DAMNING INDICTMENT (DAHMER)

If you were to identify the toughest drama to watch on TV in 2022, it must surely be Netflix's series 'Dahmer'?

The tale of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, it must be one of the most gruelling ever made by the streaming service.

It is also deeply uncomfortable to sit through.

Much of that is down to Evan Peters' compellingly creepy performance as the Milwaukee serial killer.

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However a lot of plaudits should also go to Ryan Murphy, Ian Brennan, David McMillan, Janet Mock, Reilly Smith and Todd Kubrak whose scripts really take a deep five into his life and the consequences of his actions.

Starting with the arrest of Dahmer after the escape of Shaun K Brown's Tracy Edwards from his apartment, the show grimly catalogues his development from a child of divorced parents to a prolific serial killer.

It's a hard watch as we witness Dahmer living rough in a house which his mum has left after effectively abandoning him as a teenager and then killing Cameron Cowperthwaite's Stephen Hicks, a hiker who he picks up and bludgeons while working out in the gym.

His father, Robert Jenkins' Lionel Dahmer tries to keep him on the straight and narrow with the help of his stepmother, Molly Ringwald's Shari.

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However it isn't easy, with Jeffrey drinking heavily, running foul of the police on public indecency charges and struggling to hold down a job.

Jeffrey's fixation with cutting up bodies can be traced to his childhood, with Lionel encouraging him to dissect roadkill in their garage.

But he is also gay and is so turned on by the male body, he even nicks a mannequin from a store to keep in his bedroom while living with grandmother, Michael Learned's God fearing Catherine.

While working as a phlebotomist he starts drinking blood and frequents gay bathhouses, where he gets into trouble for spiking the drinks of the men he picks up.

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One night after drugging himself and another man, Jeffrey Wales up in a hotel room to discover he has killed him.

Putting his remains in a bag, he brings him back to Catherine's house to dispose of the remains and begins a cycle of identifying gay victims and luring them back to the house to murder them.

Dismembering them in the cellar, Jeffrey is confronted by Lionel and Catherine about the smell emanating from there and blames it on being sloppy while indulging his passion for dissecting roadkill.

There are some close calls as well, with Catherine stumbling upon him drugging Dyllon Burnside's Ronald Flowers.

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Assuming the young man is drunk, she insists on sitting up with him and on her grandson putting him in the bus the following morning.

When Flowers reports his suspicion about what really happened to the Milwaukee Police, they question Dahmer but have no evidence to prosecute.

He is arrested and found guilty of sexual assault when another victim, Braydon Maniago's Somsack Sinthasomphone escapes from him.

Despite Lionel's plea for leniency and for Jeffrey to be placed on an alcohol addiction treatment program, he is jailed and released from prison after a year.

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Somsack's younger brother Kieran Tamondong's Konerak Sinthasomphone will four years later be murdered at the age of 14 by Dahmer after being drugged and partially escaping from the serial killer's apartment, only for the police to take Jeffrey's word over his African American neighbour Niecy Nash's Glenda Cleveland that he is an adult and escort him back inside.

The apartment is chosen by Dahmer as he adjusts to life outside prison, settling in a tough African American neighbourhood.

However it becomes his base to lure young African American gay men, including in one heartbreaking episode Rodney Burford's deaf man Tony Hughes, to their deaths.

Increasingly obsessed with Satanism and using acid to dispose of their remains, the smell emanating from his apartment and the noises at night concern Glenda who complains the landlord.

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When Dahmer is eventually caught, she is not just shocked like everyone else by the extent of his murder spree but disturbed by the police's handling of the case and in particular the death of  Konerak Sinthasomphone.

Engaged by Nigel Gibbs' Reverend Jesse Jackson, she highlights concerns about racism in the Milwaukee Police while colleagues rally around the two officers who sent Konerak back to his death.

With directors like Carl Franklin, Clement Virgo, Jennifer Lynch, Paris Barclay and Gregg Araki on board, showrunner Ryan Murphy continues his tradition of dramatising notorious crime for television.

'Dahmer,' however, is arguably his best show - thanks to the quality of the acting and scripts which raise challenging questions about parenthood, broken homes, sexual suppression, institutional racism and the morality of writing books about true crime.

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Handed an unenviable part, Evan Peters turns in an outstanding performance - avoiding eye rolling, pantomime mania for low key introversion.

Peters' Jeffrey Dahmer mumbles his way through life, often speaking in a monotone.

But behind the glasses, you can see the flickers of deviousness, guilt, anger and self-satisfaction in his eyes.

Robert Jenkins is also remarkable as Lionel - often puzzled, nearly always dismayed by his son's behaviour but also showing a brittle temper towards his first wife and Jeffrey's mother, Penelope Ann Milller's Joyce.

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The other outstanding contribution comes from Niecy Nash who infuses Glenda Cleveland with a fierce determination to expose all wrong but is also adept at showing her vulnerability.

It's not surprising that all three actors have been Golden Globe nominated for their performances.

It should also be recognised that Learned, Ringwald, Miller, Gibbs, Maniago, Tamondong, Burford, Brown, Burnside, Karen Malone White as Tony Hughes' mother Shirley and  Khetphet Phagnasay as Konerak's Laotian father Southone all make significant contributions to the success of the show which is not easy to binge.

'Dahmer' is one of those shows you will find yourself mulling over for some time.

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By not just focusing on the grisly murders but on the way the authorities repeatedly failed to intervene when they could have prevented Dahmer's murderous rampage, it feels like it has broken new ground for a Ryan Murphy production - going beyond the mere thrill of dramatising real life crime.

The sixth episode entitled 'Silence' about Dahmer's encounter in 1991 with Tony Hughes is also one of the most memorably directed episodes of any TV drama this year, with Paris Barclay tackling it with imagination and inventiveness.

Haunting and provocative, 'Dahmer' is an acquired taste and not for the faint hearted.

However it is a rewarding watch if you are prepared to stomach some grisly moments and lurid detail for the sake of watching actors, writers and directors really at the top of their game.

('Dahmer' was made available for streaming on Netflix in the UK and Ireland in 2022)