‘The Disappearance Of Madeleine McCann’ Devotes Careful Attention To The Case

The latest true crime doc to hit Netflix is about the May 2007 vanishing of a then 3-year-old British national named Madeleine McCann. Given the many complexities of the case, it's reasonable some viewers want to know how many episodes The Disappearance Of Madeleine McCann is. As it turns out, the docu-series devoted multiple episodes to the case.

Madeleine was on vacation in Portugal with her parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, and her two younger siblings when she disappeared, according to The Telegraph. On the night of May 3, 2007, a supposedly sleeping Madeleine vanished from Gerry and Kate's hotel room without a trace. The parents — along with a group of friends — were dining at a tapas restaurant located on the hotel's grounds when the disappearance occurred, according to The Daily Beast. Gerry and Kate had been taking turns with their friends to check on Madeleine and the other kids every 20 to 30 minutes, so the disappearance likely happened during one of the off times, according to People.

Sadly, Madeleine has yet to be located despite numerous leads and investigations into the case.

Although Madeleine's disappearance isn't the global news story it once was, there are still plenty of people out there who remain interested in the case, which is why The Disappearance Of Madeleine McCann has received a lot of attention. The good news for true crime aficionados? This doc was broken up into eight hour-long episodes, so you can relive the case at your leisure.

The project's director Chris Smith, and executive producer, Emma Cooper, probably split up the doc into eight parts due to the amount of footage they obtained. The Disappearance Of Madeleine McCann "contains more than 40 contributors, 120 hours of interviews, archival news footage and reenactments relating to Madeleine McCann’s disappearance," according to Refinery29.

Some fans — especially those who are knowledgeable about the case —might argue that the doc could have been wrapped up with fewer episodes. I fall into this camp because I found myself frequently checking in and out during the first episode, despite my deep interest in the case. The doc (IMO) spent too much time setting up each scene instead of exploring the hard facts of the disappearance, a problem that probably could have been solved with less episodes.

A few viewers on Twitter agreed with my take, with one person writing: "Anyone else finding The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann documentary long winded and kind of boring?"

Another person chimed in: "I've seen the first episode of the @NetflixUK documentary about Madeleine McCann. Nothing I didn't already know and the potted history of the Algarve as a destination was blatant padding. Hard to see how this is going to stretch to eight episodes."

"It does not bode well for this eight-hour Madeleine McCann doc on Netflix that within the first ten minutes of the first episode they've had to resort to footage of a tourist talking about how many tennis courts and swimming pools the hotel the McCanns stayed at has," one person joked.

Others, however, thought the doc was interesting.

"Watching this Madeleine McCann documentary series on Netflix, interesting so far," someone said.

Another viewer chimed in: "Honestly, never watched a full documentary before but @netflix The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann is very interesting tbh."

If you haven't seen The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann yet (it premiered on March 15), give it a shot. The eight-episode docu-series might be the perfect format for you or it could fall flat. Either way, it's worth a watch.