The very first TV doc on the Benjamin ("Tony") Atkins case drops in the U.S.

It's UK-produced, it's very long-running, and it's a great show that I've been watching for years. It's "World's Most Evil Killers" from Sky TV and Woodcut Media, and it streams in a bunch of places across the globe. Here in the U.S., you can catch it on Tubi, Pluto, Fawesome and Plex, as well as Apple TV, Peacock and Amazon Prime. Filmrise True Crime also posts the episodes on its YouTube channel.

This true-crime documentary series is now in its 10th big season, digging deep into the stories of killers around the world. It has been dynamite source material for the "Killer Comparisons" series you see on this very blog (click on the label on the left-hand side of the screen to see the installments so far).

"World's Most Evil Killers" now has the distinction of doing the very first episode of any television documentary anywhere on the case of convicted Detroit serial killer Benjamin ("Tony") Atkins. The episode dropped in the UK last December and is now releasing in the U.S. this month, already available on Plex and following soon on the other apps above. 

In the episode you'll see this author talking about the case, as well as several folks I interviewed for the book "The Crack City Strangler: The Homicides of Serial Killer Benjamin Atkins." It's so amazing to me to see Rashad, the son of assault survivor Darlene, sharing what his mom meant to him, right there on the screen. I was so thankful he shared his story with me for the book, but it was even more powerful for me to see him in the episode, especially at the end, when he tells how you just don't know how much someone means to you until they're gone. And Renee talks about what a wonderful, creative, innocent and trusting lady her mom Vicki was -- a true light in her life. These are real stories of precious lives. And you'll hear the dramatic story of when Michigan State Police trooper Royce Alston made the arrest of Atkins near Detroit's historic Woodward Ave, where he had hunted and killed 11 women in a time frame that could have been as short as six month. John Mattox and Craig Pulvirenti of Highland Park Public Safety are there, as well as MSP profiler David Minzey.

I love how the episode came together. This was a story that was meant to be told, because there's so much below the surface here.