There’s probably no such thing as compassionate television about a serial killer. It’s impossible to honour victims without re-traumatising their families. And maybe you can’t explore a murderer’s damaged psyche – the rough personal history that preceded their terrible crimes – without evoking pity.
Right now, the most watched show on Netflix is Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. Viewers have spent as many hours in front of the macabre Ryan Murphy miniseries as they have Netflix’s next seven most popular programmes combined. Across the world, true crime has never been this popular – or chilling. The 10-parter opens with Jeffrey Dahmer, played with menacing stoicism by Murphy’s frequent collaborator Evan Peters, cleaning the blood from what I’m pretty sure is an electric carving knife. It’s hard for me to say because I was already watching through my fingers.
