ABC's mushroom murder drama leads flurry of trial TV shows
Now, with the c onviction of triple murder Erin Patterson on Monday, the floodgates have been opened, with an ABC drama, a pack of documentaries and a book all promising to get to the heart of the case that has captured international attention.
On Friday, the ABC announced the drama Toxic, describing it as 'a riveting thriller about marriage, faith and motherhood', while on Monday, the day Patterson's guilty verdict was handed down, Nine* revealed its own one-hour documentary, Murder By Mushroom, which premieres tonight. Seven, meanwhile, is promising a 'a forensic deep dive into the mind of a killer' in its Spotlight special on Sunday night.
Of the streaming services, Stan* was the first out of the gate, announcing its three-part documentary Revealed: Death Cap, featuring The Age journalists John Silvester and Marta Pascual Juanola. It will screen later this year.
On the book front, Allen and Unwin announced The Mushroom Murders, by acclaimed true-crime author and Underbelly screenwriter Greg Haddrick would be released in November. Former detective Duncan McNab has also jumped on the book bandwagon, with Recipe For Murder being published by Hachette in October. Intriguingly, acclaimed novelist Helen Garner, who wrote the award-winning true-crime books Joe Cinque's Consolation and This House of Grief, was seen attending Patterson's trial.
Announcing Toxic, the ABC's head of scripted Rachel Okine called it a 'powerful project'.
'This investigation has already captivated audiences across Australia, and we're eager to dive deeper into the complexities behind the headlines to bring this story to life with the team,' she said.
Toxic is a co-production between the ABC and respected director Tony Ayres and screenwriter Elise McCredie, the award-winning team behind the 2020 detention camp drama Stateless.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Perth Now
41 minutes ago
- Perth Now
Mushroom trial circus packs up after guilty verdicts
Korumburra, Leongatha and Morwell. These humble towns in Victoria's Gippsland region have been caught up in Erin Patterson's decision to serve up a deadly mushroom meal almost two years ago. Over more than 10 weeks, Morwell has been in the spotlight after hosting a trial that has captivated much of the nation and the world. It brought swarms of true-crime fanatics and media to hear blow-by-blow details about the death cap mushroom-laced lunch at Patterson's Leongatha home in July 2023. A jury on Monday unanimously found Patterson guilty of intentionally poisoning her estranged husband's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and his uncle and aunt Ian and Heather Wilkinson, who all lived in Korumburra. Mr Wilkinson, the pastor at Korumburra Baptist Church, was the lone diner to survive after a lengthy hospital stay. Toni Watson from Morwell Newsagency said she felt relief watching news of the verdicts. "There was too many gaps (in Patterson's story)," she told AAP. Towns like Snowtown in South Australia have become indelibly linked to murder cases. Ms Watson, who has spent most of her life in Morwell, said she hoped the triple murder didn't taint the region's reputation. The area has already suffered a degree of stigma from the murder of 14-month-old Jaidyn Leskie, whose body was found at Blue Rock Dam on New Year's Day 1998. "The Jaidyn Leskie case happened in Moe, but it affects the whole La Trobe Valley," she said. Along with a band of reporters, Laura Heller from Jay Dee's Cafe in Morwell made a mad dash for the courthouse after hearing the jury had reached a verdict following seven days of deliberations. The historic nature of the moment wasn't lost on the 31-year-old. "It will be talked about forever and it will always be remembered as one of the craziest stories in Australian history," she told AAP. Ms Heller, a law student who worked at the cafe throughout the trial, said business had been booming in the traditionally quiet winter period. The out-of-towners were a mixture of media, true crime nuts and "oldies" wanting to have a stickybeak. "Not much goes on here, so we were all excited a lot of people from Australia and around the world were coming," Ms Heller said. "I know that sounds crazy." She spoke with a sense of melancholy about life returning to normal in the area, which has faced social and economic problems with the impending closure of job-creating coal-fired power stations. "It's like summer camp coming to an end," she said. South Gippsland Shire councillor Nathan Hersey said the scale of the media attention astounded locals. "In all of this, there has been a lot of publicity. A lot of it's been negative, unfortunately, and it's gained traction in a pop-culture kind of way," he said. "But I don't feel like that has reflected on the region. Anyone who knows Gippsland knows that it's a great place with a lot of fantastic people."
