The 37 Best True Crime Shows to Binge-Watch
From award-winning prestige dramas to compelling docuseries.
I can’t always handle horror movies and TV shows. Between the unexpected gore they'll sometimes throw at you—I'm looking at you, American Horror Story—and the jump-scares that exist solely to make you, you know, jump? No thanks.
So, when I want to feel a little freaked out, I watch true crime shows. Nothing jumps out at me, and while they're sometimes gory, it's in that archival footage, "based on a true story" way that’s a little less visceral. Plus, true crime shows force me to confront the inherent darkness of the human condition and the knowledge that those capable of the most heinous acts walk among us without ever calling attention to the horrors of their mind. So, you know, win-win!
The last few years have seen—and continue to see—a lot of spooky, riveting, can’t-believe-it’s-real true crime shows, both documentary and dramatization. This list contains the best of the best, the most compelling of the genre. And, once you've binge-watched them all, you can expand into other media and check out our guides to the best true crime books and podcasts, too. (Content Warning: The series on this list and this article include mentions of murder, suicide, assault, sexual assault, and child abuse.)
The Best True Crime Anthology Series
'The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story' (2018)
This dramatization centers on the divergent lives of fashion designer Gianni Versace (played by Édgar Ramirez) and his killer, Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss), delving both backward through their origin stories and forward toward that fateful, cataclysmic meeting in the summer of 1997.
Episode Count: 1 season, 9 episodes total
'Dirty John' (20182020)
After a first season that focused on the titular serial abuser and con man, Dirty John morphed into a true-crime anthology series. The second installment focused on the story of Betty Broderick, a woman who was convicted of murdering her ex-husband and his second wife in 1989.
Episode Count: 2 seasons, 16 episodes total
'Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story' (2024)
This nine-part show, technically the second season in yet another Ryan Murphy-led true crime anthology series, Monster, garnered nearly a dozen Emmy nominations for its deep dive into the dark tale of the Menendez brothers, who were convicted of the 1989 murders of their parents.
Episode Count: 1 season, 9 episodes total
'The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story' (2016)
If you grew up in the '90s, you'll remember the shocking murder trial against a pro football star accused of killing his wife and another man. However, it's worth watching this riveting miniseries to remember what actually happened. It's a cliché, but in this case, truth really is stranger than fiction.
Episode Count: 1 season, 10 episodes total
The Best True Crime Drama Series
'Mindhunter' (20172019)
In theory, this shouldn't be as compelling as it is: 1970s FBI agents are tasked with interviewing and profiling serial killers for the first time. But in the hands of David Fincher, it's extremely compelling TV, watching the most prolific killers of all time—Charles Manson, Richard Speck, you name it—talk about why they did what they did.
Episode Count: 2 seasons, 19 episodes total
The Best Limited True Crime Series
'Apple Cider Vinegar' (2025)
This Netflix adaptation of the book The Woman Who Fooled the World tells the story of Belle Gibson (played by Kaitlyn Dever), an Australian woman who claimed (fraudulently, of course) that pseudoscientific alternative medicines had cured her cancer and gained a major following as a wellness influencer.
Episode Count: 1 season, 6 episodes total
'Des' (2020)
If you're looking for a dramatization of a real-life murderer, David Tennant is deeply bone-chilling as Dennis Nilsen. The Scottish serial killer preyed on men and boys in the '70s and '80s in London, and Tennant nails the almost blasé attitude Nilsen had when finally caught.
Episode Count: 1 season, 3 episodes total
'The Dropout' (2022)
This critically acclaimed Hulu series charts the saga of Theranos, the one-drop blood analysis company founded by Elizabeth Holmes that was ultimately found to have been defrauding investors and patients for almost all of its high-flying existence. Amanda Seyfried plays the infamous scammer to chilling (and award-winning) results.
Episode Count: 1 season, 8 episodes total
'The Girl From Plainville' (2022)
Elle Fanning is eerily spot-on playing the titular young woman, Michelle Carter, in this miniseries. In a precedent-setting case, she was convicted in 2017 of involuntary manslaughter for having encouraged her boyfriend to kill himself in text messages leading up to his death.
Episode Count: 1 season, 8 episodes total
'Happy Face' (2025)
In 2009, Melissa Moore published a memoir about growing up as the daughter of the serial killer dubbed the “Happy Face Killer,” which she followed up with a podcast series, "Happy Face," in 2018. This dramatization is based on the podcast, with Annaleigh Ashford playing Moore as she navigates her complicated relationship with her father (played by Dennis Quaid), who is giving her hints from jail about yet another murder he committed.
Episode Count: 1 season, 8 episodes total
'Inventing Anna' (2022)
Whether or not you already know the whole story of Anna Delvey—who pretended to be an ultra-wealthy German heiress to scam her way into lavish parties, hotel rooms, vacations, and multimillion-dollar loans—this dramatized take on her years-long con (starring Julia Garner in the lead role) is worth a watch for anyone morbidly fascinated by real-life scammers.
