A cut above the usual true crime

Newish on the DocPlay platform (docplay.com), the excellent and unexpected I, Sniper is a sixpart breakdown of the ‘‘DC Sniper’’ killings that terrorised large parts of urban America in October 2002.

Coming so soon after 9/11, the murders, apparently at random by an unseen gunman – or gunmen – were crimes that shocked the world.

Someone with no discernible motive was taking shots at civilians as they went about their days. There was no seeming link between the victims, who came from all genders, races and walks of life. The police were even baffled as to how the shooter was travelling and then hiding in plain sight as they squeezed the trigger.

I, Sniper is not your usual ‘‘true crime’’ series. There is no lugubrious voiceover to tell you what to think. The programme unfolds via news clips, home video and other found media, all expertly spliced together into a quite compelling whole.

I, Sniper might test the patience of anyone just seeking the vicarious thrills of the worst of the genre, but it is

an artful and engrossing watch.

Also available on DocPlay, the astonishing Tabloid is a 2010 film from American master storyteller Errol

Morris, which lays out one of the most bizarre, compelling and jaw-dropping true crime stories you will ever run into.

At one level, Tabloid recounts the story of a former United States beauty queen who fell obsessively in love with a

handsome young Mormon missionary, had an affair with him, followed him to England and eventually found herself arrested for chaining him to a bed and allegedly raping him. Which, naturally, led to a field day for the United Kingdom press, looking for anything to distract their readers from an endless diet of political scandals and lousy weather.

But Tabloid goes much further,

digging into the backstories of all the players and then recounting the facts from multiple points of view. By the end, you will be disoriented and dumbfounded at the escalating madnesses that the case uncovered.

Tabloid is a more engrossing watch than anything I’ve seen on the flashier Netflix in months. Do yourself a favour and join DocPlay to see it.

I, Sniper is a six-part breakdown of the ‘‘DC Sniper’’ killings that terrorised large parts of urban America in October 2002.