'Making A Murderer' Series Review: SPOILERS

I binge-watched all 10 hours of Netflix's new true crime documentary series 'Making A Murderer' in the space of two days, and it was the best decision I'd ever made. Filmed over the course of 10 years, the series follows the life of Steven Avery and his family after he was wrongfully imprisoned for 18 years for a rape he didn't commit. After he was released he sued the Manitowoc sheriff's department for the 18 years of life he lost behind bars, and while preparations for $36million civil suit were under way with help from The Innocence Project he was arrested charged with the murder of Teresa Halbach, a photographer who was apparently last seen on the Avery property.

Over the course of the 10 hours of courtroom footage, interrogations and interviews with Steven and his family your opinion on his innocence will shift back and forth as more evidence is revealed. Avery and his defence attorneys were accusing the Manitowoc sheriff's department for framing Avery and planting evidence on his property; they were told to stay out of the investigation and let neighbouring Calumet county take care of it instead, and yet the Manitowoc detectives still found their way into the crime scene the day the evidence against Avery was found.

There are two instances while watching 'Making A Murderer' where you will openly gasp in shock and clearly count as evidence against the Manitowoc sheriff's department: one is that a vial of Avery's blood had been tampered with in the evidence room, and a small hole was found in the top that looks like someone who had access to the evidence had extracted his blood to plant in the crime scene. And the other is a telephone call from Sergeant Andrew Colborn who had called in the number plate of Teresa Halbach's Toyota RAV 4 three days before it was found on the Avery property, while doing so he read out the plate and asked the operator if it matched to a '1999 Toyota', something only someone who was reading the plate from the back of the car would have known. This suggests that Colborn had been looking at the victim's car three days before it was found by the authorities on Avery's scrap yard. Ultimately Steven Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey - 16 years old - were sentenced to life imprisonment for second degree murder, mutilation of a corpse and sexual assault. The charge of false imprisonment against both defendants was later dropped during the trial.

Overall, 'Making A Murderer' has caused quite the stir. It's had an amazing online response from people who want to make it known that Steven Avery is clearly innocent. Even a letter was written to the White House asking for him to be released, to which unfortunately Obama declined. It is such a rare and wonderful thing for a documentary film or series to have such an effect on people, the only other documentary that I can recall having a similar effect was 'Blackfish', which is still used today against Seaworld and has contributed to parks having to alter their treatment of their captive performing orcas by law.

Rating: 10/10 - I would definitely recommend watching if you enjoy true crime stories and have 10 hours to spare and are in need of a new and interesting series to watch!