An ‘insane and gripping’ true crime documentary has been taking Netflix by storm now that viewers have finally grown tired of Christmas films.
Death Cap: The Mushroom Murders is centred around one of the most notorious murder cases in recent history that saw an Australian woman attempt to kill her family members by feeding them a beef Wellington laced with deadly death cap mushrooms.
The shocking incident took place back in 2023 when Erin Patterson, 51, cooked the deadly meal that quickly claimed the lives of three of her family members – her in-laws, Don and Gail Paterson, and Gail’s sister, Emily Wilkinson.
Against the odds, Emily’s husband Ian Wilkinson survived the deadly meal after spending weeks in a coma.
They weren’t all of her intended victims either and Erin, who was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 33 years without parole, also invited her estranged husband Simon to dinner, but he turned down her invitation.
The show’s synopsis reads: ‘After three lunch guests die of poisoning from beef Wellington, police look to the one person who doesn’t fall ill. Was it luck, or something darker?’
+4
View gallery
An ‘insane and gripping’ true crime documentary has been taking Netflix by storm now that viewers have finally grown tired of Christmas films – Death Cap: The Mushroom Murders
+4
View gallery
The shocking incident took place back in 2023 when Erin Patterson, 51, cooked the deadly meal that quickly claimed the lives of three of her family member
4.1k viewing now
Following its UK release on December 16, the documentary has been climbing the UK Netflix charts and at the time of writing it is currently the third most-watched show.
It has fascinated viewers – particularly as Erin’s estranged husband claimed that she had previously tried to poison him on a number of occasions.
He said of declining the mother of his two children’s dinner invite: ‘I thought there’d be a risk that she’d poison me if I attended.’
Despite now being imprisoned, Erin maintains her innocence and claims that she accidentally poisoned her guests with the ‘special’ meal in July 2023.
After a Reddit user started a discussion about the series, viewers were quick to share their praise.
They wrote: ‘I have followed the case since 2023 but the doc kind of brings it all together. Highly recommend. Would love to discuss!’
One user admitted that while it ‘started off a bit slow’, ‘by episode 2 I was gripped and loved it.
They added: ‘It sounds like she’d been deeply troubled for a while before the murders.’
+4
View gallery
The series has fascinated viewers – particularly as Erin’s estranged husband claimed that she had previously tried to poison him on a number of occasions
+4
View gallery
Following its UK release on December 16, the documentary has been climbing the UK Netflix charts and at the time of writing it is currently the third most-watched show
Read More
How to spot a deadly mushroom – as woman is found guilty of murdering her family
Another empathised: ‘I found it interesting [to] watch. It was insane what she did. I’m glad one of the diners survived. I feel for her kids so much.’
A third said that they found the documentary ‘morbidly fascinating’, even though it left them with many unanswered questions.
They wrote: ‘One being why did she start trying to poison her husband? Why didn’t he do anything about it even though he knew and on the face of it it seems odd he didn’t stop the family from going to the lunch? These are just some of the head scratching questions, there are sooooo many.’
A fourth wrote: ‘I wish Australia would bring cameras to the courtroom. I was so bummed finding out they don’t do that and she took the stand. She really thought she could blame the Asian food market industry for murder. Trying to stir up and flame racism to hide behind it as a smokescreen. What an awful woman.’
Death Cap: The Mushroom Murders is available to stream on Netflix now.