Matt Denby from WHO’s popular TV podcast, Binge List, reviews one of this week’s most talked-about shows.
True crime is hotter than ever, and the ABC has joined the fray with new docu-series, Barrenjoey Road, which is available now on iView.
This show re-examines the chilling case of 18-year-old Trudie Adams, who disappeared on Sydney’s North Shore in 1978. Her body has never been found, and no one has ever been convicted – despite police being convinced that she was raped and murdered.
This was a very high-profile case in the late seventies and all through the eighties, and one that changed a lot of people’s attitudes to their personal safety, with many on Sydney’s leafy North Shore feeling a lot more insecure.
But despite the familiar subject matter, this series manages to discover a lot of interesting new information and insights.
It is a gripping re-evaluation that takes a modern lens to the case and highlights the attitudes and the culture that apparently allowed a series of 14 horrific rapes to go unpunished, and how these may have culminated in Trudie’s murder.
There is strong resonance in this day and age of #MeToo, with the way the series casts a spotlight on behaviour that was once to some degree tolerated, but now, thankfully, isn’t.
Even grimmer – the show asks if alleged police corruption or drug dealing may have been factors in sex crimes being allowed to happen and going unpunished.
There is a very touching moment in the first episode where Trudie’s friends are interviewed, giving us a sense of who she was beyond the one black and white passport photo we are so used to seeing.
We see loads of casual photos from their teenage lives, and we have a strong sense of the innocence that was taken from the girls forever when Trudie disappeared.
This is compelling viewing, that is let down to some degree by cringing ‘true crime podcast’ conventions that make their way into the narrative. I’m not the only member of the Binge List team who was annoyed by the constant centering of journalist Ruby Jones – and her thoughts and feelings – during many moments in the series.
While I realise that this might appeal to some people who are turned off by traditional documentaries, a lot of us would just prefer the facts.
We discuss the show at length in the latest episode of WHO’s TV podcast, Binge List – and it gets quite fiery. Check it out today – see details below!
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