New documentaries and true crime you need to watch this month

True crime and documentary fans, listen up: May 2026 is packed with new documentaries across Netflix, BBC, Channel 4, Disney+, and more.

Netflix has been on a serious run lately. The Investigation of Lucy Letby arrived earlier this year, while March delivered Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere, which quickly became one of the month’s most talked-about releases.

Elsewhere, Channel 5 gave us the breathtaking The Surgeon, and Channel 4 had Molly vs the Machines.

It’s time to sort your watchlist. Whether you’re after true crime, real-life survival stories, or a David Attenborough doc, these are the new documentaries worth watching in May.

The 13 best new documentaries to stream in May

Making Life on Earth: Attenborough’s Greatest Adventure

• Release date: May 3 at 8pm
• Channel/platform: BBC One and BBC iPlayer
• Length: 1 hour

David Attenborough’s voice is synonymous with nature itself, certainly in the UK. He is one of the most prolific, beloved documentarians of all time – and this one-hour special chronicles one of his earliest, most special achievements.

“This is the remarkable story behind the BBC’s most famous wildlife blockbuster. A three-year, hair-raising odyssey around the world, travelling to 40 countries and filming over 600 species, including the famous mountain gorillas,” the BBC synopsis reads.

“First broadcast in 1979 and watched by 500 million people, it launched David Attenborough’s career as the most successful and influential wildlife film-maker of our time.”

Worst Ex Ever season 2

• Release date: May 6
• Channel/platform: Netflix
• Length: 1 hour, 4 episodes

Worst Ex Ever’s first season did exactly what you’d expect: unpack creepy, bizarre, and violent cases involving jilted ex-lovers.

This month, it’s back with four brand-new cases, including the ‘Handsome Devil’ killer Wade Wilson and 90 Day Fiancé’s Geoffrey Paschel.

According to Netflix, you should expect “gripping testimonials, startling bodycam footage, and vivid animated reenactments that bring harrowing tales of betrayal, violence, and deceit to life – exposing some of the most monstrous relationships and exes you’ll ever encounter”.

We Are Jeni

• Release date: May 8
• Channel/platform: HBO Max
• Length: 1 hour 28 minutes

Dr. Jeni Haynes suffered years of “unimaginable” childhood abuse at the hands of her father. In her words, her dad is a “monster”, and Australian police have described it as one of the country’s worst-ever child abuse cases.

In order to cope, her mind fractured into 2,500 personalities (known as ‘alters’). We Are Jeni is her story, delving into how she survived and “her fight to be believed”.

“As Detective Paul Stamoulis leads a decade-long investigation to validate her accounts of extreme childhood abuse, one question remains: can a woman whose testimony comes from multiple selves ever be believed?” the synopsis teases.

999 Critical Condition season 6

• Release date: May 12 at 9pm
• Channel/platform: Channel 5
• Length: 1 hour per episode

Channel 5’s breathtaking medical documentary finally returns this month, filmed in the heart of the action at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital – in one of the UK’s busiest trauma centres.

“Capturing the unprecedented challenges that the staff in Resus face every day, each exhilarating episode will follow real-time treatment as life-or-death decisions are made under the most intense pressure,” the broadcaster’s description reads.

The first episode will feature a man who impales himself on a flagpole, as well as an elderly man who suffers a serious accident at home.

Kidnapped By My Mum

• Release date: May 13 at 10pm
• Channel/platform: BBC Three (also on BBC iPlayer and BBC One at 10:40pm)
• Length: 1 hour 37 minutes

At 11 years old, Alex Batty disappeared during a holiday with his mother and grandfather, triggering an international missing persons investigation.

For six years, there was no trace of him — until a teenager emerged from the French Pyrenees claiming he’d escaped captivity.

Now 20, Alex retraces the route across Spain and France that kept him hidden for years, revealing the beliefs and lifestyle that isolated him from the outside world. The documentary explores his dramatic escape, the failed efforts to find him, and the emotional toll on his family, as Alex confronts the complicated truth about his mother.

The Crash

• Release date: May 15
• Channel/platform: Netflix
• Length: 1 hour 32 minutes (TBC)

July 31, 2002: a quiet, normal morning in Strongsville, Ohio, is rocked by horrifying news. A car travelling at 100mph had crashed into the side of a building, killing two passengers.

At first, it looked like a horrible accident. However, the driver – Mackenzie Shirilla – was soon suspected of carrying out a calculated crash.

According to Netflix, the film will “dive deep into the volatile relationship at the center of this ill-fated trio” and “examine the shifting narratives surrounding the night of the crash to pinpoint where a fatal mistake turns into cold-blooded murder”.

The Dark Side of Married at First Sight – Panorama

• Release date: May 18 at 8pm
• Channel/platform: BBC One
• Length: 29 minutes

It’s been more than 10 years since Married at First Sight launched on Channel 4. It’s easily among the UK’s biggest reality shows – however, it may have a “dark side”, according to a new documentary.

In this Panoroma special, the team investigates allegations “that raise serious concerns that welfare procedures on the reality show have failed contributors, leaving them at risk of harm,” according to the description.

“Noor Nanji speaks to three women who allege sexual misconduct by their former on-screen husbands.

“Two of the women say they were sexually assaulted. The men deny all the allegations against them, and both Channel 4 and CPL – the independent production company that makes the series – say the welfare protocols are robust and comprehensive.”

