It has seemed lately as though the true-crime documentary might have had its day. Even recent offerings from Netflix, the wellspring of the genre, have begun to feel a bit tired or desperate. A four-part series from Channel 4 on the subject of a US fugitive who faked his own death seemed, therefore, an unpromising proposition.
But there is still room, it turns out, for truly extraordinary stories – especially ones aided by a cast of tremendously televisual real-life characters – to break through and make you boggle once more in disbelief at the weirdness this world can hold.
