Netflix true crime drama series Dahmer follows the horrific murders committed by serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer between 1978 and 1991. The series has broken Netflix records, jumping into the top 10 most popular English language shows, despite controversy surrounding the production.
Some family members of Dahmer’s victims spoke out against the drama, and one crew member said that watching the trailer gave her PTSD because of how she was treated during production. Roughly half a billion people have streamed some of the show, and more than 50 million households have watched the full ten episodes. The series has also seen renewed interest in other serial killer dramas and documentaries - here are our top five picks for shows to watch after Dahmer.
Conversations with a Killer
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Netflix documentary series Conversations with a Killer features audio recordings of interviews with some of the world’s most notorious serial killers. The first instalment of the series, The Ted Bundy Tapes, was released in 2019 and uses interviews with Bundy from his time on death row. The series charts his killings of at least 20 women in the 1970s.
The John Wayne Gacy Tapes, about the serial killer who killed at least 33 young men and boys in the 1970s landed on Netflix earlier this year. On 7 October, Netflix added The Jeffrey Dahmer tapes, which follows his crimes which includes the killing of 17 young men and boys, and features interviews with his defence team.
The Ripper
The Ripper is a four-part documentary series released in 2020 which follows the investigation into the Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe, who is believed to have killed more than 20 women between 1975-1980. The series explores the response to the panic caused by the killings and the Reclaim the Night movement which was started in response to night time curfews for young women.
The Ripper features shocking interviews with women who narrowly avoided becoming one of Sutcliffe’s victims as well as police officers involved in catching him. The Ripper is available to watch on Netflix now.
Des
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The three-part drama series stars David Tennant as Scottish serial killer Dennis Nilsen, and Jason Watkins plays Brian Masters, a journalist hoping to write a book based on Nilsen’s confessions.
Tennant is remarkable at the detached killer, as he strings along the police and the press as he strives to build a legacy for himself before he is sentenced. Des begins with the killer being caught after human remains block his plumbing, and he freely admitted to the murders - the series focuses on uncovering his motivations, which seem to elude even the killer himself. Des is available to watch now on the ITV Hub.
Black Bird
Six part crime series Black Bird starring Taron Egerton, Paul Walter Hauser, and Ray Liotta was released weekly on Apple TV+ over July and August this year. It follows the true story of Jimmy Keene, a con sentenced to ten years in a minimum security prison on a drugs and weapons charge who cuts a deal with the FBI.
Keene agrees to be moved to a maximum security prison where he is tasked with befriending Larry Hall, a man believed to have killed up to 50 women in the 1980s and ‘90s, and extracting a confession from him in return for an early release.
The Serpent
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The Serpent is an edge of your seat thrilling drama originally released on BBC One last year and now streaming on Netflix. The series is a dramatisation of the life of Charles Sobhraj, a murdered and thief who operated in Asia in the 1960s and ‘70s.
Nicknamed the Serpent because of his ability to avoid the authorities for years, Sobhraj was aided in his crimes by his partner Marie-Andrée Leclerc, played by Jenna Coleman - though the real-life Leclerc, who died in 1984, claimed she had been unaware of Sobhraj’s crimes. Parts of The Serpent are agonising to watch, with so many unsuspecting victims caught in Sobhraj’s web, and the authorities seemingly unable to act against him for so long.
