ITV fans have reported being 'left with nightmares' after binge-watching an 'absolutely shocking' true crime documentary series that contains deeply 'distressing scenes'. The programme, titled Body in the Water and narrated by Riley Neldam, originally aired on the American True Crime channel in September last year and is now available for free streaming on ITVX in the UK.
A Deep Dive into Harrowing Real-Life Cases
The ten-part docuseries follows multiple tragic real-life stories from both the United Kingdom and the United States, all involving deaths that occurred in water. Each episode begins with a warning to viewers about the potentially upsetting content contained within. The series trailer sets the tone with a voiceover stating: 'Tragic murder cases hidden in the depths of the water are brought to the surface by experts in an immersive new true crime original series.'
Episode Breakdown and Viewer Reactions
The series opens with an episode called A Finding in the Loch, which details how police divers in training discovered human remains in Scotland's Loch Lomond. The second episode, Body in the Bag, investigates the death of a woman in the United States whose body washed ashore on the Florida coast inside a duffle bag. Subsequent instalments continue this grim theme with titles including Body at the Dock, Sunk in the Lake, The Bathtub Killer, Body on the Shore, Body in the River, Body Overboard, Body in the Swamp, and Dumped in the Creek.
According to ITVX's official synopsis, the series is a 'gripping' examination of 'the complexities of crime scenes around water' that reveals 'how detectives, pathologists and police divers work together to bring killers to justice.'
Early viewers have taken to social media to share their intense reactions. One TikTok user, Michelle (username mrsmlg14), recommended the series to her followers, stating: 'True crime lovers, I've got a true crime series for you. I've watched the first episode, and it's absolutely shocking what happened to that person before they went in that water, in the first one. They must have suffered a great deal.'
Another viewer responded with: 'Omg I had nightmares about the first episode - I remember this case, that poor poor boy and his family.' Further comments included praise such as 'I've been watching this in our city it's absolutely brilliant I'm hooked' and 'I'm watching this just now. I'm in Glasgow so only half hour from where it happened xx.'
ITVX's Growing True Crime and Drama Catalogue
This release follows ITVX's recent addition of another intense series that generated strong audience reactions. The award-winning survival thriller Yellowjackets, which premiered on Showtime in 2021 and is available on Paramount+, was made free to stream on ITVX. That series, which left some fans 'screaming, crying and throwing up' due to its 'traumatic' and blood-soaked scenes, follows a high school football team whose plane crashes in the Canadian wilderness.
Set in the 1990s, Yellowjackets has won over twenty awards and received more than one hundred nominations. It details the trauma faced by the survivors in the decades following their accident. The cast includes notable actors such as Melanie Lynskey, Christina Ricci, Tawny Cypress, and Juliette Lewis as the adult survivors, with their younger counterparts played by Sophie Nélisse, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Sophie Thatcher, Sammi Hanratty, Courtney Eaton, and Liv Hewson.
Created by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson, who previously worked on the hit series Narcos, much of the drama unfolds twenty-five years after the initial crash. The series, which currently has three completed seasons and a fourth in production, became available for UK streaming on ITVX from February 15th, with its first two seasons accessible to viewers.
The addition of both Body in the Water and Yellowjackets to ITVX's library demonstrates the platform's commitment to offering compelling, albeit sometimes harrowing, documentary and drama content that resonates strongly with audiences, even if it occasionally leads to sleepless nights for its viewers.