West Australian
44 minutes ago
- West Australian
Mushroom trial circus packs up after guilty verdicts
Korumburra, Leongatha and Morwell. These humble towns in Victoria's Gippsland region have been caught up in Erin Patterson's decision to serve up a deadly mushroom meal almost two years ago. Over more than 10 weeks, Morwell has been in the spotlight after hosting a trial that has captivated much of the nation and the world. It brought swarms of true-crime fanatics and media to hear blow-by-blow details about the death cap mushroom-laced lunch at Patterson's Leongatha home in July 2023. A jury on Monday unanimously found Patterson guilty of intentionally poisoning her estranged husband's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and his uncle and aunt Ian and Heather Wilkinson, who all lived in Korumburra. Mr Wilkinson, the pastor at Korumburra Baptist Church, was the lone diner to survive after a lengthy hospital stay. Toni Watson from Morwell Newsagency said she felt relief watching news of the verdicts. "There was too many gaps (in Patterson's story)," she told AAP. Towns like Snowtown in South Australia have become indelibly linked to murder cases. Ms Watson, who has spent most of her life in Morwell, said she hoped the triple murder didn't taint the region's reputation. The area has already suffered a degree of stigma from the murder of 14-month-old Jaidyn Leskie, whose body was found at Blue Rock Dam on New Year's Day 1998. "The Jaidyn Leskie case happened in Moe, but it affects the whole La Trobe Valley," she said. Along with a band of reporters, Laura Heller from Jay Dee's Cafe in Morwell made a mad dash for the courthouse after hearing the jury had reached a verdict following seven days of deliberations. The historic nature of the moment wasn't lost on the 31-year-old. "It will be talked about forever and it will always be remembered as one of the craziest stories in Australian history," she told AAP. Ms Heller, a law student who worked at the cafe throughout the trial, said business had been booming in the traditionally quiet winter period. The out-of-towners were a mixture of media, true crime nuts and "oldies" wanting to have a stickybeak. "Not much goes on here, so we were all excited a lot of people from Australia and around the world were coming," Ms Heller said. "I know that sounds crazy." She spoke with a sense of melancholy about life returning to normal in the area, which has faced social and economic problems with the impending closure of job-creating coal-fired power stations. "It's like summer camp coming to an end," she said. South Gippsland Shire councillor Nathan Hersey said the scale of the media attention astounded locals. "In all of this, there has been a lot of publicity. A lot of it's been negative, unfortunately, and it's gained traction in a pop-culture kind of way," he said. "But I don't feel like that has reflected on the region. Anyone who knows Gippsland knows that it's a great place with a lot of fantastic people."
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
Accidentally unredacted document reveals issues with children at Tasmanian watch houses
Staff at two Tasmanian prisons have "urgently" requested body-worn cameras and reported "high levels of anxiety" when managing children in watch houses, a mistakenly unredacted document shows. Using the Right to Information (RTI) process, the ABC requested information about complaints or concerns regarding Tasmanian children being held in adult custodial facilities — where they await court, bail or police interview. RTI — sometimes called Freedom of Information — is a system that helps people access documents and other public-interest information held by public authorities. When journalists or members of the public receive documents through RTI, they are usually partly blacked out as to not disclose information. The ABC made an RTI request to the Department of Justice, the public authority for the Tasmanian Prison Service. Two months later, a 14-page document was received. See more details of the ABC's request, the information provided and relevant parts of the Right to Information Act, here. By mistake, the document received was completely free from redaction, revealing in full an "issues register" from 2024, where prison staff listed concerns around the detention of children in watch houses and the Department of Justice responded with suggestions or actions to address them. Within minutes the department sent another email saying they "would like to recall" the document. It then sent a second, corrected version of the document, which was completely redacted aside from several paragraphs and a one-page introduction. Watch houses are designed for temporary detention and lack the facilities of long-term prisons or detention centres. The department told the ABC that redactions were made where the document contained personally identifying information, deliberative information, and information "out-of-scope" of the request. The unredacted version contained no names or personally identifying details. The ABC has decided to publish this story, after reviewing the information. The ABC can reveal the hidden information was indicative of staff concerns that: The Department of Justice has since told the ABC: The department said it was in the final stages of