We thought we had seen enough true crime documentaries to last us a lifetime. But then HBO delivered a series that we didn’t realize we needed.
Called Murder on Middle Beach, the four-part project was released on the streaming service just last month and has already raked in rave reviews. So, what exactly is Murder on Middle Beach about? Keep reading for everything we know.
Murder on Middle Beach is a four-part documentary series that follows director Madison Hamburg as he tries to solve a ten-year-old case involving an unspeakable crime. Oh, and did we mention the story at the center of the doc is about the murder of Hamburg's mother?
The official synopsis reads, “The series revolves around the case of Barbara Hamburg, Madison’s mother, who was brutally murdered on March 3, 2010, near her home in the upper-middle-class enclave of Madison, Connecticut. Investigators speculated this was a crime of passion, but without sufficient evidence, the case grew cold. Over the course of eight years, Hamburg interviewed his family members and many others to learn more about his mother’s life and gather evidence in hopes of solving her murder. Along the way, he uncovers a web of familial and local secrets, connections to shadowy figures, and years-old resentments in his deceptively serene hometown.”
Yup. And it gives a pretty accurate summary of the case without giving too much away. The short clip starts off with Hamburg calling his father (who happened to be a POI but who was ruled out after his DNA wasn’t a match) asking him to participate in the interview. His response? “I'm not sure I could talk about things...Obviously, there's more to the story than any of us really know.”
Most likely not, considering the documentary is a limited series and was created as a college project. However, that doesn’t mean that Hamburg won’t follow up on the story or go on to make more documentaries on other topics.
Aside from it being a murder mystery, perhaps the biggest story of Murder on Middle Beach is the one of a young man trying to seek justice for his mother. “It was tough because we were selling a different take on true crime," Madison recently told the ShoreLine Times from his home in New York. "It wasn't a story about a murder, it's a story about identity and about my mom and that's a really hard sell. Thank God that HBO saw the potential and the rest is history."
In fact, that’s the part that PureWow Project Manager, Emily Vandelanotte, liked the most about the series. She said, “While I’m a huge true crime fan, the show is just so well done. The fact that this guy is doing this as a college project about his own mother's murder (must be traumatizing) and it got picked up by HBO is truly amazing. Not to mention, there are so many twists and turns it's almost hard to believe the story is real at times. I am from Connecticut near this town so it kind of feels even more real to me.”
Looks like we officially have weekend plans.