Anyone watching The Staircase on Netflix.
Its riveting…my daughter told me to watch it I was sceptical because its true life crime and I’m not usually drawn to that but blimey what a story there are so many twists and turns
Really worth a look at.
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Hi Summer 
thank you for the recommendation, I have access to Netflix but have never used it .
It’s good meg…hope you manage to access it.
I hope Artangel sees this thread I think she would love it.
High Summer. I have Netflix but I have no staircase…I live in a bungalow… is that ok?
I’ve just finished watching all 13 episodes of “The Staircase” documentary series on Netflix.
Not having researched the title, I started off by thinking I was watching a movie in the style of a documentary and I thought “how clever to make it so clumsy and badly acted”. Before long, however, it became clear that this was real-life and watching it was going to be a long haul.
To be fair, this production is one-sided and centres on Michael Peterson, the convicted wife murderer, who, as outlined in the series, did not get a fair trial.
Nevertheless, as an expose of the corruption in the US legal system, the series, IMO, is, indeed, riveting stuff. I’d like to say more but I don’t want to spoil anyone else’s viewing.
For a rating, I’d give the series 9/10.
I like “Disenchanted” on Netflix - but then I’m weird!
We don’t have Netflix but The Staircase is available on Sky Atlantic.
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AFAIK, that is the drama series version, not the documentary series.
However, with Colin Firth as Michael Peterson, it should be well worth a watch for those with Sky Atlantic.
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Summer Ha! It’s funny you should say that because… by chance l saw something on a Sky News break that this was being shown on Sky Atlantic. So l downloaded the first episode.
I thought it was great and the acting was superb, especially Colin Firth. Oooh… and what a revelation!!
I must catch up with the rest of it!
I didn’t realise, it is based on a real-life crime story.
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Oh! So he was convicted for killing his wife! So l don’t need to watch anymore?
This hasn’t been shown in the first episode. He’s only just going on trial.
It’s a shame you didn’t activate some sort of ‘spoiler’ post, so as not to ruin it for people who haven’t watched it all yet.
The Netflix production, which is the subject of this thread, is a documentary, not a drama. All the events are a matter of record and massive publicity.
Following from de Lestrade’s Oscar-winning Murder on a Sunday Morning, filming began soon after Peterson’s indictment. Camera crews were given access to the accused’s extended family, the defense attorneys, and the courtroom.
An abbreviated version was broadcast as a special two-hour presentation of American news show Primetime Thursday on July 22, 2004. The miniseries was completed in September 2004, and premiered in October on Canal+, from January 10–14, 2005, on BBC Four (as part of its Storyville documentary series), and from April 4–25 on Sundance Channel.
Lestrade returned to film Peterson and his family in 2012–2013, covering developments in the case that were released as a two-hour sequel. Three new episodes with further updates were later made for Netflix, and in 2018, the streaming channel added all 13 episodes to its catalog, making it available as one series.
I have already mentioned the difference between this and the Sky Atlantic/HBO Max recent release:
In 2001, Kathleen Peterson was found dead at the bottom of the stairs in the North Carolina home she shared with her husband, the novelist Michael Peterson.
“My wife had an accident,” Peterson says on the 911 call. “She’s still breathing. She fell down the stairs.”
Shortly after, Peterson was charged with first-degree murder. The trial(s!) that followed was full of twists and kooky theories—blaming the death on everything from an owl attack to connecting it to a second slaying similar in nature. The bizarre case has been the subject of countless true crime podcasts, a Netflix docuseries, and has now been adapted by HBO Max into a new drama miniseries starring Colin Firth and Toni Collette.
Michael Peterson (left) - Colin Firth (right)