There's no denying Ivan Milat is one of Australia's most notorious crime figures.
The Backpacker Murderer was convicted of killing seven people aged between 19 and 22 in the Belangalo State Forest in New South Wales. He's currently serving seven consecutive life sentences at Goulburn Correctional Centre.
If you've ever wanted a look at what the police investigation into finding the killer was like, then you don't want to miss Catching Milat when it comes onto Stan next month.
The two-part miniseries is based off the book Sins of the Brother by Mark Whittaker and Les Kennedy, and it delves into Task Force Air and the hunt for the serial killer.
While the show is a dramatized version of reality, people actually involved in the investigation say the writers took a lot of artistic license.
Former assistant police commissioner Clive Small told the Kyle and Jackie O Show some parts were pure fiction.
"I can tell you that quite a number of the people on the task force and quite a lot of other people that were associated were very upset.
"And I think the show has also shown a fair deal of disrespect to the family and friends of the victims and I think that's a bit unnecessary and upsetting.
The discovery of Milat's first two victims occurred in 1992, when runners came across the still decomposing remains of young British travellers Caroline Clarke and Joanne Walters in the Belanglo State Forest, New South Wales.
Walters had been stabbed 21 times in her back and 14 times in her chest, with police determining that the wounds to her spine would have left her paralysed. Clarke had been shot in the face 10 times and detectives believe she was used as target practice.
Police combed through that part of the forest, but after five days ruled out finding any more bodies related to missing people cases. However, nearly a year later, a local came across a human skull and thigh bone in a remote part of Belanglo.
That led investigators to two bodies, Victorian couple Deborah Everist and James Gibson, who had been missing since leaving the state in 1989. It's believed that Gibson's upper spine was slashed with a large knife with the intention to cause paralysis. Everist was severely beaten, as her skull showed two fractures, her jaw was broken and she had knife marks on her forehead.
The next discovery happened a month later, when the skull of German backpacker Simone Schmidl was found in the same forest. Her spine was also seen to have stab wounds that deliberately paralysed her. Clothing was found at the scene, but it didn't belong to her. Instead, it belonged to Anja Habschied, another German backpacker.
Her remains were discovered, along with her boyfriend, Gabor Neugebauer, in a shallow grave 50 metres apart. Anja was found to have been decapitated, but her skull has never been found. Gabor, however, was shot six times in the head.
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Catching Milat will be posted on Stan on April 18.
Topics: Entertainment, TV and Film, Australia