Show of the week: Catch Me A Killer

This fact-based drama, based on the book of the same name, tells the true story of former journalist-turned-psychologist Micki Pistorius, who became South Africa’s first serial killer profiler.

Set in 1994, this 9 x 60-minute & 1 x 90-minute drama (also available as 11 x 60-minutes), stars Charlotte Hope as Pistorius, who joins a team on the hunt for a notorious serial killer and is launched into a dangerous underworld. She is assigned with profiling the Station Strangler; a serial murderer who has left a trail of 22 dead boys in his wake – and it will be far from the first case she takes on.

While finding her feet in a male-dominated arena, Pistorius must also battle with her status as an outsider in the police force and in the community she serves.

“Micki’s story allows us into the world of true crime from a completely unique perspective,” explains executive producer Simon Howley. “Her transformation from lecturer to South Africa’s first serial killer profiler is an exhilarating and terrifying ride. In each of the 10 episodes in the series, Micki is instrumental in catching the killers, wading into the depths of their depraved minds all the while trying to keep herself from falling too far into the abyss.”

Production designer Warren Gray and his team “painstakingly recreated the era with incredible skill and sensitivity,” says Howley, who says that there is a “dynamic and cautious optimism” to life in the 1990s setting.

“Gearing up for its first democratic election, the country finds itself at a tipping point with the eyes of the world watching.

“It is a delicate moment, always on the brink of violence. The possibility of a political and societal wound breaking open is ever threatening and always close to the surface. Despite this, hope, for the first time, is within reach.

“Yet while the rest of South Africa is in the midst of a jubilant move towards freedom, the places that Micki finds herself in – from Mitchell’s Plain to KwaZulu-Natal – are far removed from this hopeful future.”

Howley says that basing the show on a true story adds an extra layer that he thinks will appeal to crime drama fans.
“There is something about knowing that these events actually happened – that Micki is a real person and that the world depicted on our screens actually existed,” says the exec producer.

“The South African setting also brings an additional layer of intrigue and fascination, especially as there are so few international South African true crime thrillers.”

Producer: CMAK Films & Night Train Media
Distributor: Abacus Media Rights
Broadcaster: M-Net/Showmax (South Africa)
Logline: Fact-based crime drama about the work of Micki Pistorius, the journalist who becomes South Africa’s first serial killer profiler