Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story

In this era of exploitative true crime television, Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story stands out as being unusually restrained. But this depends entirely on your ability to resist googling the sordid scandal that inspired it. The show will work only for those who aren’t familiar with the case; anybody who remembers reading about it in the papers will probably wonder what made the filmmakers omit crucial details. Nevertheless, Fred and Rose West is an unusually well-made piece of true crime TV; it circles the case, but doesn’t circumvent it. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that the series was produced by the streamer’s UK arm, which has historically been superior to the American (and certainly, the Indian) wings. Fred and Rose West is perhaps the most disturbing documentary of its kind that the streamer has released since 2019’s Tell Me Who I Am, another British production.

Even regular watchers of true crime like me will find it extremely harrowing to sit through Fred and Rose West, whose logline of ‘A British Horror Story’ doesn’t even come close to describing what a turbulent ride this newest offering from Netflix is. For those familiar with the gruesome details of the case, the three-part documentary will function as an uncomfortable throwback. For those like me who didn’t know about it at all, Fred and Rose West is yet another (and, by far, most shocking) eye-opener of the depravity that humankind is capable of.