Netflix's new true-story thriller looks stressful in the best ways

Sometimes it's the true stories that end up looking like the most twisted tales someone could write – because real people are often willing to go to places you wouldn't even believe. That's exactly the sort of effect that Netflix is aiming for with its newest thriller series, Apple Cider Vinegar.

It'll tell a story inspired by real events, about a real-life health blogger from Australia called Belle Gibson, played by Kaitlyn Dever. Frustrated by her ho-hum life and apparently entranced by an existing blogger who was talking about her battle with cancer, Gibson made the absolutely wild decision to set up her own blog, centring around a totally fictional cancer of her own.

Apple Cider Vinegar | Official Trailer | Netflix - YouTube

Watch On

In fact, she repeatedly doubled down on this, claiming multiple occurrences of cancer over the next few years, all while she built up a huge network of her own, based on that one foundational lie. She started to hawk health products and sell supplements, with the titular apple cider vinegar taking its place as a snake oil of sorts, something that she pinned much of her apparent wellness on.

It looks like the series will concentrate both on Gibson herself and on the people trying desperately to poke holes in her increasingly unlikely life story. That includes other bloggers who just couldn't believe everything they were being told, but eventually actual investigators who started to sniff out fraud and false advertising, as Gibson got bigger.

Image 1 of 5

All the while, we'll get a front-row seat as Gibson's life goes from a slightly depressing one to an alternative filled with glitzy events, awards, speeches and, crucially, money. The fact it's all built on sand will be a key plot point, of course, but don't be surprised if there's some The Wolf of Wall Street-style extravagance before she gets her comeuppance.

The best streaming services all seem to have figured out that people love learning about true crime, but it's a little rarer to see this sort of dramatisation. Still, previous examples have done huge numbers for Netflix (like its Monsters series), so there's every reason to suspect that this could be a big hit when it arrives in late February.