10 true crime dramas that are just as good and infuriating as Believe Me
A movie about the most infamous serial killer of all time is on streaming now
Believe Me, ITV’s riveting (and infuriating) true crime drama, is out now. But, if you’ve already binged it, we have 10 other shows that’ll scratch that morbid, upsetting, and gripping itch.
The new series stars Lynley’s Daniel Mays as John Worboys, the notorious “Black Cab Rapist” who drugged and sexually assaulted women in London.
Rather than simply depicting Worboys’ depraved crimes themselves, the drama focuses on his victims, their pursuit of justice, and the failures of the police.
All four episodes are available on ITVX now. If you’re looking for another true crime drama to watch, we’ve rounded up some suitable (and excellent) follow-ups you should check out.
The Long Shadow
- Year: 2023
- Cast: Toby Jones, David Morrissey, Daniel Mays, Liz White
- Creator: George Kay
- Length: 1 season, 7 episodes
- Where to stream in the UK: ITVX
What it’s about: In 1975, the murder of a woman in Leeds marks the begining of a five-year manhunt for one of the most notorious serial killers in British history: Peter Sutcliffe, also known as the Yorkshire Ripper.
Why to watch: As a meticulous, grimly compelling serial killer thriller, The Long Shadow is thoroughly effective. However, just like Believe Me, it makes the sensible move to focus more on those affected by Sutcliffe.
Specifically, the women (several of whom were sex workers) he targeted, whose suffering played second fiddle to the prejudices of those who were supposed to protect them. The seven-part drama also boasts an all-star cast – including Daniel Mays and Life on Mars’ Liz White as real-life police officer, PS Meg Winterburn.
Three Girls
- Year: 2017
- Cast: Maxine Peake, Lesley Sharp, Molly Windsor, Lisa Riley
- Creator: Nicole Taylor
- Length: 1 season, 3 episodes
- Where to stream in the UK: BBC iPlayer
What it’s about: New to the area, Holly is keen to make friends but finds herself drawn in to a frightening world she is unable to escape, a world all too familiar to sexual health worker Sara.
Don't miss a single story! Add us as a Preferred Source in Google for all your television news
Why to watch: There’s a natural overlap between Believe Me and Three Girls. Both are fantastic dramas, but they also highlight appalling failures to protect women who’ve been sexually assaulted. On this occasion, it concerns the experiences of girls who were groomed in Rochdale.
There’s serious mastery on display here, whether it’s the performances or the delicate handling of a horrible true story. It’s disquieting, unflinching, and essential television.
Also, if you liked Unchosen, this is the role that launched Molly Windsor’s career and saw her win a BAFTA.
Zodiac
- Year: 2007
- Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo
- Creator: David Fincher
- Length: 2 hours 37 minutes
- Where to stream in the UK: HBO Max
What it’s about: As the Zodiac Killer murders people and taunts the San Francisco Chronicle with scary letters, the newspaper’s cartoonist becomes an amateur detective, working with a crime reporter and the police in a desperate effort to figure out their identity.
Why to watch: Forget Fight Club: Zodiac, an icy, forensic, horrifying exploration of the titular cold case, is the best serial killer movie of all time. It has a smarmy, locked-in Downey Jr pre-Iron Man, John Carroll Lynch’s haunting performance as the FBI’s only suspect, and an overwhelming aura of mythos and obsession.
Or, in short, it’s perfect for true crime fans, especially if you liked Believe Me.
Deceit
- Year: 2021
- Cast: Niamh Algar, Eddie Marsan, Harry Treadaway, Sion Daniel Young
- Creator: Emilia di Girolamo
- Length: 1 season, 4 episodes
- Where to stream in the UK: Rent or buy via Amazon Prime
What it’s about: Five months on from the horrific murder of Rachel Nickell, the Met Police concocts a plan: a young, attractive officer goes undercover to start a relationship with their suspect and try to get him to confess.
Why to watch: Just like Legends, Deceit is an extraordinary story of a ’90s undercover operation – though this one was significantly more controversial. The series, while undeniably stylish, terrifically performed, and even exciting, does a great job of emphasising how such a “honeytrap” blurs moral and ethical lines. It’s only four episodes long, and you’ll struggle not to binge the whole thing in one sitting.
Rachel Nickell’s murder is also the focus of an upcoming Netflix drama, as well as a new true crime documentary in June 2026.
Little Boy Blue
- Year: 2017
- Cast: Stephen Graham, Sinead Keenan, Brian F. O’Byrne
- Creator: Jeff Pope
- Length: 1 season, 4 episodes
- Where to stream in the UK: ITVX
What it’s about: When 11-year-old Rhys Jones is shot and killed while walking home from football training, Detective Superintendent Dave Kelly is tasked with bringing the killer to justice.
Why to watch: True crime dramas can be a controversy magnet; some are too graphic, others play loose with the facts.
Little Boy Blue is about as real – and dramatically effective – as the genre gets, thanks to Stephen Graham’s performance and the cooperation of Rhys’ parents, Melanie and Steven.
