The best Netflix documentaries – From The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez to Tiger King: Murder Mayhem and Madness
WE do love a good Netflix documentary and the streaming service just keeps knocking them out.
We take you through all the unmissable real life TV series and films you have to binge watch.
Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness
This Netflix seven-part series follows Joe exotic and his passion for big cats.
He ran his own private zoo in Oklahoma for over 20 years with tigers, bears and 1,200 lions.
The docuseries delves into the controversial and eccentric life of the self-confessed, Tiger King as he spirals out of control.
We see him come face to face with animal activist Carole Baskin and their rivalry escalates when Joe Exotic tries to hire a hitman to kill her.
Pandemic
This is a gripping six part docuseries that looks into the viral spread of illness throughout history.
It stars the front line hero's who battle the killer viruses and their efforts to stop the spread.
The series was made months before coronovirus began to affect the world.
Poignantly episode one looks at the work of doctors in both the US and Asia working together to develop a super vaccine against killer flu outbreaks.
The Pharmacist
This American crime documentary series focuses on the efforts of small town pharmacist, Dan Shneider in the aftermath of his son's tragic death when a drug deal goes wrong.
He embarks on a crusade to find his son's murderer and then focuses his attentions on the epidemic of Opioids.
After noticing an influx of prescriptions for Oxycontin pass through his pharmacy he goes on a quest to bring down the shaman doctor, Jacqueline Cleggett.
The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez
The harrowing new documentary reveals how eight-year-old Gabriel was bound, gagged and made to sleep inside a tiny cabinet before he was murdered by his evil mother and her partner.
The little boy was repeatedly beaten and tortured by mum Pearl and Isauro Aguirre in 2013 because they thought he was gay, including being put inside cabinet they nicknamed the “the box”.
The series doesn't shy away from detailing what poor Gabriel went through during his short life, and it has left many viewers struggling to watch it.
Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez
American football player Aaron Hernandez had it all: a multi-million dollar contract for the New England Patriots, a Super Bowl appearance, a fiancée and a daughter.
So how did one of the NFL’s most promising rising stars end up jailed for life for a brutal gangland-style murder – and on trial for two more?
That’s the question posed by this three-part series, and the answers aren’t as simple as one might think.
What starts as a character portrait swiftly turns into an examination of wider issues: masculinity, the college football system and the NFL’s attitude towards player safety.
Don't F**K With Cats: Hunting an internet killer
This Netflix documentary is about an online manhunt for Luke Magnotta.
It follows a group of internet sleuths as they follow his moves after he shares a graphic video of him killing two kittens.
They follow clues from objects in the room, examining each tiny detail to find his next move.
Eventually this game of cat and mouse comes to a close as those investigating discover their target has more horrors to come.
Tell Me Who I am
The feature-length Netflix documentary deals with the heartbreaking story of Alex Lewis, who lost his memory at the age of 18 after a motorcycling accident.
Alex relied on his twin brother Marcus to teach him who he was and about their past, but Marcus chose not to tell him about their abusive childhood in a bid to protect his sibling from further trauma.
However, following the death of their mother Jill Dudley in 1995, the brothers started to clear out the family home, and Alex made a shock discovery.
Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes
The docuseries brings the infamously twisted mind of serial killer Ted into the light for the very first time with never-before-heard interviews from the “Jack the Ripper of the United States,” himself.
This unique series focuses on a man whose personality, good looks and social graces defied the serial-killer stereotype, allowing him to hide in plain sight as he committed the brutal sex-crime slayings of more than 30 women before being caught in 1978.
While on trial, Bundy received extraordinary adoration from American women, which made his gruesome crimes doubly haunting, even in an era of anything-goes mayhem.
Making a Murderer
After two Colombia students read Steven Avery's story, they thought it would make a good idea for a documentary.
Yet they had little success just quite how successful it would be.
The film follows Steven Avery, who spent nearly twenty years in prison for a crime he maintains he didn't commit.
His nephew Brendan Dassey is also imprisoned and features in the documentary.