CHRISTMAS IS THE perfect time to binge watch box sets and this year, one programme has completely taken over people’s lives: Making A Murderer.

If you’ve been on social media over the past few days, chances are you have seen tweets from people who have rabidly consumed the whole thing.

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But what is it? Allow us to explain.

(Be warned: some very mild spoilers ahead.)

What is Making A Murderer and why should I watch it?

Making A Murderer is a Netflix documentary series about Steven Avery, a man who served 18 years in prison for rape and other crimes, but was subsequently exonerated and released.

A few years after his release, Avery was taking a $36 million lawsuit against Manitowoc County and the former district attorney and sheriff responsible for wrongfully convicting him when he became the prime suspect in the murder of photographer Teresa Halbach.

In 2007, Avery was found guilty of murdering Halbach and sentenced to life in prison.

The series explores the circumstances in which Avery was convicted and “examines allegations of police and prosecutorial misconduct, evidence tampering and witness coercion”.

So, it’s kind of like Serial?

Kind of, but don’t accuse it of being a copycat — its directors have been working on the series for 10 years.

What have the reviews been like?

Universally positive.

The Atlantic wrote that it had the potential to “eclipse” The Jinx and Serial.

But Making a Murderer, which took 10 years to to make, could very well eclipse those works, for the sheer density of reportage and the scale of the horrifying story it tells—one of rural class politics, bureaucratic opacity, and a seemingly coordinated institutional effort to destroy an innocent man.

Boston Herald, meanwhile, called it “an addictive, scary indictment of small-town policing and a warning to those poor or marginalized by their neighbors.”

But be warned — it is grim.

As Todd VanDerWerdff wrote for Vox:

It’s a sprawling small-town saga that, nonetheless, feels lived-in and intimate. And even as it succumbs to some of true crime’s greatest faults, it’s always less interested in the gruesomeness of the crime than in the impossibility of finding the truth, something that serves it well. This is grim television, but it’s also necessary television.

What do people make of it so far?

Let’s just say it’s fairly addictive.

And incredibly frustrating.

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The temptation to just Google everything is real.

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How do I watch it?

All ten episodes are up on Netflix now for your binging pleasure.

Godspeed.

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