Catching Milat

Catching Milat is an Australian two-part miniseries which follows the true story of how New South Wales police tracked down serial killer Ivan Milat, who was responsible for the infamous backpacker murders in the early 1990's. Based on the book "Sins of the Brother: The Definitive Story of Ivan Milat and the Backpacker Murders" by Mark Whittaker and Les Kennedy, the show is filled with plenty of tension and suspense, and made all the more horrifying because it really happened. You see just how lengthy a process it was to catch him and the emotions of those involved.

Directed by Peter Andrikidis, who has shown great diversity through his many directing projects, has once again done an excellent job.

Malcom Kennard as Ivan Milat is simply chilling. He is superb in portraying this deceptive character. On the one hand the seemingly normal guy who everybody likes and on the other hand a ruthless psychopathic killer.

Geoff Morrell, Richard Cawthorne and David Field all have a strong screen presence. The rest of the supporting cast are all fantastic.

The score by award-winning composer Michael Yezerski really adds an extra element of unease.

Even though there were changes made for the series, from the book, I applaud the cast and crew of Catching Milat for bringing this drama to the small screen. It is one of the best Australian miniseries I've seen in quite a while.

Mal Kennard, the research he must have done for the role in becoming Ivan Milat was thorough. He did a wonderful job of making us believe that he was evil. Incredible growth of this actor. Can't wait to see what he's up to next. I watch this with an open mind knowing a lot about the story from media reports. The intricacies of the storyline drew me in and the betrayal by the actors was first class. Really want to see more work like this on Australian TV. I have watched this now several times and each time I find something new in it. If you haven't checked this out I would definitely recommend doing so.

A fascinating and horrific tale that's underwritten and vague. While some actual quotes make their way in to the script, too much of what happened is glossed over. For a 3 hour+ miniseries, so much more could've been included. Most of the cast aquits itself quite well. Kennard is very good as the title character and Field is near-flawless as always. However, top-billed (?!) Cawthorne is difficult to watch; his expression never changes, even when he's shouting or upset and should show some sort of emotion. Watch Crime Investigation Australia (2005) and/or Wolf Creek (2005) instead.

A true crime drama which delivers what the viewer needs to know without delving too much into the horrors of the story.

It reminded me of a drama from a few years ago about the Yorkshire Ripper and the police work around that.

Excellent menacing performance from Malcolm Kennard, and David Field is good, as always.

Very absorbing four part drama.

This one is absolutely perfect. Director was awesome and he told the entire story in two episodes, something that other people seem to have trouble with, and all actors were dead on in their role. It is a pleasure to watch a series that has a beginning, middle and end in two episodes. I wish more writers and directors could do the same. I'm a little tired of watching a 24 hours series that could have been perfectly done in two to four hours. The film industry could use some lessons from the movie makers down under. Thanks, Prime , for a great viewing experience.