Britbox Catch Me a Killer is South African gold. It is based on the true stories by and about Micki Pistorius. The series shows how a journalist/psychologist steps up to help Cape Town SA police catch a serial killer in 1994. Profilers were not a dime a dozen in South Africa back in the early ’90s.
Charlotte Hope plays Pistorius as an amalgamation of different parts. She shows the vulnerability of the South African profiler. While exhibiting a cast iron determination to catch the culprit; Hope brings the real character, Micki, to living breathing life. It is her multifaceted performance that puts us behind her trial by fire in the first two episodes.
Catch Me a Killer, while based upon the true tale of Pistorius earning her spurs as South Africa’s first profiler, feels almost like an ethereal twin to the South Korean serial killer case in 1986. The South Korean film, Memories of Murder, also uses a profiler. A detective from Seoul trained by the FBI. He had to fight the system as he struggled to catch the first ever serial killer in that country.
Micki’s first case was a two parter. If there is any complaint about this recounting of the profiler’s first outing, it has to do with the first few moments of episode 1. The sticker on the car screamed the murderer’s occupation loud and clear. Of course this made the obstacle of the local coppers’ paradigms even more frustrating.
This South African mini series has been spot on thus far with its depiction of the lawmen who have to rethink their approach. Micki, South Africa’s first profiler, says that the series has really gotten the details down. Charlotte Hope has told of how hard she fought for the role and her admiration of Pistorius as the first South African profiler.
The show is available now on Britbox. Check out the South African 2024 trailer below:
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