# Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal (2023)

> A two-season true crime docuseries that unpacks the shocking killings and buried family secrets surrounding South Carolina's powerful Murdaugh family.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/138445

## Facts

- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 6
- Episode runtime: 50 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: documentary, crime
- Network: Netflix
- Cast: Miley Altman, Morgan Doughty, Diane Doughty, Michael DeWitt, Bill Doughty, Anthony Cook, Keith Cook, Beverly Cook
- TMDB rating: 6.8/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26340238/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: somber, tense, harrowing, unsettling

## What critics say

Viewers find the true-crime account of the Murdaugh case gripping and scandalous, though some question whether a series aired while the trial was still underway.

## Synopsis

Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal (2023) is a US true crime docuseries created for Netflix, a six-episode, two-season run that unfolds like a slow, unsettling inquiry. It follows the killings that shatter a close-knit South Carolina community and the horrifying secrets surrounding its most powerful family, the Murdaughs. Rather than relying on a single narrator, the series is built from testimony: friends of the victims, parents, and a local reporter speak directly to the camera. Archive footage threads the account together, so each episode gathers another piece of the record. The engine is the question of who was responsible and how a family's authority could bend a rural county's institutions. The tone is somber, tense and frequently harrowing, with a sense of grief and mounting unease. Its shape is a serialized investigation, not a case-of-the-week format. Fans of The Jinx, Making a Murderer and The Staircase will find resonance in its patient, testimony-driven reconstruction of a real American scandal.

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