Netflix Sets a Date For 'The Serpent'

This spring will be light on British dramas over on PBS due to the ongoing delays in filming overseas. But the good news is that Netflix and other streamers will be here to supplement programming, bringing new types of dramas that anglophiles might otherwise have missed. When most people think "British period pieces," they rarely think "true crime." But Netflix's latest addition to its British thrillers is precisely that. Based on the story of serial conman Charles Sobhraj (Tahar Rahim), who went on a murder spree in the 1970s along a Southwest Asia stretch known as the Asian "Hippie Trail." Billed as a limited eight-part series, The Serpent chronicles his crimes and attempts to bring him to justice.

Sobjraj's story comes from a time when the relics of European colonization were still dominant. In the post-war years, white westerners traveled to India in droves, especially once the Beatles began promising eastern culture. The "Hippie Trail" was known at the time as "alternate tourism." The trek, which wound through mountains with stops in small towns in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Nepal, was considered chic for its cheap nature and "back to the land" authenticness. Towards the end of its popularity, it also became famous for the string of murders.

From 1975 to 1976, Sobhraj and his girlfriend Marie-Andrée Leclerc, went on a crime spree that included murdering nearly half a dozen hippies. Sobhraj was a bit of a Manson figure, psychopathic and mesmerizing, and by the time he was arrested, Leclerc was once of several women under his thrall. Check out the trailer.