Netflix's latest number-one show is one of its most popular ever

Netflix has no shortage of new shows right now but one has become and instant hit, despite dividing audiences and critics alike.

DAHMER: Monster - The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is the latest show from American Crime Story's Ryan Murphy and it is based on the true story of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.

Evan Peters - a long-time Murphy cohort - plays Dahmer and he is chilling in the role. The show itself is a murky retelling of the horrific murders that took place in the 80s and even though the focus does shift to the victims, it's a hard and quite sensationalist watch.

Critics have been keen to point this out, with the show hitting a so-so 50% on Rotten Tomatoes. Variety notes about the show: "It simply can’t rise to its own ambition of explaining both the man and the societal inequities his crimes exploited without becoming exploitative in and of itself."

Popular debut

Despite the controversy of the subject matter - and perhaps because of it - Netflix viewers have been very keen to see what the fuss is about, with some 196.2 million hours viewedsince its 21 September debut.

This is a huge number and dwarves the views current number 2 show - season 2 of The Winx Saga - which has managed 60.9 million views in the same time period.

Its debut is so successful that only a few Netflix shows have managed such huge numbers in their first five days.

These include:

• Stranger Things: S4 - 286m hours watched
• Bridgerton: S2 - 192m hours watched
• All Of Us Are Dead - 124m hours watched

Squid Game also garnered around 63m hours in its first five days but in its second week, it went up to a huge 448m hours watched.

It will be interesting to see if the controversy has fuelled a huge initial look at Dahmer, or if these numbers stretch and continue into the second week like what happened with Squid Game.

• If you have an appetite for true crime tales, then head to our best crime dramas on Netflix guide.

Image Credit: Netflix