Fact vs Fiction: Murder Mysteries, True Stories and Cat and Mouse Games To Stream This Spring

While it’s always been part of the entertainment landscape, with the rise of podcasting and streaming services, the true crime genre has ballooned out of all proportion, becoming an obsession for millions of watercooler detectives.

Both embracing and exploding that very modern phenomenon, here are five media-savvy shows and movies streaming this spring on Disney+. Some dive headlong into the fray and others merely hint at our taste for amateur sleuthing, but all of them deserve your attention.

Only Murders in the Building

In its fifth season, this generation-gap whodunnit – pairing comedy veterans Steve Martin and Martin Short with younger foil Selena Gomez – doubles down on its top-shelf supporting cast, which now includes multiple Oscar winners: Meryl Streep, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Renée Zellweger and Dianne Wiest. Billionaires enter the crowded picture too, after the death of the titular New York apartment building’s well-liked doorman leads the sleuthing trio of podcasters to connect the dots between new money and organised crime. The decades separating Gomez and her co-stars remain an easy source of laughs, and Martin and Short’s tandem comic timing is as reliable (and awkward) as ever. But for a show that pokes fun at the public obsession with true crime, OMITB makes sure that the central mystery is well worth our time.

The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox

It’s the story that sent the tabloids into a frenzy: while studying in Italy, a young American woman stands accused of killing her flatmate in a dark sex game gone wrong. Amanda Knox has long since been exonerated, but the real-life story of how the Italian media and legal system (twice) condemned her, leading to her conviction and imprisonment, has become a staple of “true crime” podcasts and docos. This time, Knox herself is in charge of how the story is told – she executive produced the show alongside Monica Lewinsky. Grace Van Patten plays Knox as someone who’s way out of her depth when tragedy first strikes, yet soon develops the steeliness she needs to survive. Given Knox has gone on to become a journalist, activist and author, that note definitely rings true. But a key part of the story is how the general public – especially on social media – decided on Knox’s guilt with little regard for the facts.

Swiped

Tinder shifted the paradigm of online dating for millennials, becoming the standard platform practically overnight. Feature-length docudrama Swiped takes us through the period of the app’s development and launch, focusing on rising star Whitney Wolfe (played by Lily James) as a rare woman of influence in tech in the 2010s. But when Tinder begins to develop a reputation for its male users’ sleazy behaviour, Wolfe speaks out – and is pushed out of the company for her trouble. That inspires her to start a female-focused dating app you may have heard of: Bumble. Swiped may inevitably bring to mind The Social Network, but James’s portrayal of Wolfe is much more likeable and relatable than that movie’s version of Mark Zuckerberg. And there are lots of juicy details to discover about the manoeuvring, and often heated battles, behind Wolfe’s runaway success. Streaming from September 19 on Disney+.

High Potential

If you only know Kaitlin Olson from her marathon run on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, you’re in for a treat. She finally gets to lead her own show in High Potential, playing a single mum whose unusually high IQ lands her an offbeat consultant role in the LAPD. It’s a police procedural with more laughs than most, thanks to Olson’s chaotic comic energy and some self-aware screenwriting that plays up her character’s stubborn quirks. In addition to a supporting cast that already displayed ample chemistry, the show’s second season – streaming from September 17 on Disney+ – introduces Steve Howey as her handsome new police chief, and Grimm star David Giuntoli as the menacing villain who threatens not just the city but the family Olson’s character fights so hard to protect. There are other mysteries at play too, including the fate of her oldest daughter’s missing father. This is a tonal balancing act that absolutely works.

Chad Powers

Glen Powell is a proper movie star now, so it’s extra fun to see him cut loose in this comedy series about a cancelled NFL quarterback who decides to pull a Mrs Doubtfire and return to the sport as an invented character named Chad Powers. Inspired by a recurring ESPN sketch starring gridiron icon Eli Manning, the series follows Russ Holliday as he tries to distance himself from his public shaming and get back to the basics of football. But as his talent draws increasing attention, Russ realises he hasn’t made the effort to develop a believable backstory for his new persona. As questions begin to mount and Russ battles to avoid coming clean, he gets some help from an unlikely source. It’s great to see Powell deflate his own hunky image here, making endless missteps (physical and verbal) on the long road to redemption. Chad Powers is out September 30.

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