Documentaries

The three-part documentary series has already secured top spot in the top 10 charts

True crime fans are being urged to stop what they are doing and binge watch a brand new release that is guaranteed to have your jaw on the floor.

There are plenty of choices at our disposal when it comes to deciding what to watch, but streaming giant Netflix has recently dropped a brand new true crime documentary that everyone needs to get on their watch list.

In what has been dubbed an emotional rollercoaster of a series, the brand new release is from the same producers as Maternal Instinct as it plunges viewers into a 20 year fight for answers.

Titled Taken: Natalee Holloway, the three-part documentary was released on November 4 and has already secured the top spot in the top 10 Series in the UK Today.

An official synopsis teases: “On May 30, 2005, 18-year-old Natalee Holloway vanished on a high school graduation trip to Aruba — and never came home. What followed was years of unanswered questions, a missing teenager, and a mother’s relentless fight for the truth.

“Now, over 20 years later, Natalee’s mother, Beth, is ready to tell the complete story. With exclusive, unprecedented access to Beth and those who were with Natalee when she vanished, this three-part documentary series from Story Syndicate (Maternal Instinct, Titan: The Oceangate Disaster) and directors Dani Sloane and Matthew Galkin is the definitive account of a case that gripped a nation and never let go.

“It’s a story of a mother who refused to stop searching, an investigation that spanned continents, and a daughter whose memory endures. This is Natalee’s story, told at last in full.”

Spanning across three episodes, viewers are already hooked as one person admitted on TikTok: “I am disgusted by this documentary.” They later added: “This documentary takes you on a whirlwind of events, literally 20 years until they get answers.”

In a separate video, another true crime fan praised: “You need to stop whatever your doing, cancel all of your plans and forget about everything else on Netflix because this documentary is about to be number one trending.

“I’m telling you right now everybody is going to be talking about this documentary, my jaw was on the floor watching it.” Another replied: “I’ve just finished it can’t believe what I’ve watched.”

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Over on Facebook, one person penned: “I just watched Taken: The Natalee Holloway Story on Netflix, and I am absolutely disgusted and heartbroken.”

Another echoed: “No I have the full body chills right now. Cannot believe it took that long. And the WhatsApp literally had me screaming”, as a third added: “Natalee’s case has always haunted me.”

On IMDb, a reviewer echoed: “This is a shocking, disturbing and often sickening story, but an important one to tell… Ultimately, this is as much a story about a mother’s love and determination as it is about a horrific crime. A compelling documentary that stays with you long after the final episode.”

Taken: Natalee Holloway can be streamed on Netflix

A Netflix documentary has been described as ‘disturbing’ and ‘jaw-dropping’ by viewers, who say it’s ‘impossible to turn off’. Give it a go if you’re struggling to find something to watch

Everyone with a Netflix subscription knows how overwhelming it can be to find something good to watch. And sometimes, they give up altogether, heading to bed without ever making it past the title screen.

But one user claims there’s no need to waste precious time searching on this occasion, as he’s got the ideal documentary recommendation – and believes everyone will soon be discussing it. EccyReviews, who watches and critiques films and television programmes across his social media channels, is encouraging Netflix subscribers to give Tell Me Who I Am a watch.

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What’s the plot?

The 2019 documentary chronicles the story of Alex Lewis, who suffered memory loss after an accident.

Its IMDb description reads: “Alex Lewis trusts his twin brother, Marcus, to tell him about his past only to discover that he’s hiding a dark secret about their childhood.”

Speaking about the documentary, EccyReviews said: “You’re going to be running to Netflix to go and watch this documentary because it is one of the most insane stories you will ever hear.

“Everyone I know who’s seen this documentary cannot stop talking about it. The documentary I’m talking about is called Tell Me Who I Am.

“It follows a young man who after a motorcycle accident, wakes up to find he has lost his complete memory.

“He doesn’t know who his brother is, who his father is or even his own mother. And when he returns home he knows that there is something strange going on in his house.

“After years and years of never really speaking about his past, he meets up with his brother across this table to find out his entire backstory.

“Now it is genuinely disturbing, emotional and jaw dropping once you hear what happened to him. And honestly, if you haven’t seen this documentary you are massively missing out. So get it on your watch list right now.”

Where to watch Tell Me Who I Am?

The documentary is available to stream on Netflix in a single viewing, with a runtime of one hour and 26 minutes.

