
Amidst a topsy turvy time for Netflix and TV show makers in general, one genre has proved remarkably resilient: the true crime documentary.
With subscriber numbers faltering due to an oversaturated streaming market and the ongoing cost of living crisis, true crime documentaries have remained extremely popular with subscribers. You’ll generally find at least one true crime doc in the Netflix top 10 at any one time, and so it’s no surprise dozens of the things are released every year.
UPDATE: New for 2024 we have a fresh wave of true crime documentaries for you. American Nightmare became a bit of a viral sensation at its release. Can I Tell You A Secret? has quite a different flavour as it's about cyberstalking and harassment. And the newest doc off the blocks is American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders, in which a journalist is killed after looking into reports of a global conspiracy.
Of course, quantity doesn’t necessarily equate to quality, and there are plenty of dull, shallow, or poorly judged true crime documentaries that should be dismissed out of hand. But the very best examples cast a revealing light on society’s dark underbelly, managing to entertain and inform in equal measure.
Here are 20 of the best true crime documentaries on Netflix right now. Which one is the best? You can help to decide that by voting below.
The very best true crime shows on Netflix
These are the best new Netflix documentaries you need to be watching...
SOMETHING MISSING FROM OUR SHORTLIST?
Tell us about it, and if enough people agree we'll add it in.
Most newsletters are rubbish. Ours isn't.
Get exclusive shortlists, celebrity interviews and the best deals on the products you care about, straight to your inbox.
Jon Mundy is a freelance writer with more than a dozen years of experience writing for leading tech websites such as TechRadar and Trusted Reviews.