Netflix has found that documentaries spread across an extended series, or rather, the “docuseries” is very popular among its subscribers. It used to be that documentaries were considered to be somewhat dull viewing, favouring being informative over entertaining, but the Netflix format opts to stretch out the information, frontload it with back stories, and infuse a few dramatised scenes to extend viewing hours and up the entertainment value.
The gigantic streamer’s latest hit was one that centred on an attempted heist in the UK. Labelled as being “stranger than fiction,” it recounts the attempted robbery through cinematics and interviews with the criminals and police officers involved. The promotional material was also keen to let us know that famed British director Guy Ritchie came in as the executive producer. Based on its reception, the blend of heists and docuseries was a hit.
Tapping into the Fascination of Heists
Heists have been a staple of entertainment for decades, with some of the best creations remaining wildly popular to this day. Ocean’s Eleven, Inside Man, Hell or High Water, The Italian Job, Wrath of Man, Logan Lucky, and Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels all offer grand examples of the genre on the big screen, while more hands-on entertainment mediums also offer a lot of appeal with the use of heists. The longevity of GTA V is the prime example.
While GTA V is more of an all-encompassing crime sandbox game, the Payday series has done incredibly well for being purely about the art of the heist. Rarely as suave as your Ocean’s films, the Payday heists are still thrilling. Even where you can’t control the heist first-hand, they offer an extra buzz. This is why the online slot game Action Bank remains a hit. The goal is to crack the safe, get in, and get out with a top prize of up to 500x your bet.
In real life, heists occur, and throughout history, we’ve seen many cases hit the news and end up without the whole criminal gang being apprehended. Given the stakes, the need to circumvent security measure and the authorities, and the speed at which everything needs to be done, heists offer inherent drama in fiction and, as it turns out, in documentary shows.
Netflix Happy to Return to the Docuseries Well
When it arrived in the middle of April, The Diamond Heist docuseries soared to the top of the Netflix viewing charts, booting the ever-popular and very long-running Black Mirror series from its throne. Having the name ‘Guy Ritchie’ on it will have helped, but so too will the idea of getting on the inside of how the Millennium Dome jewel heist of 2000 went down from both sides. Heists are just inherently interesting.
In another time, the documentary would have been offered up as a succinct one-hour episode of television. Now, we have Netflix – a company that has recommended its writers use more overt exposition so that the millions of viewers who’re on their phones while the TV’s on can keep up – which has found more success with this long-form way of doing documentaries. Now, The Diamond Heist joins the success stories of What Jennifer Did and Fyre.
Blending the ever-popular story of a heist in its trademark long-form documentary style, Netflix has created yet another wildly popular show with The Diamond Heist. So, we can likely expect more similar shows to be on the way.
