Yahoo News Channel 4's Depp v Heard documentary is now number 1 on Netflix
Channel 4 documentary Depp v Heard is currently trending on streaming service Netflix in the UK.
The documentary explores the 2022 US libel trial of Hollywood actors and former married couple Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, with the lawsuit garnering a great deal of press and public attention at the time.
The three-part docuseries was first broadcast by Channel 4 in the UK last year and has now secured the number one spot in the Top 10 trending chart for Netflix UK (it was released internationally on the streamer in summer 2023).
Related: Depp v Heard: What the Netflix documentary leaves out
In 2018, Depp filed a petition to sue his ex-wife Heard for defamation over an op-ed piece in The Washington Post, in which she described herself as a "public figure representing domestic abuse" but never mentioned Depp by name.
Heard then filed a countersuit, with the trial taking place in Fairfax, Virginia between April and June 2022.
The jury's verdict saw Depp receiving $10.35 million in damages after Heard was found liable by the court in the three counts of defamation that he raised.
Meanwhile, Heard was awarded $2 million in compensatory damages, after succeeding with one of her counterclaims. Depp was found liable for a statement made by his then-lawyer, which the court found to be defamatory.
Both parties appealed the decision, but dropped their appeals upon settling the case in December 2022.
Related: Amber Heard issues lengthy statement following "difficult" decision to settle defamation case
"Showing both testimonies side-by-side for the first time, this series explores the trial that set Hollywood ablaze and the online fallout that ensued," the documentary's official synopsis states.
Episode one, titled 'Truth on Trial' begins with the start of the trial and sees "Amber and Johnny revisit the start of their relationship and the events that soured it".
The second episode delves into misinformation "running rampant on social media" and the peak of public interest in the case.
The third and final episode titled 'The Viral Verdict' revisits the testimonies in the case, the verdict itself and how it struck a chord with the #MeToo movement.
The three-part documentary is predominantly made up of the Virginia trial's livestreamed footage, and excerpts of televised testimony which was interpreted and disseminated by social media users online.
Two years prior to the US lawsuit explored in this documentary, Depp lost a UK libel case against The Sun newspaper over an article that called him a "wife-beater".
Unlike the US lawsuit, the UK hearing had no cameras and the verdict was decided by a lone High Court judge, Andrew Nicol, instead of a jury.
Mr Justice Nicol said the British tabloid had proved its article to be "substantially true", stating in his ruling that 12 of the 14 alleged incidents of domestic violence "have been proved to the civil standard".
Depp's request to appeal the High Court's ruling in the UK libel case was declined by the Court of Appeal in March 2021.
Depp v Heard is now available to stream on Netflix in the UK.
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