acquiring body-worn cameras in reception prisons — where watch houses are located — "with implementation expected before the end of the year". In the issues register, the department responded to staff concerns about health and hygiene risks for children, saying it would "upgrade infrastructure to allow young people to tend to basic hygiene and self-care". "Reducing the risk of trauma to young people in reception prisons remains a key priority. The department is committed to ongoing improvements." Tasmanian prison staff, who manage youth in watch houses on behalf of Tasmania Police, said police officers "regularly" told detainees they "will be at the WH [watch house] for a little while" — which can negatively impact their mental and physiological state. Dysregulation refers to an inability to control or regulate emotional responses. Staff also said police provided insufficient information when transferring people to watch houses, resulting in "significant operational risks and impacts the safety of detainees". But police say an admission form for each detainee outlining personal details, behavioural risks, medical information and child safety concerns is provided to prison staff. "Tasmania Police aims to provide timely and accurate information to prison staff regarding a youth in custody at the time the youth is detained," a police spokesperson said. The department said over the next five years it intended to "advocate for Youth Justice Blueprint to incorporate watch house facility for young people". Johan Lidberg, an associate professor at Monash University, believed because the document was "in the highest public interest" and did not identify people, it was not reasonable to keep it hidden — and considered the "personal information" exemption did not apply. The department was asked for more details on the decision to not disclose the information. It replied: "As outlined in the right to information decision, if you are dissatisfied with the decision you may seek an internal review under section 43 of the Right to Information Act 2009 (the Act)." The ABC requested details of: "Complaints, concerns or similar regarding children and young people being held in an adult remand facility and related correspondence from 2022 to 2025." One 14-page document was given to the ABC titled "Engaging with Young People Training — Issues and Responses". It included a one-page introduction and then a table with two columns — one outlining staff-raised issues with dealing with young people in watch houses and the other with the department's written response to the issue. It was initially completely unredacted but with red outline boxes left around some sections, and then, minutes later a version with those boxes redacted was sent through in which almost all the document was redacted. The initial introduction as well as some sections on pages 2 and 3 were left unredacted. No staff or detainees were named in the document. The department said redactions were made according to the following parts of Tasmania's Right to Information Act: Exemptions subject to public interest test Section 35 — 'Internal deliberative information' I consider that disclosing the above listed items, which contain material compiled by departmental officers may contain information which is wrong or inaccurate — see clause (u) of Schedule 1. The material contains records of ongoing consultations between officers, including material which is deliberative in nature. It is also important to note that the material relates to exchanges by relatively junior Departmental employees and there is no information to indicate their views would be adopted as a formal policy. I also consider that the nature of the comments of Departmental officers are deliberate in nature and should not be disclosed. Officers must feel free to provide their opinions, advice and recommendations, and to participate openly in consultative and deliberative processes, in order for decision and action resulting from those processes to be robust. The overriding public interest consideration is the need to ensure that there is a frank exchange of views between officers when making decisions. The disclosure of consultations or deliberations would likely prevent such exchanges from occurring, with a consequent detrimental impact on good decision-making. Further, it would also lead to a reluctance to document the reasons for decision, with a consequent loss in transparency in the decision-making process. Section 36 — 'Personal information of a person' I consider that disclosing the personal information of members of the public would be detrimental to the interests of those persons — see clause (m) of Schedule 1. The personal information of people who have been held at a watch-house is not in the public domain and those persons might suffer discrimination by reason of their having been in these facilities if disclosed. As a consequence of the above, I am of the opinion that the factor favouring disclosure are outweighed by those against disclosure and it is not in the public interest to provide the personal information of a members of the public. 'Information out of scope' I consider that part of the material contains information which is out of scope of your request. The relevant material has been redacted and marked accordingly.
