The article ranks ten crime series based on real cases, favouring productions that treat victims and source material seriously rather than relying on sensationalism. It argues that, amid a flood of inexpensive true-crime programmes, the strongest shows use real events to explore their wider social, religious and institutional contexts.

– *Under the Banner of Heaven* examines the 1984 murders of Brenda Wright Lafferty and her infant daughter, alongside the extremist history of an offshoot of the Latter-day Saint movement.
– *The People v. O.J. Simpson*, the first season of *American Crime Story*, recreates the highly publicised trial, while later seasons cover Andrew Cunanan’s murders and the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal.
– *John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise* deliberately avoids glorifying Gacy, focusing instead on victims, families, investigators and lawyers; it also avoids recreating the murders.