Controversial Crime Series ‘Catching Milat’ Is An Eery Account Of Australia's Worst Serial Killer
Four years on from its release, crime series Catching Milat is streaming on Stan. The two-part mini-series which originally aired on Channel 7 will be available on streaming service come April 18th, 2019.
Catching Milat tells the story of Ivan Milat, convicted of the serial backpacker murders in the Belanglo State Forest.
Starring actor Mal Kennard as the serial killer, Catching Milat is largely based on the book Sins of The Brother as well as the investigation which took place between 1989-1993 to catch the man responsible for the murder of seven backpackers. Resulting in an NSW police lead man-hunt, unlike anything the Australian public had ever witnessed.
The miniseries was met with outrage upon its release - family members of one of Milat's victims circulated a petition to Catching Milat explaining that they should not be forced to relive the pain of Australia’s “most horrendous” murders. Former assistant police commissioner Superintendent Clive Small, who was the superintendent on the case at the time, said the role of detective Paul Gordon, played by actor Richard Cawthorne, was "pure fiction from start to finish"
Small said Gordon was not the man who caught Milat but there was a team of more than 600 police that worked extremely hard to catch the killer. "I can tell you that quite a number of the people on the task force and quite a lot of other people that were associated were very upset. And I think the show has also shown a fair deal of disrespect to the family and friends of the victims and I think that's a bit unnecessary and upsetting," Small said
Over recent months Netflix has dominated the true crime genre releasing three new true crime docuseries; The Ted Bundy Tapes, Abducted In Plain Sight and The Disappearance Of Madeleine McCann.
The true story behind serial killer Ivan Milat will also be at the center of true crime podcast Caefile's five-part special.
Ivan Milat is now 74 years old and still remains Australia's worst serial killer. He was charged with the murder of seven young people who were backpacking in the area – five of them from overseas – but it has been speculated he was involved in more murders.
In 1996, he was sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences for his crimes.
The Milat family has become infamous in recent years after Milat’s great-nephew Matthew Milat and another boy, Cohen Klein (both 19 at the time), were sentenced to 43 years and 32 years in prison respectively for murdering 17-year-old David Auchterlonie on his birthday with an axe in the same forest where Milat buried his victims.
