New crime telemovie in the pipeline

A woman credited with uncovering the truth about one of Australia’s most notorious serial killers, Eric Cooke, will have her story adapted into a true crime telemovie.

Estelle Blackburn’s detective work made legal history in Western Australia and resulted in the exoneration of two men who’d been wrongly convicted for the 1960s murders now linked to Cooke. They became the longest-standing convictions to be overturned in Australia.

But Blackburn, who wrote the books Broken Lives and The End of Innocence, was herself trapped in a relationship with a violent but persuasive psychopath. In 2007 Australian Story also explored the possibility that her former boyfriend may be connected to the 1990s Claremont killings.

She also won a Walkley Award, and a Medal of the Order of Australia.

Now Blackburn has signed with an unnamed producer for the the telemovie. Three television stations have previously expressed interest in the story, to be adapted by screenwriter Luke Clayson. She says she opted for the telemovie format due to the popularity of TV crime dramas.

”I actually don’t think it’s worth a film … Erin Brockovich has been done, really,” she said.

Source:  Canberra Times