If you’re more in to reading, the book is also available to purchase, having become a Sunday Times bestseller.

What do people say?

Commenting on the recommendation, one TikTok user said: “I don’t have the patience to watch full documentaries, but this actually had me glued to the tele, it’s so disturbing because it’s true, I’ll ask the question for everyone, would you have told him?”

Another added: “What an incredible story. Heartbreaking. An incredible watch.”

A third user said: “Watched this before and highly recommend… it’s so upsetting in parts but will keep you hooked.”

The One About Matthew Perry is a new documentary exploring the life of the late Friends star, who played Chandler Bing on the beloved sitcom, three years on from his tragic death

Famously the Friends theme tune features the lyric “I’ll be there for you”.

And in real life actor Matthew Perry had both family and friends looking out for him along the way for most of his 54 years. Best known as Chandler Bing, he was regularly the stand out comic actor in the sitcom, both with physical gags and his comic timing of lines.

But often away from the cameras and the fame, there were problems in his life and we see and hear about those in abundance in the new Netflix series. I didn’t expect to react strongly to The One About Matthew Perry, but his sister Mia Perry Bowick is a captivating and unflinching interviewee.

Ahead of watching the documentary, I couldn’t really understand why she had agreed to take part and what good could come from it. But she does an incredible job by balancing her words to pay tribute to a brother she loved dearly, at the same time as also explaining the difficulties and pain of him struggling and battling with addiction.

I felt I understood the issues around addiction and Matthew Perry much more after watching and had huge sympathy for him and Mia. Here was an incredibly intelligent and talented man trying to manage a career as an A-list star as he fights desperately to not drink or turn to drugs when he feels depressed.

Those that worked with him point to his comic timing, his willingness to help with script tweaks or tiny scene changes to make projects even better. But for all his successes he never seemed to be able to be completely happy.

Despite having lots of friends and women falling at his feet, he would sometimes feel alone, perhaps thinking back to a time he would be put on planes on his own as a child flying between him mum in Canada and his dad in Los Angeles after they had separated

In one archive interview he says: “The beliefs that I had were I was too needy, I wasn’t enough, and I didn’t matter. And my whole life was about trying to have those three things not be true.”

Mia elaborates and says: “He would talk about that feeling of kind of a sense of emptiness or loneliness that he couldn’t quite fill.”

His closest friends and girlfriends discuss a recurring theme of poor Matthew losing the battle over and over again with relapses, and then his death. At one stage Mia says tearfully: “I know that a lot of parts of him did not think it was possible for him to live a sober life.” Going back further Mia recalls the good times, when Matthew first landed the Friends job, and when she was being cuddled on set by his cast mates like Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox as a young girl.

Her brother could be ridiculously generous and bought her a Corvette car when she was 15 and regularly treated friends and girlfriends to expensive gifts too. He also wasn’t against putting his hand in his pocket to try to help solve his own problems as Mia highlights he spent $7million on rehab to try to get clean and stay sober.

But another scene that lives long in the memory is when Mia describes visiting him in rehab in 2001 and being unable to control her despair at the situation, running and hiding in a cupboard in tears until her brother came to get her.

“This was my big brother, my idolised big brother. He was the most special person on the planet. Just seeing him suffering, I was really scared for him.”

As she grew older she matured and found she was having to help him even more, rushing to hospital to his aid in 2018 just six weeks after she had given birth. He came out of a coma that time and was released from hospital against the odds after three months, but the hopes that this would be rock bottom only lasted a few years.

At times this series if a tough watch because it does not sugarcoat what happened and the issues around addiction. But this decision should be applauded. It is a million miles away from so many of the other “celebrity documentaries” released these days which gloss over the difficult moments over simplify what really happened.

Explaining her reasoning for taking part, Mia said: As his sister, he shaped who I am today, the person I strive to be, and the work to which I’ve devoted my life. Matthew had a beautiful heart and a generous spirit, and even in his darkest moments, he could still make you laugh and feel loved. I hope this series gives everyone who loved him, whether personally or from afar, a deeper appreciation for who he truly was, and the legacy he leaves behind.”

Mia, you were there for him, and along with director Mary Robertson you have done Matthew proud with this documentary.

VERDICT: A challenging and heartbreaking series *****

* The One About Matthew Perry premieres globally on Netflix on October 27.

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