Alex Murdaugh, Unconvicted: Netflix’s First Instadoc Explained
As the masterminds behind viral true crime hits like Tiger King, The Tinder Swindler, and the more recent Should I Marry A Murderer?, Netflix is now taking things to the next level.
The veteran streaming service is synthesising its natural prowess for true crime with the immediacy of social media by producing a series of fast-turnaround, 30-minute ‘Instadocs’ that distill the latest viral sensations and true crime headlines as and when they are happening.
Here's what the Alex Murdaugh, Unconvicted documentary on Netflix is all about.
Netflix’s First ‘Instadoc,’ Explained
The minds behind this new initiative include showrunner Steve Yaccino and executive producers Connor Schell and Josh Tyrangiel. In an interview with TUDUM, Netflix’s editorial branch, Tyrangiel said: “The best documentaries don’t just capture history — they shape how we understand it. With Netflix, we have the infrastructure to match the speed of the world we’re documenting. Instadocs is about giving audiences something they’ve never had before: depth and craft at the moment it matters most.”
Alex Murdaugh, Unconvicted, the first instalment of this innovative new series, dropped on May 30. It focuses on the potential Alex Murdaugh trial. Previously, Netflix covered the alleged crime itself in more depth in 2023’s Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal. But, this new Instadoc explores the thorny dynamics of the jury process amid explosive claims of jury interference by Colleton County Clerk Becky Hill.
If you haven’t seen the documentary yet, please be advised that there are spoilers ahead.
What is ‘Alex Murdaugh, Unconvicted’ About?
Alex Murdaugh, Unconvicted takes us behind the curtain of the jury process of one of the most talked-about murder cases in recent history. Back in 2023, disgraced lawyer Alex Murdaugh was convicted of shooting and killing his own wife and son. After an intense six-week trial, which involved a crime scene tour and Murdaugh’s own testimony, the jury ultimately found him guilty. But recently, everything unravelled.
On May 13, the Supreme Court explosively overturned Murdaugh’s murder conviction due to allegations of jury interference. The woman at the centre of all this chaos is Becky Hill. The seemingly-dedicated Colleton County Clerk of Court was dogged with allegations of jury tampering which ultimately led to the downfall of her career.
One former Murdaugh juror who speaks out in the documentary is Myra Crosby, who is better known as the “egg juror.” Crosby was dismissed from the trial after an anonymous email alleged that she spoke about the trial outside of court, but in her interview, she tells an entirely different story. Primarily, she claims that Hill implied to her that Murdaugh would lie in his testimony, and said to pay close attention to how he presents himself.
Along with interviews with the South Carolina attorney general, the mayor of Walterboro, Crosby’s legal representative, fellow juror Craig Moyer and others, the documentary also features Melissa and Neil Gordon from Trial Watchers, who explore how Hill may well have further muddied the waters by collaborating with them on a tell-all book about the trial.
While she has never been charged with jury tampering directly, this book proved to be instrumental in Hill’s downfall. People magazine reported that, as well as resigning from her role in 2024, Hill pled guilty to four criminal charges. Among these was obstruction of justice and perjury after sharing sealed photo evidence and misconduct for promoting her book while she was in office.
The chief question at the heart of the documentary is this: Did Hill attempt to engineer a guilty verdict to sell more copies of her book? As we inch closer to the answer, there’s one thing we know for sure: Netflix is changing the game by capturing true crime discourse as it happens.
