Netflix has yet another true crime hit on their hands, as a new 3-part drama has debuted on Rotten Tomatoes with a rare, perfect 100% score. The 100% club on Rotten Tomatoes is a particularly exclusive one, with recent entries Secrets We Keep and Arcane showing the high level of quality required to qualify. True crime shows tend to fair well in terms of their critical scores, with the disturbing 2026 docuseries Bring Me The Beauties: A Model Cult and Trust Me: The False Prophet hitting 100%, and notorious release The Perfect Neighbor just missing out with 99%. In short, there’s a lot on the platform for you if you get your entertainment from crime.
Based on the true story of a devastating murder in the 1990s, the new hit show is The Witness, which was released on Thursday (June 4). It is currently sitting on 100% on Rotten Tomatoes from its early reviews, and is likely to attract a lot of attention given the subject matter. According to data from Flixpatrol, it’s also the second biggest show on Netflix in the world, and also in the United States. It’s far from an easy watch, and tells the disturbing story of a notorious murder case in the United Kingdom that led to a disgusting miscarriage of justice and the unthinkable trauma of a 2-year old boy. Warning: The rest of this article contains disturbing details of murder.
Netflix’s The Witness is Based on a Tragic True Story
Directed by Alex Winckler, who last made the excellent Somewhere Boy in 2022, The Witness tells the true story of the 1992 murder of Rachel Nickell. She was repeatedly stabbed and killed while walking her dog on public parkland with her son, who was left holding her body after attempting to treat her wounds. The details of the case were terribly distressing, and her son, Alex, went through an unthinkable experience, which he later released in a memoir, which the TV show is based upon. Both Nickell’s son Alex Hanscombe (who is played in the series by Jordan Bolger in a performance worthy of serious attention), and his father André Hanscombe served as consultants.
In the months following the murder, British police attempted to find the killer, targeting what turned out to be an innocent man, who was entrapped through a “honey trap” plot that sought to get him to confess his crime. Despite the lack of a confession and the problematic nature of how he was set up, he was charged and taken to trial, where the judge threw the case out. Alex’s book, “Letting Go” told of his experience of the crime, the aftermath and media phrenzy that followed, and his journey through trauma and difficulties growing up without his mother to find peace. The Witness doesn’t shy away from Alex’s troubles, nor does it sanitise his behavior, which is completely understandable, given what he went through.
The true story also comes with a companion piece, the documentary The Murder of Rachel Nickell, which is also now available on Netflix. The documentary is also an instant hit, second globally only behind Jennifer Lopez and Brett Goldstein’s Office Romance and third in the US.
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