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

miniseries In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...

that screened on the

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

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

New South Wales Police The New South Wales Police Force is a law enforcement agency of the state of New South Wales, Australia, established in 1862. With more than 17,000 police officers, it is the largest police organisation in Australia, policing an area of 801,60 ...

and detectives under "Task Force Air" tracked down and caught serial killer Ivan Milat, who was responsible for the infamous

backpacker murders The backpacker murders were a spate of serial killings that took place in New South Wales, Australia, between 1989 and 1993, committed by Ivan Milat. The bodies of seven missing young people aged 19 to 22 were discovered partially buried in t ...

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 the ...

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 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 *

Luke Ford Luke Ford (born 26 March 1981) is a Canadian-Australian actor. His career began in television in 2000 and his first film role was in 2006 before being cast in '' The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor'' in 2008. Ford's regular television roles ...

as Detective Bob Godden *

Salvatore Coco Salvatore Coco (born 22 April 1975) is an Australian film and television actor of Italian descent. Early life Coco was born in Sydney and is of Sicilian (from Italy) descent. He performed with the Australian Theatre for Young People, where h ...

as Detective Mark Camenzuli *

Leeanna Walsman Leeanna Walsman is an Australian actress. She is best known for her role as Zam Wesell in '' Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones'' (2002), and for her roles in the 2000 film '' Looking for Alibrandi'' and the television series '' We ...

as Shirley Soires *

Sacha Horler Sacha Horler is an Australian actress. She was born on 12 February 1971. Her parents were lawyers, but co-founded Sydney's Nimrod Theatre Company in the early 1970s. Early life and education Sacha Horler graduated from Sydney's National I ...

as Karen Milat *

Carole Skinner Carole Skinner (born 8 May 1944) is an Australian retired actress, particularly known for her performances in theatre and television, although she has had small parts in films. She is perhaps best known internationally for her soap opera role's ...

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 i ...

as Richard Milat * Linda Ngo as Therese * Alex Williams as Paul Onions *

Michael Denkha Michael Denkha is an Assyrian-Australian actor known for his roles in ''Get Rich Quick'', ''Stealth'', ''The Combination'', ''Down Under'' and, most recently, '' Here Come the Habibs'' TV series. Biography Born in Tehran, Iran, Denkha moved ...

as Des Butler * Helen Thomson as Dr Miriam Bentley *

Steve Le Marquand Steve Le Marquand (born 26 December 1967) is an Australian-born actor, known both locally and internationally for his film and stage work. Personal life Born in Perth, Western Australia in 1967, his family moved to Sydney when he was quite ...

as Phil Polgasse *

Lucy Bell Lucy Bell (born 23 December 1968) is an English-born Australian actress who appears in Australian television, film and theatre. Early life Bell was born in 1968 in Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom, to Australian actor/director John Bell an ...

as Jill Walters

Production

The series was produced by Shine Productions (as

Shine Australia Endemol Shine Australia is a subsidiary of Banijay Entertainment, a global content production and distribution company. The current CEO of Endemol Shine Australia is Peter Newman. Endemol Shine Australia is based in Sydney. The company’s pro ...

, a division of

Shine Group Shine Group was a British 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-win ...

), 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