Voyeuristic true-crime tale takes a peek at Knox case

Eight-part drama 'The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox' tries a novel take on an overtold murder story, writes Nick Hilton

- Nick Hilton

“An Italian murder trial is quite unique,” we're informed, as prosecutors, witnesses and jurors materialise on screen in Disney+'s new series, The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox.

That's undoubtedly true from an American perspective, and that's precisely what we're getting here. Part travelogue, part bildungsroman and part courtroom drama, it is a novel take on one of the 21st century's most overtold stories: the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher and the conviction, and subsequent release, of her roommate, Amanda Knox.

Amanda Marie Knox (Grace Van Patten), a vivacious young woman from Seattle, thirsts for adventure. "Vieni qui," a poster for an Italian exchange programme implores her. "Come here!" And so, she jets off to Perugia for a study abroad programme. There she finds work in a bar, friendship with the locals and expats, and romance with a gentle computer science student, Rafaele Sollecito (Giuseppe De Domenico). This Italian idyll is shattered when one of her flatmates, British student Meredith Kercher (Rhianne Barreto), is found murdered in their shared apartment. Knox, distressed by the loss of her friend, quickly becomes the investigation's prime suspect and the focus of an incendiary press campaign, which turns her into "Foxy Knoxy", a globally recognisable femme fatale.

The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox is, as Knox's narration tells us, a chance to correct her “often mistold and madly twisted tale”. The real Knox - who executive produces this series, which draws heavily from her books, Waiting to be Heard: A Memoir and Free: My Search for Meaning - undoubtedly suffered through something traumatic at the hands of both the legal system and the tabloid media.