A new British crime drama arrived on Netflix on June 4, 2026, and it is already breaking records. The three-part limited series called The Witness tells a painful true story from 1992. But instead of focusing on the killer, the show looks at the family left behind. Within 72 hours of its release, the show climbed to the number 2 spot on Netflix’s global TV chart and earned a perfect score from critics.
The series is based on the real murder of Rachel Nickell, a young mother who was killed on Wimbledon Common in London while walking with her two-year-old son. The boy, Alex Hanscombe, was the only person who saw what happened. Now, more than 30 years later, this drama shows how that one day changed his life and his father’s life forever.
A Perfect 100% Score on Rotten Tomatoes Sets ‘The Witness’ Apart From Other Crime Shows
Critics do not usually give perfect scores. But The Witness currently holds a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes from multiple reviews. This is very rare for any TV show, especially a true crime drama.
Writers and reviewers are praising the show for doing something different. Most true crime stories spend a lot of time on the police work and the chase for the killer. This series puts that in the background. Instead, it follows André Hanscombe (Rachel’s partner) and little Alex as they try to live with what happened.
“This is largely a family drama, and a moving one.” – Financial Times critic Rebecca Nicholson.
Another reviewer from The Irish Independent said the show is “unlike any true crime drama we’ve seen before, in that it’s not really a true crime drama at all. It’s primarily a story of survival.”
The Horrifying True Story Behind Netflix’s New Hit Show
On a summer day in 1992, Rachel Nickell took her son Alex for a walk. Alex was only a few weeks away from turning three years old. While they were on Wimbledon Common, a stranger attacked and killed Rachel. Little Alex was left standing there as the only witness.
The crime shocked all of England. It was very violent, and it happened in a busy public park during the daytime. The police had no clear suspect for years. The media went after André, who is Black, with terrible racist attacks. The press would not leave the family alone.
André eventually had to take Alex and leave the United Kingdom. They moved around Europe and finally settled in Spain just to escape the newspapers and TV cameras.
The real Alex Hanscombe wrote a book about his experience called Letting Go. That book became the main source for the Netflix drama. The streaming service also released a companion documentary on the same day called The Murder of Rachel Nickell for viewers who want to know the exact facts without any acting.
Meet the Cast of ‘The Witness’: From ‘Peaky Blinders’ to ‘Happy Valley’
Jordan Bolger plays André Hanscombe, the grieving father. You might know Bolger from Peaky Blinders (where he played Isiah) or from the film The Woman King. Critics are calling his performance “star-making.”
Max Fincham plays the teenage version of Alex. Young Alex is played by a child actor whose name has not been widely released to protect his identity.
The police officers are played by some big names:
- Neil Maskell (Hijack, Peaky Blinders) as DI Keith Pedder
- Mark Stanley (Happy Valley, Game of Thrones) as DS Ivan Agnew
- Jon Pointing (Sweetpea, Big Boys) as DC Nick Sparshatt
Kerry Godliman (After Life, Derek) plays June, André’s mother and Alex’s grandmother. Claire Rushbrook (Rivals, Secrets & Lies) plays Dr. Jean Harris-Hendriks, the child psychologist who tries to help little Alex.
‘The Witness’ Becomes Netflix’s Second Most-Watched Show Globally
The numbers do not lie. According to FlixPatrol and data from Netflix, The Witness became the No. 2 show on the entire platform just two days after it came out.
It reached the No. 1 spot in six different countries, including Argentina, Mexico, and Uruguay. In the United States, it sits comfortably at number two, only behind the Michael Jackson docuseries called Michael Jackson: The Verdict.
In its first few days, The Witness pulled in 13.2 million views globally. That is a huge number for a quiet release that did not have a big advertising campaign.
The show is only three episodes long. The total runtime is about two and a half hours. This makes it very easy for viewers to finish in one night. Because the story is so intense and the episodes are short, people are watching the whole thing in one sitting and telling their friends to do the same.
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Why This Crime Drama Feels Different From Other Netflix True Crime Shows
Many Netflix true crime shows focus on the killer. They spend hours on interrogations, evidence, and courtroom drama. The Witness does not do that.
The killer is caught at the end, but the show is not about the chase. It is about a father trying to raise a son who saw something no child should ever see. It is about a little boy who has to talk to police and doctors about the worst day of his life. It is about the media making everything worse.
This focus on the victim’s family is why the show is connecting with so many people. Viewers are not watching to see a criminal get caught. They are watching to see how a family survives the unthinkable.
The real Alex Hanscombe and his father André helped make the show. They wanted their story to be told the right way. Netflix also released the documentary so viewers can see the real interviews and news footage from the 1990s. Watching both the drama and the documentary gives the full picture of this sad chapter in British history.
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