Anywhere can become a crime scene: the most desolate, grim places unknown to most or the very peak of domestic family comfort.
True crime fanatics might tread extra carefully through their own home’s hallways and stairs after taking in the fascinating docuseries The Staircase, released on Netflix a few years ago to great acclaim. Now, a fictionalised retelling of the case has been fleshed out with a terrific international cast, and is available to check out on BINGE for Aussie subscribers.
All eight episodes of The Staircase, a limited series starring Colin Firth as accused murderer Michael Peterson, arrive on BINGE weekly with the finale premiering on June 9. You can watch new episodes every Thursday, following the tragic and still-confusing death of Kathleen Peterson (Toni Collette), to see how her family splinters under the pressures of worldwide attention.
Dane DeHaan, Olivia DeJonge, and Patrick Schwarzeneggar play Michael’s children from his first marriage, while Sophie Turner and Odessa Young are the Ratliff children the Petersons adopted after their parents’ death. Initially the whole clan is fully supportive of their grieving dad after Kathleen is found dead in the home’s internal stairwell, but as you can glean from the trailer below they soon have reason to doubt his innocence.
An awesome supporting cast of Juliette Binoche, Rosemarie DeWitt, Parker Posey and Michael Stuhlbarg watch the press and courtroom drama with their own agendas, but it’s Firth who is certainly the most compelling bit of casting. Such a nice, appealing guy: so many secrets concealed below.
In Katie Parker’s recent review of the series for Flicks, she felt that BINGE’s fictionalisation “turns a dramatic lens on the story—and with a stunning vision and incredible, eclectic cast, spins an extraordinary new yarn that blows the whole thing wide open once again.” If, like many viewers and speculators out there, you feel like the Peterson case isn’t quite closed, The Staircase sounds like the perfect next step in your true crime investigation.
