Erin Patterson mushroom trial TV series: ABC to dramatise beef Wellington, death cap poisoning saga

The verdict isn’t even in yet, but the ABC has already greenlit a drama series to be based on the trial of Erin Patterson, accused of murdering her guests with poisonous mushrooms.

The show will be called Toxic and hails from renowned Australian filmmakers Tony Ayres and Elise McCredie, who are working with journalist Rachael Brown, who has been covering the trial daily on an ABC podcast.

Toxic will be told from multiple perspectives, and will, according to the filmmakers, be presented “without judgment”. It’s been billed as a thriller that will delve into motherhood, faith and marriage.

Ayres said in a statement, “True stories ask storytellers to probe the complexities of human behaviour. What really lies beneath the headlines? It’s both a challenge and a responsibility to go beyond the surface – to reveal, not just sensationalise.”

Ayres and McCredie previously worked together on Nowhere Boys and Stateless. The latter was a six-part drama that was inspired by the case of Cornelia Rau, an Australian citizen who in 2004 was imprisoned in a detention centre. They co-created the show with Cate Blanchett.

Ayres’ credits also include The Home Song Stories, The Slap, Clickbait, and, most recently, Netflix drama The Survivors. McCredie has worked on Secret City, Sunshine, Ride Like a Girl and Jack Irish.

The Patterson case has captured national and international attention. Her trial has seen lines forming for the public gallery outside the courts in Morwell, Victoria. Journalists from around the world have been in attendance, and so was author Helen Garner, along with curious members of the public.

Ms Patterson has been charged with three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. She has pled not guilty and has maintained her innocence.

What’s not in dispute is that on July 29, 2023, Ms Patterson hosted four guests – her in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, and Heather’s husband Ian - at her home in Leongatha. She served them a meal of individual beef wellingtons. Her estranged husband Simon had also been invited but declined.

All four guests were soon after admitted to hospital after they fell ill. On August 4, Gail and Heather both died. The following day, Don died. Ian survived and was discharged after seven weeks having received a liver transplant.

The beef had been cooked in a mushroom paste, which was found to contain death cap mushrooms, a highly poisonous fungus.

There are many points of contention between Ms Patterson’s version of events and those put forward by the prosecution.

Ms Patterson had earlier claimed she purchased the mushrooms from an unnamed Asian grocery store more than a 100km away, and then said it may have also contained foraged mushrooms.

Police alleged phone records suggest Ms Patterson travelled to areas in Victoria where death cap mushrooms have been found.

Ms Patterson was seen on CCTV dumping a food dehydrator after her guests were admitted to hospital. The dehydrator tested positive for death cap mushroom, and also had her fingerprints.

There is also dispute over the purpose of the lunch. Ms Patterson’s estranged husband said she had claimed she wanted to discuss a medical issue, and according to Ian Wilkinson, the survivor, Ms Patterson told them she had cancer, and he took this to explain why her children were not present at lunch.

Ms Patterson denied she told her guests she had been diagnosed with cancer, and conceded she never was, but said she told them she needed treatment for ovarian cancer because she was too embarrassed to say she had planned to have gastric bypass surgery.

The trial started on April 29 and the jury has been in deliberations since Monday.