Top 26 Best True Crime Series on Netflix of All Time

By Romey Norton
Published: January 16, 2023 (Last updated: last month)
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Here is our Top 26 Best and Highest Rated True Crime Series on Netflix of All Time list. Keep this list handy for the greatest true crime series on Netflix.

While it might seem audiences have become a little obsessed with True Crime documentaries over the last five years, the genre has been popular way before that. In this modern era, viewers are lucky enough to have multiple services available that produce this content. We have podcasts, online streaming, and networks such as Netflix that have devoted time and effort to in-depth reporting on real-life cases, and from what we can tell, this trend isn’t stopping anytime soon.  

This is a list of the Best and Highest Rated True Crime Series on Netflix of all time. We’ll be updating this list every 2 months to keep you informed. 

Top 26 Best and Highest Rated True Crime Series on Netflix of All Time

26. Trial By Media (2020) 

In this 6-part series, some of the most dramatic trials of all time are examined with a focus on how the media may have impacted the verdicts. Directed by Skye Borgman, Garrett Bradley, Yance Ford, and Brian McGinn, this series gives its viewers an in-depth look into the pivotal part the media (television and newspaper coverage) plays in the outcome of four cases from the 1990s and 2000s. 

RT Score: 86%

25. The Most Hated Man on the Internet (2022) 

This is the incredible story of one mother’s love and who made it her mission to get justice for her daughter, after the self-styled “King of Revenge Porn” released nude photos of her daughter and posted them online. The revenge-porn advocate had done this to multiple women of all ages across the internet, as the internet was just becoming popular, and people thought and treated him like he was a God. Luckily, one woman was not having this misogynistic woman-hater ruin her daughter’s life and reputation. 

RT Score: 86% 

24. How to Fix a Drug Scandal (2020) 

How to Fix a Drug Scandal is a true crime documentary miniseries that revolves around documentary filmmaker Erin Lee Carr following the effects of crime drug lab chemists Sonja Farak and Annie Dookhan who tampered with evidence. This series shows audiences how they tampered and the aftereffects of this.  

RT Score: 86 % 

23. Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story (2022) 

A dark piece in British modern history. Jimmy Savile was a charming TV star who stole the heart of the nation with his eccentricity and philanthropy. Savile was also famous for helping charities across England, raising millions each year. However, sexual abuse allegations exposed an unseen side of his persona, which then lead to hundreds of people coming forward saying that they had been assaulted by Savile in their younger years. This documentary looks at the rise and fall of the Northern TV star. 

RT Score: 86%  

22. Sophie: A Murder in West Cork (2021)  

This infuriating documentary takes place in 1996 in Ireland. Where French TV producer Sophie Toscan du Plantier is found beaten to death outside her holiday home in West Cork, Ireland. The case attracted so much attention that the investigation into her murder became a national obsession in Ireland and France. This part of Ireland had never had such a dramatic case, and evidence is destroyed and lost by locals coming to see the scene, so the search for the killer and justice remains.  

RT Score: 87%  

21. Eat the Rich: The GameStop Saga (2022) 

Wall Street big-boy bullies take a dramatic hit when Millennial misfits band together online to rescue their beloved GameStop from the clutches of Wall Street. This is a true David Vs. Goliath story for the modern world, as it’s all done online. Here we see the little, geeky man take down the men in suits, and it’s rather satisfying to watch.  

RT Score: 88% 

20. The Pharmacist (2020) 

The Pharmacist tells the true story of Dan Schneider, a small-town pharmacist who, after losing his son in a drug-related shooting, embarks on a crusade to bring a reckoning against the powerful figures behind the nation’s devastating opioid epidemic. Whilst trying to solve the mystery of the son, he uncovers some major plot twists. 

RT Score: 89%

19. Murder Among the Mormons (2021)  

In this documentary, we see a global church shaken to its core, as there is a killer in the Mormon community. In this real true crime story audiences are taken on an in-depth investigative journey into finding the culprit who’s causing chaos in the church.  

RT Score: 89% 

18. Wormwood (2017)  

This documentary is created by Oscar-winning filmmaker Errol Morris, as he examines the 1953 death of scientist and CIA employee Frank Olson. Olson fell from a New York City hotel room and was first ruled as suicide. Then a report tied his death to a top-secret experiment. In this documentary we follow Olson’s son, Eric, on his quest that has taken decades, to find out what exactly happened to his father. 

RT Score: 90% 

17. The Devil Next Door (2019)  

With five episodes this docuseries tells the true story of a Cleveland grandfather who is brought to trial in Israel, accused of being the infamous Nazi death camp guard Ivan the Terrible. This is an intense investigation and serious look into World War two.  

RT Score: 91%  

16. Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey (2022) 

This is the story of the rise of Warren Jeffs in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and his criminal case. This series sees how Jeff’s used his religion to control and manipulate people (mostly women and children) from what they wear to who they marry. Having multiple wives himself, he was accused of sexual assault, and rape of both adults and minors. This must be seen to be believed.  

RT Score: 91% 

15. The Keepers (2019) 

Cathy Cesnik was a beloved nun and Catholic high school teacher in Baltimore. After disappearing on Nov. 7, 1969, Cesnik’s body was found nearly two months later, and the killer was never caught. In the ’90s one of Cesnik’s former students accused the high school’s chaplain of sexual abuse and claims that she was taken to Cesnik’s then-undiscovered corpse and threatened. Through conversations with friends, relatives, journalists, government officials, and Baltimore citizens, The Keepers tries to piece together what really happened and discover the truth.  

