British shows based on true crime stories you need to watch

British shows based on true crime stories you need to watch - The scariest stories are always the ones that are true. From ‘Narcos’ to ‘Making a Murder’, true crime has become the new favourite genre for viewers around the world. It’s catching on in the world of soaps too. ‘Eastenders’ will air true stories provided by families of victims of knife crime. It’s a first for the soap, but true crime has featured in British TV for quite some time now. Here’s ten of the best British shows that are based on true crime stories.

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‘Ripper Street’ - ‘Ripper Street’ is a thrilling show loosely based on historical events set in the Victorian era.

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‘Ripper Street’ - It centres around Inspector Edmund Reid (Matthew Macfadyen) and his team of officers, tasked with protecting London’s streets from Jack the Ripper.

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‘Ripper Street’ - Reid was a real detective during the Jack the Ripper murders. Weekly Dispatch described him as “one of the most remarkable men of the century”.

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‘Peaky Blinders’ - This hit show stars Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby, the leader of Birmingham’s Shelby crime family.

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‘Peaky Blinders’ - Despite using fictional characters, ‘Peaky Blinders’ told the Shelby family story with a fair degree of accuracy.

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‘Peaky Blinders’ - However, historian Carl Chinn said “there was no real Tommy Shelby and the Peaky Blinders were around in the 1890s and yet the series is set in the 1920s”, in an article for Birmingham Live. Oh well, at least it makes great TV!

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‘Rillington Place’ - This biographical drama told the fateful story of Timothy Evans. In 1950, he was wrongfully convicted and hanged for murdering his wife and daughter at their house, 10 Rillington Place.

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‘Rillington Place’ - Nico Mirallegro starred as the helpless Timothy Evans.

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‘Rillington Place’ - The real murders were committed by serial killer John Christie, played by the brilliant Tim Roth.

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‘In Plain Sight’ - This show centred on the crimes of serial killer Peter Manuel, who was believed to have murdered nine people in the 1950s.

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‘In Plain Sight’ - Martin Compston starred as the Scottish American killer.

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‘In Plain Sight’ - Douglas Henshall played Detective William Muncie, who sets out to catch the mysterious murderer.

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‘The Moorside’ - Sheridan Smith and Gemma Whelan starred in this thrilling drama. Smith went on to win a BAFTA award for her excellent performance.

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‘The Moorside’ - It told the true story of Shannon Matthews, a schoolgirl that went missing under mysterious circumstances in 2008.

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‘The Moorside’ - ‘The Moorside’ focused on the community effort to search for Shannon. It was then revealed that her own mother, Karen (Gemma Whelan), was involved in the kidnapping.

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‘Little Boy Blue’ - ‘Little Boy Blue’ was a harrowing drama that aired last year on ITV. It starred Stephen Graham in the lead role.

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‘Little Boy Blue’ - The show told the story of Rhys Jones, a schoolboy who was murdered in Liverpool in 2007.

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‘Little Boy Blue’ - The show follows Detective Dave Kelly (Stephen Graham) as he desperately tries to solve the case. It also follows the Jones family as they cope with the loss of their son.

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‘Three Girls’ - This three-part-series starred Maxine Peake as Sara Rowbotham, a woman who works to investigate a child sex abuse ring in Rochdale, Greater Manchester.

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‘Three Girls’ - The show followed three girls that were groomed by the ring. Molly Windsor won a Bafta for her performance as one girl, Holly Winshaw.

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‘Three Girls’ - The Rochdale child sex abuse ring shocked the nation back in 2012. The gang members went on trail that year, with a total of nine convictions.

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‘The Secret’ - ‘The Secret’ starred James Nesbitt as killer dentist Colin Howell, a convicted double murderer in Northern Ireland.

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‘The Secret’ - The show was based on ‘Let This Be Our Secret’, a true crime book that told the true story of Colin Powell.

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‘The Secret’ - Believe it or not, James Nesbitt had a real life connection to Colin Powell. “My sister used to go to Lesley’s coffee mornings and two of my best friends were patients of Colin’s”, he told Belfast Live.

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‘Mrs Biggs’ - ‘Mrs Biggs’ was a hit drama based on the true story of Charmian Biggs (played by Sheridan Smith).

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‘Mrs Biggs’ - Charmian meets her future husband, Ronnie Biggs (Daniel Mays), on a train. The story relates the difficulties of Charmian Biggs' marriage to the man who would become one of the most notorious thieves of all time.

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‘Mrs Biggs’ - The story comes to a climax when the Biggs is involved in the Great Train Robbery in 1963.

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‘Five Daughters’ - ‘Five Daughters’ focused on the five victims of the Ipswich serial murders in 2006.

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‘Five Daughters’ - The show didn’t focus heavily on the police investigation or life of murderer Steve Wright, instead focusing on the victims and their families.

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‘Five Daughters’ - Aisling Loftus starred as Gemma Adams, one of the five victims.

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