The Witness premiered on Netflix on June 4, 2026, and it’s well on its way to becoming one of the most popular Netflix shows of the month.
Created by Rob Williams, the Netflix series, which is a UK original series, is based on the true story of the murder of Rachel Nickell in 1992. Her young son, Alex Hanscombe, was the only witness to the crime.
The Witness episode 1 begins with a day at the park, the Wimbledon Commons, with Rachel (Eleanor Williams) and Alex (Jahsaiah Williams), and shortly after, it turns into tragedy. Rachel’s body is found in the park with Alex nearby. She was sexually assaulted and murdered. Alex was knocked in the head during the attack, as well.
The series quickly becomes about the investigation into Rachel’s murder. Andre Hanscombe (Jordan Bolger), Alex’s father, is called down to the police station where DC Nick Sparshatt, played by Jon Pointing, breaks the news to Andre that Rachel was killed and Alex witnessed it.
As Rachel’s murder and the investigation become an international story, Alex and Andre are taken to his mom's house, where Andre tries to take care of his son, but he struggles. He tells the detectives that Rachel was the main caregiver, basically.
After a short time, Alex becomes a key figure in the case. He’s the only one who saw, potentially, his mother get attacked. The detectives try to get Alex to draw or describe what he saw, but he’s unable to properly articulate what happened.
At the station, DI Keith Pedder (Neil Maskell), a special investigator, arrives and grills the detectives on the case about what they found so far. He’s disturbed by how much progress has been made (none!), but he wants to question Alex about what he saw.
They bring in another specialist trained in childhood trauma to ask Alex some questions, but he isn’t able to share anything meaningful. He continues to just play with his toys, color, or act up while the adults ask questions.
Unfortunately, the questions are not able to lead to anything, and the case goes unsolved for a full decade.
Rachel's murder goes unsolved for 10 years until 2002 when the case gets reopened
Ten years later, Andre is summoned back to London from Spain, where they are living, to meet with the new detectives on the job. They’ve started a task force to reopen the investigation into Rachel’s murder. At first, Andre is skeptical, but then the detective asks Andre about Alex.
As a teenager, Alex is living in Catalonia, Spain, with his father. When we catch up to him, he’s smoking weed and skateboarding with his friends. His father tells him that they are reopening the case and that they want to interview Alex. He’s moved on, though, and he doesn’t want to go through this all again, so he turns his father down.
From here, we bounce back and forth between 1992 and 2002.
Back in 1992, Andre takes Alex to put a flower at the place in the park where Rachel was killed, hoping it will stir up something for investigators to go on. It works. Later that night, Alex offers his first description of the suspect. He tells the investigators what the man looked like.
The detectives go back through all the witness statements they’ve taken so far, and they try to find someone who was within that general area at that time.
Luckily, they get a match. Several people recognized the same man who spends a lot of time in the Commons. They arrest him and bring him in, but it’s unclear if he’s the man who did it.
After interrogating Colin, the suspect in question, police aren’t able to get enough information or any other witnesses to come forward to charge him. They are forced to let him go.
Later, in 2002, Andre continues to pressure Alex to speak with police, but Alex isn’t interested. He’s also growing tired of his father’s pressure to do things that Rachel wouldn’t have wanted him to do, like eat animals.
At a dinner party in Spain, Andre and Alex visit friends. Unfortunately, the host serves fish, and Alex doesn’t want it. After being pushed by his father to eat the fish, Alex loses his temper and pulls a knife on his father.
The first episode of the series ends with one of the investigators, a profiler working with police, claiming that if they don’t find the killer soon, he will kill again. The camera focuses on a young woman who we haven’t met yet in her house while someone watches from outside.
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