10 Gripping Documentaries That Had Us Hooked in 2025
From the true-crime turbulence of 'The Perfect Neighbour' and the high-kicking charm of 'America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders' – these were the standout documentaries of the year.
This year was wild. Every single one of us has a story (or five) that happened to us in 2025 that defies belief. And yet just when you think life couldn’t get any crazier, a cremator by the name of David Sconce appears on screen and admits to stealing gold teeth from corpses. That’s just one of many sordid tales explored in HBO’s horrifying-yet-captivating documentary series The Mortician, one of this year’s best true crime tales.
Then there’s the damning exposé on Alabama’s prison system in The Alabama Solution, or the revolutionary story of students staging an uprising at the world’s first deaf university in Deaf President Now! Add a tale of motherly deceit in Con Mum and an act of daughterly love in My Mom Jayne, and you’ve got yourself a list of the best documentaries of 2025.
1. The Alabama Solution
Where can I watch it? On Prime Video
Inarguably one of the most important docs of not just this year, but this decade, The Alabama Solution lifts the lid on the overcrowded and understaffed Alabama prison system. Directed by Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman, the documentary consists of six-years’ worth of contraband cell phone footage captured by the inmates themselves, bravely building a case against abusive correctional officers and corruption that goes all the way to the top. Truly unforgettable filmmaking.
2. Attack on London: Hunting the 7/7 Bombers
Where can I watch it? On Netflix
Two decades ago, the London transport system was hit by a series of terrorist attacks, killing 52 people and injuring more than 700. Over four parts, this docuseries explores the before, during, and after of the attacks (including the foiled July 21 attacks and the accidental police shooting of an innocent man) in painstaking detail. The story is told through phone pics and video, archival news footage, and stirring accounts from survivors and the families of victims.
3. Con Mum
Where can I watch it? On Netflix
At this point, it’s hard for true crime fans to stumble upon a story they’ve never heard before. But Nick Green’s Con Mum provides just that – a totally new tale with more twists than a 1960s dancefloor. In 2020, British chef Graham Hornigold received an email from his birth mother, 85-year-old Dionne, asking to reconnect. What follows is a tale of desperation, deceit, 5-star hotel stays, and countless bottles of expensive champagne.
4. America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders
Where can I watch it? On Netflix
Don’t let the name deter you – this is hard-hitting television! Much like 2020’s Cheer docuseries (but without the sinister arrests post release), America’s Sweethearts is about so much more than cheerleading. Behind the rhinestones and hotpants, this docuseries explores everything from hair textures to alopecia and pay equality to beauty standards. The second season dropped midway through the year, introducing us to some new hopefuls while also bringing back some beloved veterans.
5. Deaf President Now!
Where can I watch it? On Apple TV+
100% Rotten Tomato scores don’t come around that often, and Deaf President Now! couldn’t be more deserving of the internet accolade. Directed by Nyle DiMarco and Davis Guggenheim, this powerful documentary recounts the student-led revolt after the world’s first deaf university, Gallaudet University in Washington DC, appointed a hearing person as its president. A captivating tale of persistence, rebellion, and activism, this doc plays like a political thriller but hits that much harder knowing it really happened.
6. The Mortician
Where can I watch it? On HBO
It’s been ten years since Joshua Rofé left us shooketh in our seats with his gripping docuseries, The Jinx. This year he returned with another riveting yet repugnant tale, exploring The Lamb Funeral Home Scandal of the 1980s. At the centre of the drama is David Sconce, charged with overcrowding incinerators for efficiency and profit and filling urns with a mix of many people’s remains. And that’s not even the half of it. Definitely not for the faint-hearted (or gold-toothed).
7. My Mom Jayne
Where can I watch it? On HBO
For the last 26 years we’ve known (and loved) her as Detective Olivia Benson, but in real life, the SVU star was born Mariska Hargitay, the daughter of Hollywood star Jayne Mansfield. But at just 3-years-old, a car accident took her mother from her, and in My Mom Jayne, Mariska seeks to discover who her mother really was behind the blond bombshell persona. It’s an intimate and moving documentary that doesn’t shy from the truths it uncovers - no matter how tragic or torrid.
8. The Perfect Neighbour
Where can I watch it? On Netflix
A chilling documentary from start to finish, The Perfect Neighbour chronicles the relentless bullying and intimidation inflicted on Ajike "A.J." Owens, a 35-year-old Black woman, by her white 58-year-old neighbour, Susan Louise Lorincz. Told through body-cam footage and CCTV, this Sundance Award-winning doc explores how a campaign of complaints to police soon snowballed into something much worse, culminating in a tragic and senseless crime.
9. Sly Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius)
Where can I watch it? On Disney+
In Questlove’s 2021 Oscar winning doc, Summer of Soul, genre-bending musician Sly Sloane takes to the stage at the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. In his follow up documentary, Questlove delves deeper into Sly’s story, celebrating his successes and musical influence while exploring his drug addiction, family dysfunction and obscurity later in his career. Sly’s story and what it says about expectations placed on Black artists is at the centre of this immersive, entertaining, and ultimately thought-provoking music documentary.
10. Unknown Number: The High School Catfish
Where can I watch it? On Netflix
If you’re looking for a true WTAF-did-I-just-watch type documentary, look no further than Unknown Number: The High School Catfish. Directed by Skye Borgman, it follows two Michigan teens, Lauryn and Owen, who were taunted over text with daily harassment by an unknown number. The texts grew in both number and vulgarity until the FBI became involved and ultimately traced them back to the sender. And that’s where the WTAF comes in. The reveal will leave you speechless.
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