Netflix’s The Witness Focuses on Grief Rather Than Sensation

True crime remains one of Netflix’s most reliable genres, but The Witness — a three-part miniseries that debuted June 4 — is not easy to binge. Based on the memoir Letting Go by Alex Hanscombe, it recounts the 1992 murder of Rachel Nickell while she walked with her two-year-old son, Alex, who was the only eyewitness.

The series has earned 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. Rather than foreground detectives or revelations, The Witness centers on André Hanscombe (Jordan Bolger) and his son Alex (Max Fincham). André is shown grieving, raising a traumatized child, navigating a relentless media circus and working with investigators, while the teenage Alex struggles with a past he would rather leave behind.

The drama does not present its characters as perfect, and much of its power comes from that uncomfortable honesty. Scenes of reporters following the family and the invasion of private suffering are often as upsetting as the crime itself.

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