You may feel maxed out on true-crime drama at the moment, and I would entirely understand if so. Recent offerings have included stories of murder (Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile gave yet more prominence to Ted Bundy while The Serpent followed drug dealer and serial killer Charles Sobhraj), miscarriages of justice (When They See Us, about the Central Park Five), the human suffering caused by greed and corruption (Dopesick, about the US opioid crisis), and various manifestations of misogyny and testaments to endemic sexual violence (Unbelievable, Lost Girls, The Staircase). But it’s well worth girding your loins to go one more round with dramatised depravity for the new limited series Black Bird (Apple TV+).
Developed by crime writer Dennis Lehane from James Keene’s 2010 memoir In With the Devil, it stars Taron Egerton as Keene – acquitting himself brilliantly in a part that is as about as far removed from his last starring role as Elton John in Rocketman as it is possible to be.