True Crime Presents: Murder at the Grand Canal

• Release date: May 19 at 9pm
• Channel/platform: ITV1
• Length: 1 hour

In May 2015, the body of 23-year-old Marta Ligman was found stuffed inside a suitcase in London’s Grand Canal.

Days before, she had suffered a “severe beating” at the hands of her boyfriend, Tomasz Kocick.

“She must have at least been unconscious. Dead or dying, you then treated her body in a grotesque and demeaning way, hauling her in a suitcase down to the canal and carrying a stick to try to submerge the case when you got there,” he was told during his trial.

“Your actions were carefully considered and designed at all times to help you to get away with murder if you could.”

This sobering new instalment of True Crime Presents will track the investigation into Ligman’s death and how a fateful discovery led to Kocick’s conviction.

The Elon Musk Show: The Next Chapter

• Release date: May 21 at 9pm
• Channel/platform: BBC iPlayer
• Length: 1 hour

It’s been nearly four years since The Elon Musk Show first aired on BBC Two. This month, it’s returning with “the next chapter”.

“Another look at one of the world’s most polarising billionaires as he swaps rockets and electric cars for raw political power. The programme covers Musk’s tumultuous takeover of Twitter/X, the seismic fallouts of his personal life, and his evolution into a political force on both sides of the Atlantic,” the synopsis reads.

“With immersive archive footage and revealing testimony from childhood friends, political insiders and former employees, this documentary charts how his quest to ‘save humanity’ collides with culture wars, AI breakthroughs and far-right movements in the US and UK.”

Confessions of a Serial Killer: Levi Bellfield

• Release date: May 25
• Channel/platform: Prime Video
• Length: TBC

In 2002, Levi Bellfield kidnapped and murdered 13-year-old Milly Dowler. A year later, he attacked 19-year-old Marsha McDonell after she stepped off a bus, beating her over the head and killing her.

These are just two of Bellfield’s confirmed (and several alleged) victims.

According to Prime Video’s synopsis, this documentary will follow DCI Colin Sutton and his team as they re-examine Bellfield’s claims, “whose repeated and conflicting confessions to the 1996 murders of Lin and Megan Russell have reignited one of the country’s most controversial cases”.

“With another man still serving life sentences for the crime, this series unravels a complex web of evidence, doubt and deception, asking whether Bellfield is manipulating the system from behind bars.”

Inside Thailand’s British Drug Mule Gangs: UNTOLD

• Release date: May 27 at 11pm
• Channel/platform: Channel 4 (available to stream now)
• Length: 42 minutes

The newest instalment in Channel 4’s “provocative” UNTOLD docu-series revolves around British drug dealers operating in Thailand.

More specifically, the documentary follows journalist Tir Dhondy as she investigates the gangs recruiting young British women as drug mules to smuggle huge quantities of cannabis from party destination Thailand back to the UK.

Dhondy visits a weed packing facility, meets someone called “Zee” who flies mules in and out of the country, and “Lucy”, a balaclava-wearing smuggler who talks about her experiences working with the gangs.

Manosphere Messiahs: How Masculinity Influencers Went Global

• Release date: May 28
• Channel/platform: BBC iPlayer and BBC World Service YouTube channel
• Length: 54 minutes

Earlier this year, Louis Theroux tackled one of his most contentious, toxic, and prevalent subjects yet: the manosphere. The Netflix doc put him in the orbit of some of the internet’s most controversial influencers, from HSTikkyTokky to Myron Gaines.

Now, BBC disinformation reporter Jacqui Wakefield has looked further afield, examining the rise of two particularly influential manosphere figures: El Temach in Mexico and Andrew Kibe in Kenya.

“Inspired by figures in the West like Andrew Tate, creators like El Temach and Andrew Kibe promote self-improvement, discipline and “male empowerment” to millions of young followers through viral videos, livestreams, merchandise and sold-out live events,” the synopsis reads.

“But critics say the movement is fuelling misogyny and hostility towards women. Jacqui meets devoted fans who say the manosphere changed their lives, and the women paying the price offline.”

Reported Missing

• Release date: May 28 at 9pm
• Channel/platform: BBC One and BBC iPlayer
• Length: 1 hour

The fifth series of Reported Missing starts this month. This docu-series, which first aired in 2017, chronicles real-life missing person cases from the first moment they’re reported to the police all the way to their conclusion.

The first episode of the new series revolves around Larissa, a 16-year-old girl who vanishes in the wake of an argument with her mum, Karen.

“What initially sounds like a typical teenage scenario becomes a major missing persons investigation when Karen reveals that Larissa has bipolar disorder and that she has left home in her pyjamas,” the synopsis reads.

The episode also follows a case involving Bobby, an 18-year-old who goes missing shortly after being discharged from hospital.

“With growing fears for Bobby’s safety, police gain access to his financial records and discover that he has been sending money to a friend. But although this might be proof of life, it leads to another dead end, and police still don’t know whether Bobby is intending to harm himself.”

New documentaries on Netflix UK this month

New documentaries on Prime Video this month

New documentaries on BBC iPlayer this month

New documentaries on ITV this month

New documentaries on Channel 4 this month

New documentaries on Channel 5 this month

New documentaries on Disney+ this month

New documentaries on HBO Max this month

New documentaries on Paramount+ this month

Read more: The best Netflix series you should watch this month

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