''Catching Milat'' is a two-part Australian television

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

that screened on the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

, in collaboration with

Screen Australia Screen Australia is the Australian Federal Government's key funding body for the Australian screen production industry, created under the ''Screen Australia Act 2008''. From 1 July 2008 Screen Australia took over the functions of its predecess ...

on 17 and 24 May 2015. It is based on the 1998 book ''Sins of the Brother'' by

Mark Whittaker Mark Cornelius Whittaker (born 29 July 1965) is an Australian journalist, non-fiction writer and writing coach. He lives in Berry, New South Wales. Early life Whittaker was born in Sydney, New South Wales, the son of journalist Bill Whitt ...

and Les Kennedy and is loosely based upon the true story of how

New South Wales Police The New South Wales Police Force (NSW Police Force; previously the New South Wales Police Service and New South Wales Police) is the primary law enforcement agency of the state of New South Wales, Australia. Divided into Police Area Commands (P ...

and detectives under "Task Force Air" tracked down and caught serial killer

Ivan Milat Ivan Robert Marko Milat (27 December 1944 – 27 October 2019) was an Australian serial killer who was convicted in the backpacker murders in 1996. Commonly known as the Backpacker Murderer, Milat captured, assaulted, robbed and murdered two me ...

, who was responsible for the infamous backpacker murders.

Critical response

Clive Small, a former assistant police commissioner, retired

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...

and now author, served as the investigation team head of "Task Force Air". He has criticised the program as a marginally fictionalised account, especially for overstating the role of Detective Paul Gordon.

Main cast

Richard Cawthorne Richard Seymour Cawthorne (born 3 December 1976) is an Australian actor of theatre, film and television. Career Cawthorne has appeared in many film and television productions. His credits include ''Catching Milat'', ''Fat Tony & Co'', '' Bikie ...

as Detective Paul Gordon * Geoff Morrell as Superintendent Clive Small *

Malcolm Kennard Malcolm Bruce Kennard (born in 1967) is an Australian born actor of theatre, film and television. He has appeared in a wide variety of roles in Australia, from soap opera to mini-series and made for television films and also in US productions. ...

as Ivan Milat * David Field as Detective Neil Birse * Craig Hall as Detective Rodney Lynch *

Leeanna Walsman Leeanna Walsman is an Australian actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Zam Wesell in '' Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones'' (2002), for playing Carly Bishop in the Australian film '' Looking for Alibrandi'' (2000), fo ...

as Shirley Soires *

Sacha Horler Sacha Horler (born 1971) is an Australian actress. Her parents were lawyers, but co-founded Sydney's Nimrod Theatre Company in the early 1970s. Career Sacha Horler graduated from Sydney's National Institute of Dramatic Arts in 1993 and made ...

as Karen Milat *

Carole Skinner Carole Skinner (born 8 May 1944) is an Australian actress, particularly known for her performances in theatre and television. She is perhaps best known for her role as Nola McKenzie in the soap opera, ''Prisoner'', in '' Sons and Daughters'', a ...

as Margaret Milat *

Fletcher Humphrys Fletcher Humphrys (born 1 April 1976) is an Australian actor. He is best known for his roles as Brett 'Brick' Buchanon in ''McLeod's Daughters'' and as Alex Kearns in '' All Saints''. Career Humphrys made his acting debut in 1993, appearing in ...

as Richard Milat *

Linda Ngo Linda may refer to: As a name * Linda (given name), a female given name (including a list of people and fictional characters so named) * Linda (singer) (born 1977), stage name of Svetlana Geiman, a Russian singer * Anita Linda (born Alice Lake ...

as Therese * Alex Williams as Paul Onions

Production

The series was produced by Shine Productions (as

Shine Australia Endemol Shine Australia is an Australian production company and is a division of Banijay led by Rory Callaghan. Following an acquisition of shares, production company Endemol Australia merged with Shine Australia on July 26, 2015. They produce ...

, a division of

Shine Group Shine Group was an international television production and distribution group with 26 production companies across 12 countries creating scripted and non-scripted content in the global marketplace. Shine Group companies included award-winning ge ...

), for Network Seven and directed by Peter Andrikidis and produced by Kerrie Mainwaring and Rory Callaghan in the pine forests of south-western Australia. It was written by Dalton Dartmouth.

Reception

The first episode aired on 17 May 2015 at 8:50 on the

Home Media

Catching Milat was Released on DVD and Blu-ray on 25 May 2015 with no bonus content, but the two part series episodes on the DVD run longer than the original aired episodes.

References

External links

* 2010s Australian television miniseries 2015 Australian television series debuts 2015 Australian television series endings Seven Network original programming {{Australia-tv-prog-stub