Documentary fans, it's your time to step into the spotlight.
Ordinarily, TV shows and movies set to debut on Netflix, Disney Plus, Apple TV Plus, and other streaming platforms dominate the landscape every week. However, May 2023's penultimate full week is looking particularly light on the new TV series and film front – and it just so happens that a bunch of new and fascinating documentaries launched during this rare, barren period.
Below, we've rounded up the most compelling, grisly, and poignant docuseries and one-off TV specials (listed alphabetically) to arrive on the world's best streaming services. From music legends to unsolved murder cases, from MMA superstars to Barack Obama's latest Netflix series, here are six unmissable documentaries to stream this weekend.
Angel City
Where to stream it: HBO Max (soon to be renamed Max)
This three-part docuseries, launched on May 16, is one for all of you soccer fans, especially if you like the kind of good, heart-warming story seen on Ted Lasso, one of the best Apple TV Plus shows.
Angel City tells the real-life story of Angel City Football Club, the first majority female-owned professional women's soccer outfit – actor Natalie Portman is among its founders – that was only formed in September 2020. The series' trio of episodes takes viewers behind the scenes of the club's formation, its struggles to get off the ground, and how it overcame the perils of being a start-up venture (albeit a sports-based one) to become a successful soccer team on and off the field.
A candid and eye-opening docuseries about a ground-breaking sports team fighting against the odds, Angel City is available to stream in full now on HBO Max. Expect it to debut on our best HBO Max documentaries list shortly.
Anna Nicole Smith: You Don't Know Me
Where to stream it: Netflix
A deeply humanizing and poignant look at the life of the model-turned-TV personality, Anna Nicole Smith: You Don't Know Me sheds light on the life and secrets of the Texas native – real name Vickie Lynn Hogan – before her death in 2007.
Directed with unflinching sensitivity by Untouchable's Ursula MacFarlane, You Don't Know Me offers unprecedented access to Nicole Smith's private life through never-before-seen footage, home movies, and interviews with those who knew her best.
Following the blonde bombshell's rise as a Playboy model in the early '90s, subsequent struggle with drug addiction, and personal tragedies, right up to her last days, You Don't Know Me is a powerful and emotive look at the popular but troubled celebrity's eventful life. One to look out for when we update our best Netflix documentaries guide.
Love to Love You, Donna Summer
Where to stream it: HBO Max (soon to be renamed Max)
The female-centric documentaries keep on coming with this factual HBO program taking a look at the life of the so-called 'Queen of Disco' Donna Summer.
Helmed by award-winning filmmaker Roger Ross Williams, Love to Love You, Donna Summer presents an in-depth look at the singer-songwriter's extraordinary life that saw her conquer the global music scene. A personal portrait for the Massachusetts-born star, Love to Love You is packed with never-before-seen footage, photographs, videos self-recorded by Summer, and interviews with her nearest and dearest.
Like You Don't Know Me, Love to Love You doesn't shy away from the negatives of being in the public eye, so expect this documentary to be as hard-hitting as it is enjoyably enlightening.
McGregor Forever
Where to stream it: Netflix
Few sports stars have the gravitational pull, or ability to catapult their specific sport into the mainstream, that Conor McGregor has. The Irish mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter helped put the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on the world map, becoming the first UFC fighter to hold the championship belts in two weight classes simultaneously along the way.
Rather than tell a warts-and-all story of his journey to the top, though, McGregor Forever, a four-part Netflix docuseries, follows McGregor as he prepares to re-enter the octagon to face the biggest battle of his career.
Doing so won't be easy. After a whirlwind 2021 that saw him face three major fights in 12 months, recover from a broken leg, and mentally battle against everyone saying he was finished, McGregor needs to lay it all on the line to emerge victorious in the ring once more – and we've all got a front-row seat to see if he can. Check out these six other great sports documentaries once you're done with McGregor Forever, too.
The Never Ending Murder
Where to stream it: Prime Video
The Never Ending Murder explores the tragic case of Nicola Payne, a teen mom who vanished near her home in Coventry, England in 1991 and whose whereabouts have never been revealed.
More than three decades on, the 18-year-old's disappearance remains one of the biggest unsolved mysteries on British shores. Now, Nicola Payne's relatives, as well as those still leading the investigation, have agreed to give heartbreaking, first-hand testimonies in a bid to finally unearth the truth behind Nicola's disappearance and give her family some form of closure.
A difficult-to-watch docuseries that examines each piece of evidence, shocking police failings over the last 32 years, and new revelatory material that may shed light on Nicola's vanishing, those involved in the investigation hope The Never Ending Murder will help them solve the case once and for all.
Working: What We Do All Day
Where to stream it: Netflix
This four-part docuseries – the latest to arrive on Netflix from former US President and First Lady Barack and Michelle Obama's Higher Ground Productions – might not sound all that appealing. After all, it's seemingly centered on the workplace and how our jobs impact our lives.
Working: What We Do All Day is more than a mere employment-focused documentary, though. In it, Barack Obama investigates the way our jobs shape our sense of identity, connect us through a singular goal, and help us to contribute to humanity's evolution. A rich and fascinating docuseries that widely examines the power of community, as well as exploring what goes wrong when we don't feel respected or honored in our paid roles, and fraught nature of the gig economy, and more. Stick it on your watch list ASAP.
For more documentary-focused coverage, get the lowdown on the best Hulu documentaries or find out which docuseries are worth streaming in our best Disney Plus shows guide. Additionally, find out whether it's worth watching Lewis Capaldi's Netflix documentary or Ed Sheeran's documentary on Disney Plus.
