Television has always borrowed from real life, but there's no denying that some true stories are so extraordinary they already feel written for the small screen. The Dropout turned the rise and fall of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes into a compelling courtroom drama, while The Crown dramatized Queen Elizabeth II's reign and documented the major historical events that took place during those years. Even acclaimed shows like The Wire have some real events woven in.
The best TV shows based on true events use reality as the foundation for exceptional drama. From exploring a major nuclear disaster to examining one of the most infamous miscarriages of justice and one man's dangerous attempt to extract information from a serial killer, viewers have been blessed with many incredible true stories on the small screen. Some inevitably condense events or take creative liberties, but the six below stand out as the best examples of remarkable real-life stories being transformed into powerful television.
Black Bird's premise would sound far-fetched if it wasn't based on a real story. Taron Egerton plays Jimmy Keene, a convicted drug dealer facing 10 years behind bars who is offered an extraordinary deal: transfer to a maximum-security prison, befriend suspected serial killer Larry Hall, and obtain information that could help the authorities locate the bodies of his suspected victims. If he succeeds, Keene could potentially regain his freedom.
The six-episode Apple TV series was adapted from Keene and Hillel Levin's memoir In With the Devil, which detailed his operation with the FBI, who feared Hall's release was imminent. Thanks to its true story, Apple TV's Black Bird operates as both a true-crime drama and an unnerving psychological thriller, with both the real events and the show ending with Keene's freedom and Hall's continued imprisonment. In real life, Hall reportedly confessed to over 20 murders while in prison and is still serving his sentence.
Egerton is excellent as the charming Keene, but Paul Walter Hauser's performance as Hall is truly phenomenal, and it's what makes many of their conversations so unbearable to watch. Rather than relying on constant twists or action, Black Bird disturbs viewers and generates suspense through Keene growing closer to a man who's responsible for horrific and extreme violence. Knowing that Keene's assignment was based on real events only makes it more unsettling.
There aren't many TV shows out there that can blur the line between creator and subject quite like Baby Reindeer. Richard Gadd writes and stars as Donny Dunn, a struggling comedian whose small act of kindness toward patron Martha soon develops into an obsessive stalking ordeal. Gadd adapted the seven-episode Netflix show from his own stage work and experiences, although the TV version fictionalizes and dramatizes elements of the story rather than functioning as a strict retelling of events.
Baby Reindeer is a difficult watch in places, simultaneously uncomfortable, funny, and increasingly interested in Donny's trauma and self-destructive behavior. Gadd's willingness to make his fictionalized counterpart flawed prevents the show from offering straight heroes and villains, while Jessica Gunning gives Martha a disturbing unpredictability without reducing her to a conventional TV antagonist – both choices that reinforce the psychological messiness of real-life stalking. Baby Reindeer was a phenomenon, spending eight weeks in Netflix's Top 10 English-Language Series and winning six Emmys.
Rather than focus on one extraordinary individual, Dopesick tackles something much bigger: America's opioid crisis and the role Purdue Pharma and OxyContin played in it. Inspired by Beth Macy's nonfiction book, the eight-episode Hulu series moves between a Virginia mining community, pharmaceutical executives, doctors, patients, and investigators, as OxyContin spreads across the US. Some of its central characters and storylines are dramatized, allowing Dopesick to examine the real-world events from multiple perspectives.
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