THE MUST SEE TRUE CRIME SHOWS...

Notorious cases have been recreated by top-notch actors in a huge selection of bigbudget dramas, while in-depth documentaries examine the most tantalising crimes. There are more on the way too. Here we present some of the best true crime shows and podcasts – because there’s never been a better time to play armchair detective...

THE SERPENT

He was the murderer with the million-dollar looks – the charmer with psychopathic tendencies. The story of Charles Sobhraj, who drugged and killed at least a dozen Westerners on the Hippie Trail in Asia in the 1970s, will be told in eight-part drama The Serpent.

But it won’t glamourise his actions. As executive producer Preethi Mavahalli says, ‘We are bringing Herman Knippenberg’s determined story to the screen, not Sobhraj’s life of crime.’ Knippenberg was the Dutch diplomat in Bangkok who exposed Sobhraj as a multiple killer.

He will be played by British actor Billy Howle, best known as Leonard Vole in the BBC’S adaptation of The Witness For The Prosecution. Billy, 30, admits that the story of Sobhraj, who poisoned, strangled and drowned his victims, is so extraordinary he thought it a work of fiction at first. ‘Sadly, for his victims, it is what happened,’ he says.

Sobhraj, played by French actor Tahar Rahim, appears to have avoided detection thanks to a mixture of charm, good fortune and loyal support. His partner Marie-andrée Leclerc, a role taken in The Serpent by Victoria’s Jenna Coleman, stood by him despite his promiscuity and full knowledge of his crimes. Initial attempts to bring him to justice in Thailand were halted for fear a murder trial would be bad for the tourist industry. It was only when Knippenberg became involved in 1975 that the net started to close.

His brief was to help Thai police investigate the deaths of two Dutch students who had been invited to Thailand after meeting Sobhraj in Hong Kong. Unable to interest the Thai police in his work, he launched his own investigation and gained permission to enter Sobhraj’s home, after the suspect had left for Malaysia. There he found victims’ blood-stained documents and passports, as well as poisons and syringes.

A sighting of Sobhraj in Kathmandu in 2003 led to his arrest for the murders of two Canadians there in 1975, and at his trial the prosecution relied on evidence accumulated by Knippenberg. ‘I think they were all killed for refusing his offers to join him in his nefarious activities, including drug trafficking,’ he says. BBC1 and BBC iplayer drama, coming soon.

CONVERSATIONS WITH A KILLER: THE TED BUNDY TAPES

Journalist Stephen Michaud knew it would be the scoop of a lifetime – the chance to talk exclusively to one of the world’s most notorious serial killers about his heinous crimes and write a book based on the interviews.

What he couldn’t have anticipated when he accepted the offer to talk to Ted Bundy was the impact the interviews would have on him. Conversations With A Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes was released by Netflix at the start of last year.

There are four one-hour films, which begin with the story of how Stephen Michaud and his colleague and mentor Hugh Aynesworth accumulated 150 hours of audio conversations with Bundy, who abducted, raped and murdered 30 women and girls across seven US states.

Episodes two and three give an account of Bundy’s crime spree and his escapes from custody. The final chapter deals with his trial and execution at Florida State Prison in 1989. Horrified by the sheer wickedness of the offences Bundy talked to him about so callously, Michaud would often need to stop his car on the way back to his hotel in order to be sick. ‘He left an indelible mark on everything he touched,’ said Michaud. ‘You don’t just walk away from him – and I never will.’ Netflix documentary.

APPROPRIATE ADULT

Appropriate Adult is a thriller based on the relationship that developed between Fred West (Dominic West), the builder convicted of 12 murders in Gloucestershire, and Janet Leach, the trainee social worker who provided him with support during his police interviews.

Played by Emily Watson, Leach was there to safeguard his interests and make sure this supposedly vulnerable man was afforded some protection.

The drama bagged four BAFTAS, including ones for Watson, Dominic West and Monica Dolan, who played Fred’s wife Rosemary. Dominic West’s performance was haunting. Producer Jeff Pope said, ‘When Fred’s daughter Mae first saw Dominic playing her father, she was mesmerised.

‘She felt he had captured the evil essence of him. And Janet Leach was spooked by him. When she came on set, she found it very hard to go near Dominic.’ Britbox drama.

RIPPER

Peter Sutcliffe murdered at least 13 women across Yorkshire between 1975 and 1981 and seriously injured seven others.

He chose vulnerable women and violently attacked them.

For six years he led a reign of terror as police, flooded with information (the floor of the incident room had to be reinforced to cope with the weight of the paper), made mistake after mistake.

He was interviewed by police nine times, but still evaded capture.

It was only when he was stopped for using fake number plates that he was charged with being the Yorkshire Ripper in 1981 after his home was searched.

He was found guilty and handed 20 life sentences. This series takes a fresh dive into his crimes and the police investigation.

Netflix documentary, coming soon

AMERICAN CRIME STORY: THE PEOPLE V OJ SIMPSON

From the moment police followed superstar sportsman OJ Simpson down the Los Angeles freeway in his white Ford Bronco as he tried to evade arrest for the murder of his ex-wife and her friend in June 1994, this story has been an international obsession.

It has traces of everything that makes a scandal scintillating: a glamourous, rich leading man, a tale of crime and passion, a racial element that couldn’t be ignored, and even the Kardashians.

Often forgotten, though, are the victims of the crime; Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman, who were brutally stabbed to death outside her home.

This compelling ten-part series, which won a clutch of awards, still doesn’t put them at the centre, but it makes the whole thing more real.

It focuses on the high profile eightmonth trial, one of the first cases to be broadcast live on US television. It ended with the acquittal of Simpson (played by Cuba Gooding Jr) in front of 100 million viewers.

Netflix drama

He was the murderer with the million-dollar looks – the charmer with psychopathic tendencies. The story of Charles Sobhraj, who drugged and killed at least a dozen Westerners on the Hippie Trail in Asia in the 1970s, will be told in eightpart drama The Serpent. But it won’t glamourise his actions. As executive producer Preethi Mavahalli says, ‘We are bringing Herman Knippenberg’s determined story to the screen, not Sobhraj’s life of crime.’ Knippenberg was the Dutch diplomat in Bangkok who exposed Sobhraj as a multiple killer

Appropriate Adult is a thriller based on the relationship that developed between Fred West (Dominic West), the builder convicted of 12 murders in Gloucestershire, and Janet Leach, the trainee social worker who provided him with support during his police interviews. Played by Emily Watson, Leach was there to safeguard his interests and make sure this supposedly vulnerable man was afforded some protection