It’s written by Jeff Pope, who also penned Believe Me, and this is another testament to his sensitive, dramatic grasp of upsetting true events.
Four Lives
- Year: 2022
- Cast: Sheridan Smith, Stephen Merchant, Tim Preston, Samuel Barnett
- Creator: Neil McKay
- Length: 1 season, 3 episodes
- Where to stream in the UK: BBC iPlayer
What it’s about: Between 2014 and 2015, four gay men were murdered. As their families plead for answers and fear they’ll never see justice, the police finally find the man responsible: Stephen Port.
Why to watch: The link between Four Lives and Believe Me is obvious: police failings. In Believe Me’s case, it was their reluctance to believe Worboys’ initial victims. In Four Lives, a “catalogue of police failings” (as the series depicts) paved the way for Port’s awful crimes.
It’s a heartbreaking series, with Sheridan Smith on typically phenomenal, affecting form, and a blood-chilling performance by Stephen Merchant as the real-life killer.
Appropriate Adult
- Year: 2011
- Cast: Dominic West, Emily Watson, Monica Dolan, Robert Glenister
- Creator: Neil McKay
- Length: 1 season, 2 episodes
- Where to stream in the UK: ITVX
What it’s about: In 1994, social worker Janet Leach is asked to be an appropriate adult for a man accused of murder: Fred West. Despite the horrific nature of the allegations, she stays, and soon discovers the full extent of his (and his wife, Rose’s) atrocious crimes.
Why to watch: This ITV series smartly takes place after the West’s once-unimaginable crimes, focusing on Janet Leach’s experiences and the crushing gravity of what they did.
Dolan’s Rose is a huge, astonishing presence, despite less screen time; embittered at the universe impeding her murderous freewill. West gets more to do, and his portrayal is a patchwork of weird, sinister, and uncanny contradictions.
Don’t just take it from us. John Bennett, the detective superintendent who led the inquiry into the Wests’ crimes, said: “The mannerisms and psyche of Frederick West captured and enacted by Dominic West and Monica Dolan of Rosemary West are hauntingly accurate.”
See No Evil: The Moors Murders
- Year: 2006
- Cast: Sean Harris, Maxine Peake, Joanne Froggatt, Matthew McNulty
- Creator: Neil McKay
- Length: 1 season, 2 episodes
- Where to stream in the UK: ITVX
What it’s about: When her baby daughter dies at six months, the mother, Maureen turns to her sister, Myra Hindley, for support. Little does she know, Myra and her Ian Brady are harbouring horrifying secrets that would emerge and make them infamous forever.
Why to watch: The Moors murders are perhaps the most infamous series of killings in British history. However, See No Evil only shows one of the murders, mercifully (and rightfully) forgoing the indulgence of other true crime dramas.
Sean Harris is frightening as Brady, but it’s Peake who leaves the biggest impression, strongly conveying Hindley’s seduced state of complacency and appalling indifference to the horrors she participated in. It’s delicate, impactful work from writer Neil McKay (who also wrote Appropriate Adult, The Moorside, and Jimmy Savile drama The Reckoning).
Unbelievable
- Year: 2019
- Cast: Toni Collette, Merritt Wever, Kaitlyn Dever
- Creator: Susannah Grant, Ayelet Waldman, Michael Chabon
- Length: 1 season, 8 episodes
- Where to stream in the UK: Netflix
What it’s about: When teenager Marie Adler files a police report claiming she’s been sexually assaulted by an intruder in her home, the investigating detectives, as well as the people closest to her, come to doubt the truth of her story. Elsewhere, detectives investigate an eerily similar pair of allegations.
Why to watch: Inspired by 2015 news article (An Unbelievable Story of Rape, well worth a read), this is a methodical, harrowing police procedural that – just like Believe Me – foregrounds the women, not the rapist, and the cost of not only the violence they faced, but endemic injustice, reluctance, and indifference when it comes to holding the culprits of sex crimes responsible. Not one actor is off their game here, but Kaitlyn Dever is astoundingly good.
Des
- Year: 2020
- Cast: David Tennant, Daniel Mays, Jason Watkins
- Creator: Luke Neal
- Length: 1 season, 3 episodes
- Where to stream in the UK: ITVX, Netflix
What it’s about: Detective Chief Inspector Peter Jay receives a call about the possible discovery of human remains in a house. When they question the homeowner – Dennis Nilsen – he admits to killing at least 12 young boys and men.
Why to watch: Des doesn’t show any of the murders, beginning with his arrest and unnerving confession. This places the focus on Tennant’s incredibly eerie performance, peeling back the layers of Nilsen’s narcissism in his blasé, bewildered interactions with the police.
It’s a deeply unsympathetic portrayal (and one of the best serial killer performances ever), and his indifferent demeanour to his own actions will haunt you long after it’s done. Plus, despite its horrors, it’s nice to see Daniel Mays on the right side of the law after his disturbing work in Believe Me.
