Catriona Chandler has landed the lead role in HBO’s true crime drama The Trial of Louise Woodward.
According to Deadline, Downton Abbey alum Joanne Frogatt has also been cast as Louise’s mother, Susan. Meghann Fahy was previously announced to be playing Deborah Eappen, with Sagar Radia cast as Sunil Eappen, the parents of victim Matthew Eappen.
The five-episode series will dramatize the highly publicized 1997 case about the 18-year-old British au pair who was accused of shaking eight-month-old baby Matthew to death.
Louise was initially found guilty of second-degree murder by a grand jury, but her conviction was reduced to involuntary manslaughter during a post-conviction relief hearing. She was ultimately released from prison after serving 279 days.
Who is in The Trial of Louise Woodward cast?
- Catriona Chandler as Louise Woodward
- Meghann Fahy as Deborah Eappen
- Sagar Radia as Sunil Eappen
- Joanne Frogatt as Susan Woodward, Louise’s mother
- Matthew Berry is the creator, writer, and showrunner
- Susanne Bier directs all five episodes
The series is expected to premiere in 2027, but there is no date set yet.
What happened to Matthew Eappen?
When Louise was 18 and working as an au pair, she cared for baby Matthew at the Eappen household in Newton, Massachusetts. On February 4, 1997, Matthew was hospitalized with severe head injuries, including a fractured skull and subdural hematoma. It was also reported that he had a fractured wrist that had previously gone unnoticed.
Matthew fell into a coma five days after being admitted to the hospital and then died on February 7 after being removed from life support.
Prosecutors argued Louise violently shook Matthew and caused his fatal injuries, but the defense challenged the timing and cause of the injuries through competing medical testimony. Louise denied intentionally harming him and has maintained her innocence.
The case became a huge spectacle, notably because the trial unfolded on television during, just a couple of years after the O.J. Simpson trial was famously televised. It also ignited serious conversations over parenting and caretakers, along with featuring high-profile attorneys like Barry Scheck, who was Louise‘s lead defense lawyer and had previously served on O.J.‘s defense team.
Reactions in the United States and United Kingdom also varied, as reported by A&E, with Americans more sympathetic of Matthew‘s parents, Sunil and Deborah Eappen. The U.K. took a more favorable look of Louise, per BBC, and saw her as misunderstood and out of her depth as a British au pair in America, while Americans saw her as cold and remorseless.
She was framed far more favorably by British media. There were also stark differences in how the U.S. reacted to her reduced sentence in comparison to how the U.K. reacted.
What was Louise Woodward convicted of and why was she released?
Louise was convicted by a jury of second-degree murder in October 1997. Her initial sentencing carried a life sentence with parole eligibility after 15 years. But Judge Hillier Zobel reduced the conviction to involuntary manslaughter during a post-conviction relief hearing.
He sentenced her to 279 days time served, meaning she was released early. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld the reduced conviction and sentence in 1998.
Where is Louise Woodward now?
After the appeal concluded, Louise returned to the U.K. and has mostly lived a private life outside of the public eye since then. She was photographed shopping earlier this year for the first time in many years. Louise studied law and received her degree from London South Bank University in 2002.
She later started work at a law firm in Greater Manchester, but some reports say she left to pursue a career as a ballroom and Latin dance teacher.
She is now in her late 40s and has been married to Anthony Elkes since 2013. They also have a daughter together.
The post ‘The Trial of Louise Woodward’ True Story: What Happened, Where Is Louise Now & Who’s in the HBO Cast? appeared first on Just Jared – Celebrity News and Gossip | Entertainment.