The Staircase (2022) - HBO Max

A recreation of the true story of novelist Michael Peterson, on trial for the murder of his wife Kathleen, found dead at the bottom of the stairs in their home, and the 16-year judicial battle that followed.

This eight episode drama from HBO is not the same one as showing on Netflix, just so you know. This one is littered with an enviable budget and a stellar cast featuring Colin Firth (admittedly surprising casting) as Michael and Toni Collette as Kathleen. But the luminaries don't stop there with Dane DeHaan, Sophie Turner to name but just two also turning up as shocked and grieving family members.

The first reaction, quite realistically you might say, was how you could possibly make an eight episode series out of these events, but this lavish and continuously intriguing production spares no expense or dark corner to tell the tale, developing the entire family over time. Exemplary production design and attention to detail may overcomplicate the bare bones, but the stories needed to be told make the whole more rounded. Only a few episodes in at time of writing, this has garnered positive responses from many quarters and continues to impress.