Showmax's new True Crime series 'Catch Me A Killer' digs deep into 'how a killer is shaped in South Africa'

Lester Kiewit speaks to lead writer of the series, Amy Jephta.

'Catch Me A Killer' is based on the non-fiction memoir about Micki Pistorius who is noted as South Africa's first serial killer profiler and details her work as the first female criminal profiler in the country.

The ten-part Showmax Orignals series follows Pistorius, played by Charlotte Hope, as she studies the minds of South Africa's serial killers.

Jephta notes that she draws on her personal experience with this one as her mom worked at the same police station where Pistorius was stationed at. 

"It's such a strange and ironic overlap of life - at the same time the Station Strangler was active in Mitchells Plain so I knew very much from my own childhood that was something to be feared. My mother was at the police station where Micki started her career as well so it's fascinating that our lives and paths could've intersected... so a lot of this is also drawn from my own memory of living in the same community where a serial killer operated."

Amy Jephta, Lead Writer - Catch Me A Killer

Jephta adds that the true crime genre in South Africa is "interesting" because it acts as a window into the mind of our country in terms of how we think about violence and how contexts shape us.

"Besides the sensationalism of the genre, it's interesting. Crime is such a gauge into society's' mind in terms of how we think about violence in a society - it reflects a lot about what our society is and the spread of true crime in South Africa kind of gives you a national temperature of what kind of violent crimes we are prone to and how and why a killer is shaped in South Africa - which is what Catch Me A Killer aims to do."

Amy Jephta, Lead Writer - Catch Me A Killer

Catch the trailer below.