Real life, as the saying goes, is stranger than fiction. Perhaps that's true, but it's rarely more dramatic than fiction. There are exceptions of course, and that's what we're here to celebrate: the true stories that made exceptional dramas – described variously as "perfect", "undeniably powerful" and "jaw-dropping".
From real cases of extraordinary corporate fraud and malfeasance, to murder investigations, to international espionage, these events actually happened pretty much how they're told and are all the more gripping, involving and immersive for it.
1. The Dropout (Disney+)
Not everyone is aware of the story of Elizabeth Holmes, whose company Theranos claimed to revolutionise blood-testing, but this eight-part series shows how big a scandal it was in the States.
Emphasising Holmes’s strange, contradictory personality of charm and stone-cold, all-encompassing determination, Amanda Seyfried is outstanding as the Stanford dropout.
While the series isn’t sympathetic (it squarely points to Holmes’ hubris as Theranos’s downfall), The Dropout also examines the poisonous, tech-bro culture of Silicon Valley, the credulousness of venture capitalists seeking a quick buck and the dangers of putting ambition, an easily manipulated trait, above all else.
2. Narcos (Netflix)
One of the shows that made Netflix's name back in the day, this epic series follows the history of Colombia’s drug cartels: the murky criminal underworld of cocaine king-pin Pablo Escobar (Wagner Moura) and his Medellin Cartel, as well as following Steve Murphy (Boyd Holbrook) and the DEA’s attempts to bring him down.
What to Read Next
The kidnappings, extortion and murder would always have made Narcos compelling viewing, but it's also brilliantly written and performed, making it a fascinating slice of history with that polished Netflix sheen. And did we also mention the presence of Pedro Pascal?
3. Mr Bates vs The Post Office (ITVX)
Not many TV shows can claim to have changed government policy, but Mr Bates vs the Post Office galvanised a wave of public outrage that served as a catalyst in getting victims compensation from the Horizon Post Office scandal.
Toby Jones is mesmerising – never overplaying or making 'drama' where the real facts are quite enough – as Alan Bates, a subpostmaster who refused to accept he was liable for money going missing from his Post Office, instead pointing towards the faulty Horizon computer system.
When Bates is terminated he embarks in a two-decades long campaign for justice in the ultimate David versus Goliath story. Be warned that if you're not already au fait with the story, you will feel visceral anger on the behalf of 700 innocent postmasters who lost their reputations and livelihoods at the hands of a faulty computer system, a failure which was repeatedly covered up and minimised to save corporate face.
4. Manhunt (ITV/Netflix)
While you might think of Martin Clunes in his more comedic role as Doc Martin, he is a remarkably versatile actor – as viewers of Wuthering Heights recently saw.
One of his most underrated roles is as Detective Colin Sutton in ITV drama Manhunt, which follows the investigation in putting serial killer Levi Bellfield behind bars.
As a genre, true crime has a deserved reputation for and irresponsible and gratuitous visual focus on the bodies of murdered young women. There was a danger that a series on the investigation into the murders of 13-year-old Milly Dowler, 22-year-old Amélie Delagrange and 19-year-old Marsha McDonnell could fall into that territory.
Manhunt is absolutely not that. Instead, it's a measured, thoughtful and responsible look at this shocking case and the hard work that went into its conclusion.
5. Mindhunter (Netflix)
Rather than study a single true-crime case, David Fincher’s slow-burn series explores the founding of the FBI unit that first classified, categorised and later caught serial murderers.
Meticulously, even clinically composed as we've come to expect from Fincher, it stars Jonathan Groff as Holden Ford, a special agent at the FBI’s Behavioural Science Unit. Alongside colleague Bill Tench (Holt McCallany) and psychologist Wendy Carr (Anna Torv), the unit start to build up a portfolio of America’s most depraved minds by interviewing serial killers, and using their profiles to solve cold cases.
The show is dark and graphic but endlessly fascinating – Cameron Britton’s turn as serial killer Ed Kemper is spectacular, and his relationship with Ford underpins the tension of the first series.
