Common Sense Media Review
By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Docu examines case of murdered woman; violence, language.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 15+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
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The Murder of Rachel Nickell
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
THE MURDER OF RACHEL NICKELL is the story of a 1992 Wimbledon police investigation in which well-meaning, frustrated detectives ignored the existence of a suspect who committed a similar murder. They focused instead on a suspect who was released by a judge for lack of evidence. It wasn't until ten years later that DNA evidence was found identifying a man whose mother had alerted the police to her son's violent, criminal behavior back in 1989. Even when that man's DNA was tied to a murder similar in brutality to Rachel Nickell's, and another police precinct shared the information with the Wimbledon detectives on the Nickell case, those detectives rejected the possible connection and maintained that the other man was responsible. Not only did this leave Rachel Nickell's family in limbo for more than ten years, but it ruined the life of the falsely accused suspect and failed to prevent a highly preventable double murder.
Is It Any Good?
It takes far too long for The Murder of Rachel Nickell to reveal that this is a story about police investigative error. The real takeaway from this story is that police precincts need to communicate more effectively with each and embrace new information rather than acting territorially and remaining stubbornly protective of their wrong conclusions. A better place to start might've been with the wrongly accused man lamenting that even after the case against him was dismissed, the media vilified him for 15 years. Police refusal to investigate another suspect allowed that suspect to commit other rapes and murders.
You can see why it would be tempting to focus the film on the grief of Rachel Nickell's partner Andre Hanscombe, a highly sympathetic and intelligent man who was left to raise the little boy who witnessed his mom's brutal murder. But the real story is police incompetence. The three-part dramatic Netflix series The Witness recounts the same narrative.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the way that police incompetence and self-justification can exponentially worsen the trauma for those who have lost loved ones to murder.
Why do you think the police refused to entertain the possibility that their prime suspect was not in fact the killer? Is it just human nature for people to believe they are right even in the face of evidence to the contrary?
Do you see this kind of insistence on being right as a challenge in your life? What do you do when someone you know believes they are right in the face of facts that prove them wrong?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : June 4, 2026
- Director : Lucy Bowden
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Director(s)
- Studio : Netflix
- Genre : Documentary
- Run time : 96 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : June 9, 2026
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