Episode Count: 1 season, 9 episodes total
'Love Death' (2023)
In 1980, Candy Montgomery was accused of having stabbed Betty Gore, the wife of her former lover, 41 times with an axe. Candy claimed she was acting in self-defense after Betty attacked her first, and, somewhat shockingly, she was ultimately acquitted of the crime. Her story has since been dramatized multiple times, including in the 2022 Hulu series Candy starring Jessica Biel, and here, with Elizabeth Olsen stepping into her shoes for HBO Max’s prestige drama take on the case.
Episode Count: 1 season, 7 episodes total
'The Staircase' (2022)
The case of Kathleen Peterson’s mysterious 2001 death has been the basis of two hit TV shows. First, it was explored in a 2004 docuseries that tracked Peterson’s husband Michael’s trial for the crime—and was later expanded with a three-episode follow-up in 2018—and then in this 2022 dramatization. Colin Firth and Toni Collette star as the Petersons in the series, which takes a less sympathetic view of Michael than the docuseries, diving deep into their personalities and marriage, and the three prevailing theories for Kathleen’s death.
Episode Count: 1 season, 8 episodes total
'Unbelievable' (2019)
This miniseries adapted the story of an 18-year-old woman (played by Kaitlyn Dever) who reported being sexually assaulted at knifepoint and then took the report back when the investigators didn't believe her. Her case was later taken up by two female detectives (Toni Collette and Merritt Wever) from another state investigating a serial rapist.
Episode Count: 1 season, 8 episodes total
'Under the Banner of Heaven' (2022)
Based on Jon Krakauer’s (extremely good) 2003 account of the crime, this miniseries follows a 1984 Utah murder case in which two brothers associated with extremist Mormon fundamentalism were convicted of killing their sister-in-law and young niece.
Episode Count: 1 season, 7 episodes total
'Under the Bridge' (2024)
Another true crime miniseries based on a critically acclaimed book—this one by Rebecca Godfrey—Under the Bridge explores the tragic 1997 death of a 14-year-old girl, for which her peers were accused. The story is largely told through the eyes of a local police officer, played by Lily Gladstone, and an investigative reporter: a fictionalized version of Godfrey herself, played by Riley Keough.
Episode Count: 1 season, 8 episodes total
'When They See Us' (2019)
This four-part series from Ava DuVernay is based on the real-life "Central Park Five" case. The dramatization follows the tragic tale from the night the five teenagers were arrested in 1989 all the way to their long-awaited exoneration in 2002 and subsequent quests for compensation and normalcy, earning countless awards and nominations for the powerful retelling.
Episode Count: 1 season, 4 episodes total
The Best True Crime Docuseries
'Atlanta's Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children' (2020)
This docuseries attempts to make sense of the killings of at least 30 Black children, teens, and adults from 1979 to 1981 in Atlanta. A local man was convicted of two of the adult murders in 1982, and though police have since attributed several of the child murders to the same man, he has maintained his innocence, and no formal charges have been brought. The Atlanta police reopened the case in 2019 in hopes of finally finding conclusive evidence to solve the murders, but they have yet to share any such results.
Episode Count: 1 season, 5 episodes total
'A Body in the Snow: The Trial of Karen Read' (2025)
Across five episodes, A Body in the Snow dives into the death of Boston police officer John O’Keefe and the ensuing 2024 murder trial. His girlfriend, Karen Read, was accused of hitting O’Keefe with her car and leaving the scene, to which her defense team argued that she was actually the victim of a frame job.
Episode Count: 1 season, 5 episodes total
'Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke' (2025)
Ruby Franke was a successful family vlogger until 2023, when she and a friend, Jodi Hildebrandt, were arrested and charged with aggravated abuse of two of Franke’s six children. This three-part docuseries—made with participation from Franke’s ex-husband and two eldest children—is full of genuinely shocking, disturbing details about the whole ordeal, while also remaining sensitive to the victims of the women’s crimes.
Episode Count: 1 season, 3 episodes total
'Fear City: New York vs. The Mafia' (2020)
This docuseries follows the investigation into and subsequent takedown of N.Y.C.'s Five Families: the Gambino, Colombo, Bonanno, Lucchese, and Genovese crime families. It's told from the FBI's point of view, focusing largely on how the agency used wiretaps to finally earn a significant win over the mobsters in the Mafia Commission Trial of the 1980s.
Episode Count: 1 season, 3 episodes total
'How to Fix a Drug Scandal' (2020)
This documentary series focuses on the criminal behavior of drug lab chemists Sonja Farak and Annie Dookhan—with Dookhan falsifying drug tests to look ultra-productive and Farak tampering with evidence to get high herself. Though the women acted independently in their crimes, altogether they led to tens of thousands of drug counts in Massachusetts being dismissed.
