The Crime Chronicles

Covering famous crimes from the past. Most were famous at the time and some still are . It's too bad it was cancelled but other unoriginal reality crime shows remain or more of the same added.

Journalists and historians and sometimes people around at the time added context and you could learn not only about that specific case but the era and place it happened.

I love this show!! Became so addicted to it as soon as I found it. Can't believe it hasn't got many reviews. The stories are great and true. Unheard of murders from history and the acting is quite good too. I love that it has some real people connected that are interviewed too. It's quite chilling. Great for a night watch. Episode that moved me the most was 'baby come home' so sad and thrilling right to the end. First episode of 1st series was OK but just keep watching them. Gets much better

I can't tell you how many times I've strapped in for a nice bit of true crime & turned off after five minutes because the music sounded like a construction site over a Yamaha DX7, the editing was manic, the dramatizations were inaccurate & terribly produced and the narrator had a voice like Batman on Quaaludes. Add to that the number of shows featuring self-promoting presenters & semi-literate 'experts' and I walk away feeling like no-one knows how to make a decent crime doc series anymore.

So, it's more than a little refreshing to have discovered 'A Crime to Remember', a show that avoids every element of crappiness that pervades today's 'real crime' programs. It's shot beautifully, the incidental 'noirish' music fits each historical crime, the narration is uniquely rendered as a story told by someone on the periphery of the story, the interviewees are relevant and best of all, the casting, acting & direction of the dramatizations are near flawless. Some of the actors' resemblance to the actual subjects is uncanny. This is easily the best TV crime doc series to come out of the US in a long time.

So much TV is crap. So much "made for cable" TV is formulaic crap. This show is a cut above. While it doesn't entirely step out of TV "world 'o' crap", it largely sidesteps it with a real flair for brilliant hindsight in the retelling of some really interesting crimes from the 50's and 60's.

In the end it doesn't matter if it is the final word in honesty because it brings up so many unanswered questions pertinent to crimes that are, sadly, now forgotten. But do not take this lightly because these are major crimes and deserve, even at this late date, your introspection. I can't tell how important this series actually is so just watch because if you get it...you'll get it.

Maybe the shows aren't all that accurate, and maybe the producers didn't do all the research they should have, and maybe they get facts wrong, but if you put aside all that, what you get is a mildly fact-based, totally riveting docu-drama that is surprisingly well acted by little-known players, written in a punchy and fun style, and always intriguing. With wonderful period costumes and solid direction, this show is one of the most under-rated on television and absolutely worth an engrossing, enjoyable binge.