EXCLUSIVE: Could the scarcely believable story of fraudster Samantha Azzopardi, who created more than 100 false identities, become the next big podcast to screen adaptation?
Emilia di Girolamo, the creator of Prime Video series Three Pines, is showrunning a true crime series based on hit RTÉ podcast Finding Samantha, after a deal was struck between Ireland’s Keeper Pictures and RTÉ Programme Sales.
Azzopardi’s story begins in 2013 when a distressed 14-year girl is picked up outside the General Post Office in Dublin city centre. Swiftly nicknamed ‘The GPO Girl’ by the media, the teenager appeared to be too traumatized to speak. But an investigation resulted in an astonishing call from the other side of the world, which revealed that ‘The GPO Girl’ was, in fact, a 25-year-old Australian, who has created more than 100 false identities.
RTÉ said the seven-part podcast is one of its most successful ever, with millions of listeners from more than 100 countries. Since its release in May 2023, Finding Samantha has hit the number-one spot on both Apple Podcasts and Spotify in Ireland. In a first for an RTÉ podcast, it also featured in the top five in the Apple Podcast charts in both Australia and New Zealand. The story has been the focus of a number of other true crime pods.
Di Girolamo has experience in true crime. She was behind Prime Video’s buzzy Three Pines starring Alfred Molina, which was axed after one season, and also wrote and executive produced Deceit for Channel 4, based on the controversial honeytrap at the heart of the investigation into the 1992 murder of Rachel Nickell, along with being head writer and showrunner on Sky’s The Tunnel: Vengeance.
Di Girolamo said: “Samantha Azzopardi embodies a new breed of ’emotional con woman’ trading in attention and sympathy and her story sits perfectly within our cultural fascination with complex female criminals. Like the podcast, the drama is a psychological excavation that explores the driving forces behind her compulsive deceptions, as well as the damage she inflicted on her many vulnerable victims.”
The news comes following the success of Netflix’s Apple Cider Vinegar about an Australian wellness guru who fooled people with a fake cancer diagnosis.
The post ‘Three Pines’ Showrunner Behind TV Series About “Emotional Con Woman” Samantha Azzopardi Based On Hit RTE Podcast appeared first on Deadline.
