The Investigation Of Lucy Letby (2026) Dir: Dominic Sivyer

The case of Lucy Letby is one of the most shocking and disturbing in modern British crime history, and has garnered the attention of many as the aftermath has continued to unfold. This documentary, directed by Dominic Sivyer, dropped om Netflix in early 2026, and looked to dissect what has become an increasingly divisive case, despite the evidence. I always worry about how documentary films will present cases like this, and my worries were no different on this occasion either.

For some god-awful reason, the filmmakers decided to use A.I. to 'digitally anonymise' some of the interviewees, including the parent of one of the victims. The result of which was a series of baffling, uncomfortable, awkward, ugly, and downright disrespectful clips. It felt like the laziest and least considerate way of disguising those who wished to remain anonymous. The fact that the awful A.I. was the most memorable aspect of the documentary is the most damning thing I can say. It was genuinely awful. It didn't even look good. What a bone-headed, inconsiderate, and cheap-minded decision.

The actual information was presented in a deliberately frustrating and deliberately contradictory way, specifically designed not only to make the viewer ask questions of the evidence (not a bad thing, inherently), but to be divided and confused by it. It felt more like interaction-bait than a genuine attempt to explore and investigate one of the more upsetting true crime cases of the last decade-plus. Even as someone who has looked into the case before, I found myself getting confused by the way the documentary constantly flip-flopped between stances.

Overall, I thought this was an extremely poorly executed documentary, and one that disrespected the victims and their families, as well as those who asked to remain anonymous. The inclusion of A.I. feels like the big headline from the film, which is absolutely infuriating and disappointing, but even if that was removed from the equation, this would have been a bad film. There is a difference between presenting a mysterious or difficult case as factually as one can, and presenting it in such a way as to make sure no audience member knows quite what to think, and this film unashamedly aimed to do the second one.