RT Score: 97%

14. Wild Wild Country (2018) 

People are creatures of habit and do not like change. This docuseries chronicles the conflict, which leads to the first bioterror attack in the United States and a massive case of illegal wiretapping after a guru builds a utopian city in the Oregon desert and upset the locals. Brothers Mark and Jay Duplass serve as executive producers on the series as they learn about the history of the Wild Country and battles between the state and the church.  

RT Score: 98% 

13. The Confession Tapes (2017)  

This series explores cases in which a murder suspect made a confession but then later backtracked. Which asks the question: When is a confession not a confession? Often confessions have been involuntary, coerced, or false. Episodes include interviews with investigators, lawyers, wrongful conviction experts, and people close to those involved in the cases. Audio and video recordings of the suspects’ interactions with members of law enforcement are also presented to help determine the legality of the confessions.  

RT Score: 100%  

12. The Innocent Files (2020) 

This is a very interesting documentary series where audiences get to witness the untold personal stories behind eight cases of wrongful conviction that the Innocence Project and organizations within the Innocence Network have uncovered and worked to overturn. Truly horrifying and inspiring, it’s not surprising it has a perfect 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes.  

RT Score: 100% 

11. Sins of our Mother (2022)  

A true crime horror story of Lori Vallow’s children vanishing into thin air, and the search for them heightens suspicious deaths, apocalyptic beliefs, and murder. It’s a shocking story, with first-class interviews with family, friends, and investigators on the case. 

RT Score: 100%  

10. Dirty Money (2018) 

Money makes the world go round, it’s a rich man’s world, money makes money, the rich get richer… and so on with all the classic sayings, but is money always made ethically? Absolutely not. This docuseries looks at stories of scandal and corruption in business, exposing acts of corporate greed and corruption. From corrupt car companies to the shady deals from Donald Trump, each episode features first-hand accounts of the unscrupulous activities from the perspectives of both the perpetrators and their victims.  

RT Score: 100%   

9. I Just Killed My Dad (2022) 

This documentary tells the sad and dramatic story of Anthony Templet, who at 17 years old made the choice to kill his father. Here we investigate the complex questions surrounding why he chose to do this and the profound implications that go far beyond one family. 

RT score: 100% 

8. The Staircase (2005) 

This story is so fascinating it’s even been turned into a mini-series, but this documentary is the real thing. In 2001 novelist Michael Peterson became the main suspect in his wife’s death after a medical examiner determined that she had been beaten with a weapon and not died falling down the stairs as Peterson proclaimed. This series, which began with eight episodes in 2005 before being updated in 2013 and 2018, follows the investigation as it proceeds from Peterson’s arrest to a verdict being reached in the ensuing trial. The real-life courtroom thriller offers a rare and revealing inside look at a high-profile murder trial and an examination of contemporary American justice. 

RT Score: 94%  

7. The Confession Killer (2019) 

In the 1980s, Henry Lee Lucas confessed to hundreds of murders for many unsolved cases. This gave some families closure, but there was no direct evidence linking Lucas to the crime scenes, which made him questionable, and DNA testing began to contradict his claims. Lucas was able to convince authorities of his involvement by being able to sketch victims’ portraits and cite brutal details of each attack. This docuseries explores how Lucas (also known as America’s most prolific serial killer) was a complex figure entangled in a flawed justice system. 

RT Score: 100%  

6. Trial 4 (2020) 

Sean K. Ellis was charged as a teenager in 1993 for the death of a Boston Police officer. In this documentary, Ellis fights to prove his innocence and, along the way, exposes police corruption and systematic racism. Eye-opening and thought-provoking, this is the sad story of how society and the criminal justice system fail young people for the sake of closing a case.  

RT Score: 100%  

5. Who Killed Malcolm X (2019)  

And finally, In February 1965, Malcolm X is murdered, and three men were arrested, but only one admits to being part of the plot. This documentary is set decades later, after one activist pledged to find the real killers and vows to learn the truth about what officials knew regarding the crime.

RT Score: 100%  

4. MH370: The Plane that Disappeared (2023)

This documentary tells the story of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, which vanished in 2014. What is shocking is that the plane completely disappeared, along with all 239 passengers on board. Nine years later, there is still a global community of family members, scientists, investigators, and journalists still searching for answers. This documentary sheds light on their stories, experiences, and what could have happened that day. 

RT score: 86%

3. Waco: American Apocalypse (2023)

This true crime series is one sad state of affairs and is something everyone should watch. In Waco, Texas, in 1993, cult leader David Koresh and his followers fought against the federal government in a 51-day gunfight. This saw the deaths of over 88 cult members, 4 Federal agents, and 22 children. It’s something you’ll have to watch to believe. This bloodbath was also captured on live national television for people to see, and audiences get to see real footage, which is like watching a Hollywood blockbuster film. 

RT Score: 90%

2. Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street (2023) 

This true-crime series is about the shocking state of events that Bernie Madoff orchestrated on Wall Street. He was responsible for one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in history. The story is intense and almost unbelievable. We see the rise and fall of the financier and the devastating path of destruction he caused, and the lives he hurt along the way. 

RT Score: 90%

1. American Manhunt: The Boston Marathon Bombing (2023) 

This documentary takes an in-depth look at the tragic bombing and the two brothers who terrorized the city. There’s archive footage, reenactments, and interviews piling together the intense hunt for these two terrorists.

RT Score: 89%

And that completes our Top 26 Best and Highest Rated True Crime Series on Netflix of All Time list. What’s your favorite true crime series on Netflix? Comment below.

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