Mindhunter ended after season two, but its far-reaching popularity has led to continuous calls for further series.
6. The Serpent (Netflix)
French-Algerian Tahar Rahim stars as the Indian-Vietnamese serial killer Charles Sobhraj, whose charm and powers of manipulation allowed him to kill and rob perhaps more than 20 tourists who passed through his circle on the hippie trail in Thailand, India and Nepal.
Alongside partner Marie-Andrée Leclerc (Jenna Coleman), the series chronicles how Sobhraj (a cold-eyed, smooth and heartless performance by Tahar Rahim) drugged, robbed, and murdered tourists in the '70s to steal their identities and money.
The Serpent is a heady, intoxicating watch, allowing us to be beguiled, like Marie-Andrée, by a glamorous predator whose only interest lies in feeding his own appetite for control.
7. White House Farm (ITVX)
In 1985, Britain was shocked at the murder of Nevill and June Bamber, their daughter Sheila and twin grandchildren, apparently by the schizophrenic Sheila, who then turned the gun on herself. The real culprit, however, was Sheila's brother Jeremy Bamber, who had killed his parents for money and framed his sister for the slaughter.
Freddie Fox is outstanding as the enigmatic and cold Jeremy, while Stephen Graham is more than his match as DCI 'Taff' Jones, tasked with solving this brutal case as it becomes clearer that Sheila wasn't responsible for the crimes.
8. American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace (Netflix)
While its subject matter is decidedly dark, Ryan Murphy’s penchant for high camp and lashings of drama make American Crime Story endlessly watchable.
In his follow-up to The People versus OJ Simpson, the drama follows sociopathic spree killer Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss), and shows how he lied and manipulated those around him before becoming a killer.
The non-linear story also explores the psychology of Gianni Versace (played by Edgar Ramirez) and his famous charm, and how he built a global fashion empire out of a small clothes rack in a tiny Milan shop. The supporting cast includes Penélope Cruz as Donatella Versace and Ricky Martin (yes, that Ricky Martin) as Versace’s partner Antonio D'Amico.
Don't expect perfect verisimilitude (the Versace family have dismissed the retelling), but it’s endlessly watchable despite all the excess.
9. The Salisbury Poisonings (BBC iPlayer)
Salisbury – the epitome of quiet, unremarkable middle England – was in 2018 the site of a crime that came to define the irrevocably changed relationship between Russia and the rest of the world.
Two Russian agents unsuccessfully used the deadly nerve agent Novichok to poison MI6 agent Sergei Skripal – a defector from Putin's regime – and his daughter Yulia. Dawn Sturgess, entirely unconnected to that world, tragically died after accidental exposure to the substance, which the agents had left in a skip disguised as a fragrance.
The 2020 drama, written by Adam Patterson and Declan Lawn, could have been played for extremity or melodrama, but is restrained, focusing instead on the quiet, everyday heroes who fought to keep Salisbury safe from an unprecedented contamination crisis.
10. A Cruel Love – The Ruth Ellis Story (ITVX)
The tale of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be executed in Britain, has been told before, yet Lucy Boynton brings a striking new depth to this tragic history.
Her portrayal captures the contradictions that defined Ellis: streetwise yet intelligent, outwardly hardened yet profoundly vulnerable. The drama traces Ellis’s intoxicating and destructive relationship with David Blakely, a romance as passionate as it was poisonous, which ultimately led to her downfall.
A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story reframes Ellis not simply as a femme fatale or a cold-blooded killer, but as a woman ensnared by a class-bound, patriarchal society that offered her few avenues of escape. In doing so, it sharpens the contemporary relevance of her case and reminds us why her story continues to fascinate — not merely as a sensational crime, but as a haunting reflection of justice, gender, and power.
The new edition of Living Legends, a 100-page all-colour celebration of Harry Styles, is here! Buy Harry Styles in newsagents or online.
