It seems like Hollywood has picked up on our undying obsession with true crime as a slew of television series have popped up in recent years that are based on real-life crimes.
A whole bunch of said shows are now streaming on local streaming legend Stan so we’ve compiled a list of all the series that include true crime elements, both locally and overseas.
Just don’t @ us if you start having trouble sleeping at night… you’ve been warned.
I Am The Night
Don’t be distracted by Chris Pine‘s angel-like face, the true story that inspired this Stan-exclusive series is a dark one that still boggles criminal investigators to this day.
The six-part limited TV series features real events surrounding the Black Dahlia case, Hollywood’s most notorious murder mystery accompanied by a fictional storyline to drive the series.
A teenager named Fauna (India Eisley) who was given up at birth goes on a quest to discover what happened in her past. She meets a disgraced reporter (played by our main man Chris) and the pair form an unlikely partnership.
This is where the real Black Dahlia case comes in as the pair find themselves on a path leading to a Los Angeles gynaecologist named George Hodel (played in the series by Jefferson Mays) who is the prime suspect in the case but was never charged (both IRL and in the series).
Hodel reportedly dated the late actress before her untimely death and there’s a heap of evidence pointing him to the murder, all of which was documented in a book by his own son, a retired LAPD homicide detective.
Suss out the trailer below and strap yourself in for all six wild eps.
Escape at Dannemora
The critically-acclaimed series, directed by Ben Stiller, tells the story of the real-life 2015 prison break at the Clinton Correctional Facility, New York which spawned a massive manhunt and media frenzy.
In 2015, two inmates serving life sentences for murder hatched an incredibly detailed plan to bust out of prison by tunnelling through a catwalk beneath their cells to a manhole.
To do this, Richard Matt (played by Benicio del Toro) and David Sweat (Paul Dano) befriended Joyce “Tilly” Mitchell (Patricia Arquette), an employee in the prison’s tailor shop.
The series is a re-enactment of the real story and shows us how the inmates groomed the prison employee, escaped from the facility, became fugitives and were ultimately caught.
Patricia Arquette as Joyce “Tilly” Mitchell
The real Tilly during her trial
Patricia Arquette copped several big deal awards for her portrayal of Tilly including Best Actress in a Limited Series at the Critics’ Choice Television Awards, Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series at the Golden Globes and Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Limited Series at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Meanwhile Ben Stiller scored a Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing.
Go forth and binge all seven episodes of the spicy series RN.
Catching Milat
The highly popular two-part series is based on the book Sins of The Brother by Mark Whittaker and Les Kennedy as well as the real-life investigation into the Backpacker Murders which saw a team called Task Force Air hunt down and catch Ivan Milat between 1989-1993.
Malcolm Kennard plays Milat, with Richard Cawthorne playing real-life detective Paul Gordon and Geoff Morrell starring as Superintendent Clive Small.
Although the series was met with outrage upon its initial release by the family members of Milat’s victims as well as Superintendent Small, who described aspects of the series as “pure fiction”, the show is still incredibly chilling to watch as it conveys the basic gist of what went down: a man named Ivan Milat murdered unsuspecting backpackers in Belanglo State Forest.
The Underbelly Franchise
The famed Underbelly series tells the story of some of Australia’s most notorious criminals both from recent times and from previous decades.
Every season of the groundbreaking series is available to stream on Stan, but let’s have a little look at what real-life crime each one is about, shall we?
Season 1: Underbelly
The introduction to the series is about the Melbourne gangland killings that occurred between 1995 and 2004 in which 36 criminal figures and others were killed.
It follows infamous gang leader Carl Williams (Gyton Grantley) who went from an ordinary driver to one of Australia’s most notorious drug kingpins.
Rodger Corser, Caroline Craig, Marcus Graham, Callan Mulvey, Kat Stewart and Vince Colosimo also star in the controversial season.
Season 2: A Tale of Two Cities
The second season serves as a prequel to the first, taking place in Sydney and Melbourne between the years 1976 to 1987.
All 13 eps are loosely based on real events that stemmed from the marijuana trade centred on Griffith, NSW and how it impacted Australian crime.
Season 3: The Golden Mile
A follow-up to season two, The Golden Mile is about the activities of corrupt Kings Cross police officers and the KX nightclub scene in Sydney between the years 1988 to 1999.
The Wood Royal Commission into police corruption which occurred in 1995 is also a recurring theme in the season.
It stars Emma Booth, Dieter Brummer, Firass Dirani and Wil Traval.
Season 4: Razor
The female-driven fourth season stars queen Danielle Cormack as Kate Leigh, the sly grog queen and her rival Tilly Devine (Chelsie Preston Crayford), an infamous brothel madam.
It features the glorious backdrop of Sydney during the roaring 1920s, during the genesis of organised crime in Australia.
The season is based on the Ned Kelly Award-winning book Razor, by Larry Writer.
Season 5: Badness
The fifth season brings us to modern-day Sydney between 2001–2012 and tells the story of underworld figure Anthony “Rooster” Perish and the efforts of the NSW Police Force’s Strike Force Tuno to bring him down.
Rooster is played by ripped daddy Survivor host Jonathan LaPaglia.
Season 6: Squizzy
The sixth and final season of the series tells the story of the rise and fall of one of Melbourne’s most notorious gangsters, Squizzy Taylor (Jared Daperis).
The eight-part season depicts how Taylor became one of the city’s most notorious criminals and stars Aussie legends Camille Keenan, Susie Porter, Ashley Zuckerman, Luke Ford and Dan Wyllie.
