From 'The House Of Secrets' to 'American Crime Story', we can't get enough of these true crime shows

Actor Shefali Shah in 'Delhi Crime'. Shows like 'Delhi Crime' and 'Unbelievable' are dramatised versions of pursuits by cops - they make you believe that the bad guys are going to get caught, one way or another. (Image: screen grab)

Whether you’re watching Crime Patrol, CSI, Criminal Minds or Savdhan India on the telly, reading true tales of famous cops like Srikant Sinkar or delving into fictionalised crime stories told in Jasoosi Duniya, one thing unites you: your fascination with crime as a genre.

It’s the spice when you’re eating daal chawal, or the chilli flakes on pizza. True crime tales wake you up to Creepy Neighbours, Shadowy Figures, Unknown Perpetrators, Unrepentant Murderers and you ride shotgun with the cops in a Relentless Pursuit, all the while marveling at the Psychological Profiles the police agencies have created on the criminals…

Here's a look at some true crime shows we love, divided into five categories by this reviewer:

1. Psychological profiles

You must watch Mindhunter. This is the show that creeped me out so much I started talking to the neighbourhood aunties in order to figure out how they knew all about the goings-on in all the homes in my otherwise sleepy neighbourhood.

Mindhunter takes us back to the times when FBI agents had not even begun to understand how the psyches of the serial killers worked. Based on a book by the same name, you will watch with awe as the two FBI agents lay the foundation of profiling criminals for all fans of crime for all time.

Conversations With A Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes gets into the mind of the creepiest of the serial killers. Manhunt: The Unabomber helps us be amazed at how they pieced small, seemingly irrelevant, bits of information together and reach his little hut in the middle of nowhere.

2. Shadowy figures

Did Billy Milligan really have 24 personalities or did he successfully defraud the cops and shrinks and escape punishment for rape and murder? Did the doctors plant the idea of multiple personalities in his head? Or was Billy a result of childhood abuse? Monsters Inside: The 24 Faces Of Billy Milligan will make you wonder if your cousin who does voices is going to be like Billy…

The Amanda Knox Case was a fascinating watch - because apart from the Florida murders by women serial killers - I have only seen shows that show women as victims. The interview with the real Amanda Knox who killed her roommate was scary. Just as scary was The Confession Killer who simply confessed to murder after murder for the heck of it, letting the real perpetrators go free!

3. Creepy neighbours

The best docu series of this true crime is so amazing and so bizarre, you will stop and seek out answers from the local newspapers. It’s so close to home, if you missed it, you’d wonder if you’re related to Rip Van Winkle. The House Of Secrets that was released on October 8, 2021, has everything to make you wary of neighbours. The seemingly ordinary, happy family turns out to have faith that will shake you up… Especially because you know one Lalit bhaiyya who is exactly like the one who lived there. Come to think of it, this family lived right in the middle of a busy, bustling part of North Delhi!

This guy lived quietly on the third floor of a building and no one suspected him of killing young women night after night in the apartment, hacking them into pieces and burying the parts in a wooded part of Seoul! The Raincoat Killer was their first serial killer and you will empathise with all the police officers and the forensics officers who did not have much to go on, but pieced the evidence slowly, and identified the victims by getting fingerprints off chopped off arms… Such dedication!

The Devil Next Door was really a quiet family man, leading a retired life. But when the secret’s out, his past reveals the horrific Nazi past.

4. Relentless pursuit

My favourite in this category is The Pharmacist. It’s a quiet tale of a man who pursues the madness induced by Oxycodene - an opium-based painkiller. It’s a painkiller prescribed even in our country under different names, so the threat of addiction remains that real. A small-town pharmacist figured out how addictive opioids can be long before it was described as an epidemic in the US and elsewhere in the world.

The Keepers delves into the disappearance and subsequent murder of Sister Cathy. For those of us who went to schools run by nuns, their lives were always a subject of curiosity. As kids we wanted to know how they lived such sequestered lives, but we were mostly shooed away. But this series shows us a dangerous part of this kind of quiet life...

Delhi Crime and Unbelievable are dramatised versions of pursuits by cops but these shows make you believe that the bad guys are going to get caught, one way or another.

American Crime Story is a series that analyses famous cases, from People Vs OJ Simpson, to the impeachment of Bill Clinton and the murder of Gianni Versace - this show offers us a glimpse into the world of pursuers who won’t give up.

5. Unrepentant murderers

I know The Tiger King is as much about leopard print shirts, shiny pants and kissing big cats on the mouth as it is about plotting to kill big cat conservationists, but this shadowy world of private zoos where Americans collect and display wild animals is full of strange crimes. We watch fascinated because we will pull into Gator farms to see how hundreds of gators sun themselves before they turn into bags…

Forensic Files and Unsolved Mysteries get our minds deep into the minds of killers who think they’ve left no clues behind. There’s so much stuff there that will keep you awake for nights. Plus, if you can remain apolitical and watch case files of the Mossad, you know how to pursue killers and criminals without giving up.

There are too many true crime shows to list, but if you are like me, then you’ll always find some show that will make you smile, raise a fist in the air and whoop happily at the screen in the middle of the night. Watch Don’t F**k With Cats: Hunting An Internet Killer if you too want to feel like you are a part of this sleuth army on the net that can and will help catch the bad guys.