The Staircase

Netflix Documentary 🎥 Review: “The Staircase”.

Critics gave it a 94% the users an 84%.

Rated: TV-MA Total run time 10 hrs 29 mins over thirteen episodes with an IMDb of 7.9/10.

In 2001 novelist Michael Peterson's wife died, and he claimed she perished after falling down stairs at their home. The medical examiner, however, determined that she had been beaten with a weapon, which led to Peterson becoming a suspect in what would become a murder investigation. This series, which began with eight episodes in 2005 before being updated in 2013 and 2018, follows the investigation as it proceeds from Peterson's arrest to a verdict being reached in the ensuing trial. The real-life courtroom thriller offers a rare and revealing inside look at a high-profile murder trial and an examination of contemporary American justice.

The Staircase (French: Soupçons, lit. ''Suspicions''; also known as Death on the Staircase) is a 2004 French television miniseries by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade documenting the trial of Michael Peterson, convicted of murdering his wife, Kathleen Peterson. 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 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),[7] 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.

So if you are someone who likes shows like “Dateline”, or murder mystery documentaries this show is for you. And if you are into the details of a murder, you will never get more details that you do in this series. After viewing the entire 13 episodes now available on Netflix, you will be very disappointed at the incompetence of the local agencies responsible for investigating, collecting evidence, and evaluating evidence. I was hooked after the first episode and binged right through the 13 episodes.

As you go thru the series and no matter how you feel about the character or guilt of the accused Michael Peterson, you will quickly become very concerned about how law enforcement, prosecutors and those involved in evaluating scientific evidence, clearly mishandled their positions of authority.

We all remember the O.J. Simpson’s dream team trial and the bickering back and forth as to guilty or not! Well this series will bring you back to those days, by allowing us to witness the flaws in the judgement of the judicial system. You’ll also find yourself engulfed in the trial and trying to determine if he was guilty or not.

Truly riveting and well produced documentary.