When They See Us” tells the real story of a white woman who was assaulted in Central Park back in 1989. The innocent Central Park Five were infamously convicted of the crime, based mostly on the color of their skin and the false confessions they were coerced into giving. Helmed by Ava DuVernay, “When They See Us” uses a historic story to speak on various issues currently plaguing America, ranging from racial profiling to sexual violence and wrongful convictions. It’s also filled with some illustrious filmmaking, including an Emmy-winning performance from Jharrel Jerome. This miniseries tells a harrowing story with marvelous skill.

At the time, the Chernobyl disaster was the worst nuclear accident in human history. In the early morning of April 26, 1986, a reactor at the Soviet Union’s Chernobyl plant exploded, sending enormous amounts of dangerous radiation into the air. This excellent miniseries explores how the accident occurred, how it was cleaned up, and how the willful ignorance of a civilization made a bad situation even worse. The show serves as a dire warning, but it also makes for terrific entertainment and is astoundingly produced. The winner of a Peabody Award and ten Primetime and Creative Arts Emmys combined, including Outstanding Limited Series, “Chernobyl” is a modern masterpiece of television.

Back in November of 1969, a Catholic nun and high school teacher named Catherine Cesnik disappeared. She was found dead a few months later, and her killing remains unsolved. Who committed the atrocity? What were their potential motives? And was there a cover-up to silence the exposure of a systemic issue? Those are the questions at the heart of “The Keepers,” a tantalizing Netflix documentary that runs for seven equally-gripping episodes. The mysterious story is enticing, and it’s told with impeccable craft, complete with many questions and lots of time-hopping. In the pantheon of Netflix true crime documentaries, “The Keepers” is certainly near the top.

We don’t know what’s more attention-grabbing - the content of this documentary, or its bizarre title. It’s all about the hunt for a Canadian man named Luka Magnotta, who uploaded his killing of Jun Lin to the internet. The title was inspired by Magnotta’s previous videos, which saw him killing cats with a vacuum. The dark story is quite well told, unraveling from animal cruelty to homicide. It also offers an enthralling look into the world of internet sleuthing, as a small group of Facebook detectives aim to identify and find Magnotta through various clues in his videos. For anyone who loves playing private investigator, this Netflix documentary is a must watch.

There is no other documentary like “The Staircase.” This production utilizes the passing of time for its own unending quality, spanning over ten years to cover the story of Michael Peterson. The original documentary ran in the mid 2000s, shortly after Peterson was charged for killing his wife, Kathleen. A two-hour special and extra Netflix episodes were added throughout the years, following Peterson’s surprise release from prison and his subsequent Alford plea that allowed him to remain a free man. It was amazing to watch this enticing story unravel almost in real time, and it proved how documentaries could utilize flexibility and updates to keep up with current events. And in the end, it left behind one frustrating question - did he do it? Meanwhile, in 2022, HBO Max released a biographical drama of the same name based on this docuseries.

Wrongful convictions are a major problem within the American prison system, and “The Innocence Files” explores it with passion and sympathy. A Netflix miniseries, this documentary runs for nine episodes and covers various true stories of wrongful conviction and exoneration. It tells its sad stories through the lens of The Innocence Project, a nonprofit that seeks to free those who are falsely imprisoned. The project’s co-founders, Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck, appear regularly throughout the documentary, taking us through the individual stories and speaking on the institutional problem as a whole. Dramatic if endlessly frustrating, “The Innocence Files” is a true crime documentary told through the eyes of the guiltless.

A few true crime documentaries become genuine pop culture sensations, and “Making a Murderer” is one of them. The story follows Steven Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey, both of whom were convicted and imprisoned for the killing of Teresa Halbach. The documentary seemingly takes the sides of Avery and Dassey, portraying them as victims of bias and shoddy legal work. It was a bonafide hit for Netflix, prompting an enormous public reaction, a White House petition, four Emmy awards, and yes, lots of controversy. Its twist-filled story and sympathetic characters captured the attention of a nation and generated widespread discussion. What else can you ask for in a true crime documentary?

David Fincher and true crime: name a more iconic duo. A beloved if short-lived Netflix drama, “Mindhunter” followed the start of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit, which hoped to explore the psychology of serial killers and other criminals. And what a group this show assembled. Included were the likes of Edmund Kemper, Jerry Brudos, David Berkowitz, and Charles Manson, all of whom were written and performed to perfection. “Mindhunter” forgoes the typical true crime brutality in favor of rich character work and uncomfortable explorations of evil. It was also marvelously made, with Fincher lending the show his signature bleak style. Unfortunately, Fincher stepped away from the series after its second season, leaving behind a lot of irate Netflix subscribers who desperately needed more.

Netflix has released a lot of great stuff, but this masterclass from HBO reigns supreme. “The Jinx” aired for six weeks between February and March of 2015, generating consistent critical acclaim along the way. It tells the story of American real estate heir Robert Durst, who has been linked to various killings and disappearances - including that of his wife, Kathie. Not only does “The Jinx” contain an expertly told story, but it also showcased the power and widespread influence of documentary filmmaking. Durst was arrested shortly before the show concluded - an arrest that some argue came about through its many revelations. A magnetic story and real world ramifications collide to create one of the greatest true crime documentaries of all time.