Episode Count: 1 season, 4 episodes total
'I Am a Killer' (20182025)
This long-running and often chilling series differs from many other true crime programs in that it allows convicted murderers to speak for themselves, via extensive interviews from death row. There's also a follow-up three-part series, subtitled Released, that follows a convicted murderer after being released on parole.
Episode Count: 6 seasons, 44 episodes total
'I'll Be Gone in the Dark' (20202021)
This series tracks the late true crime writer Michelle McNamara's quest to uncover the identity of the Golden State Killer, including her death by accidental opioid overdose before she could finish her book on the subject, and the conviction that her work ultimately helped produce. After the first six episodes were released in 2020, a special seventh episode arrived a year later with updates about the case.
Episode Count: 1 season, 7 episodes total
'The Innocence Files' (2020)
Based on the work of the Innocence Project, each episode of this series focuses on a different wrongful conviction case, delving not only into the details of each case but also into the far-reaching impacts of wrongful convictions far beyond their primary subjects.
Episode Count: 1 season, 9 episodes total
'Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich' (2020)
Based on the 2016 book of the same name by James Patterson, the four-part series tells the stories of Jeffrey Epstein's survivors and sheds light on how he used his power and influence to commit his crimes.
Episode Count: 1 season, 4 episodes total
'The Jinx' (20152024)
This HBO docuseries kicked off a renaissance of well-researched, riveting true crime content. Robert Durst was accused of three murders and spoke to producers directly about his take on what happened, leading up to an epic reveal at the end of season 1 that you won't see coming.
Episode Count: 2 seasons, 12 episodes total
'Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez' (2020)
The three-part docuseries tracks the rise, fall, and eventual death by suicide of NFL football player Aaron Hernandez after he was sentenced to life in prison following his conviction for the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd.
Episode Count: 1 season, 3 episodes total
'Making a Murderer' (20152018)
This hit Netflix docuseries follows the saga of Steven Avery. If you happened to miss this particular mid-2010s phenomenon, a quick refresher: The Wisconsin man was released from prison after serving 18 years for a crime he didn't commit, then was accused of another murder shortly after his release.
Episode Count: 2 seasons, 20 episodes total
'The Pharmacist' (2020)
This four-part series starts with Louisiana pharmacist Dan Schneider setting out on a quest to find the person responsible for killing his son in 1999 during a crack cocaine deal. That journey ultimately sends Schneider into a battle against a local "pill mill" doctor in the early days of the opioid crisis.
Episode Count: 1 season, 4 episodes total
'Ted Bundy: Falling for a Killer' (2020)
In this docuseries, Ted Bundy's long-time girlfriend, Elizabeth Kendall, her daughter, Molly, and other survivors break their silence about the infamous serial killer for the first time.
Episode Count: 1 season, 5 episodes total
'Tiger King' (2020-2021)
Joe Exotic, the eccentric owner of the G.W. Zoo in Oklahoma, courted controversy for years, thanks to his breeding and treatment of the big cats in his care. His high-profile rivalry with Big Cat Rescue CEO and advocate Carole Baskin eventually escalated to the point that Exotic was convicted in a federal murder-for-hire case for allegedly hiring a hitman to kill Baskin.
Episode Count: 3 seasons, 16 episodes total
'Trial by Media' (2020)
Each episode of this series explores a famous court case and dissects how media coverage impacted the outcome of the case. Among those featured are Rod Blagojevich (pictured here), the former Illinois governor who was found guilty of corruption for attempting to sell Barack Obama's Senate seat after his election to the presidency.
Episode Count: 1 season, 6 episodes total
'The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez' (2020)
This six-part miniseries details the horrific abuse and eventual 2013 murder of Gabriel Fernandez, an 8-year-old boy from Palmdale, California, and the ensuing court cases against his mother and her boyfriend for the crimes.
Episode Count: 1 season, 6 episodes total
'Unsolved Mysteries' (1987 )
The beloved and strange TV show of the '80s, '90s, and 2000s received a Netflix reboot in 2020, which so far has proved to be just as addictive as the original. Fun fact about Unsolved Mysteries: It has led to several mysteries being solved!
Episode Count: 17 seasons, 611 episodes total
'The Vow' (20202022)
The series digs deep into the alleged sex cult NXIVM and its leader, Keith Raniere. After the first season dissected the cult's activities and tactics, complete with plenty of firsthand evidence and interviews with former members, season 2 went even deeper while covering Raniere's trial for sex trafficking, racketeering, and several other crimes.
Episode Count: 2 seasons, 15 episodes total
'Who Killed Malcolm X?' (2020)
This docuseries focuses on Abdur-Rahman Muhammad, a historian who has dedicated more than 30 years to investigating the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X. In 2021, following the show's release, the Manhattan district attorney ended up throwing out the convictions of two men who had each served 20 years in prison after being falsely accused of having a hand in the crime.
Episode Count: 1 season, 6 episodes total