Showmax drops trailer for 'jaw-dropping' true crime doccie
Showmax has just dropped the first trailers for ‘Dark Side of Glory’, a true crime documentary series that tells the stories behind shocking cases of murder in the world of sport.
‘Dark Side of Glory’ is directed by Arianna Perretta and produced by CMG Productions, who won best documentary at the 2023 Broadcast Digital Awards for 'The Footballer, His Wife and the Crash' and were nominated for a 2024 true crime award for 'Football Fraudster'.
The first episode, 'The Durban Axe Murderer: The Rugby Killer', premieres on Showmax on Wednesday, 31 July. The jaw-dropping 76-minute documentary follows Joseph Ntshongwana, who played for South Africa at under-21 level and for the Blue Bulls between 1998 and 2001. Ten years later, he was arrested for killing four men with an axe, and wounding two others.
Ntshongwana claimed to be avenging the gang rape and subsequent HIV infection of his daughter - but police found he had no children...
“There’s a saying that goes ‘he wouldn’t hurt a fly'," his former Blue Bulls team-mate, Springbok winger McNeil Hendricks, said. “It’s hard to believe that Joseph Ntshongwana, as we knew him, had chopped people’s heads off.”
Other interviews include captain Rico Naidoo, colonels Jason McGray and Ze-Ev Krein, detective Marius Van Der Looy, and former South African Police Service head profiler Dr Gérard Labuschagne, as well as senior state advocate Nadira Moosa, psychiatrist Dr Zuber Moola, rugby journalist Brenden Nel, and key witnesses, among others.
“I felt it was crucial to ensure that the testimonies of the victims and witnesses in 'The Durban Axe Murderer' were heard,” Perretta said. “Fikile Mkhwanazi, the partner of murder victim Paulus Hlongwa, sharing her story was particularly powerful.”
Raw, powerful, shocking
The second episode, 'Death in the Heartlands', premieres on Wednesday, 7 August. The 86-minute instalment investigates the murder of three female runners in Kenya in 2021: Edith Muthoni, a day later Agnes Tirop, and six months later Damaris Muthee Mutua. All had allegedly been killed by the men closest to them – their partners or coaches.
Two of the murders happened in the elite running community of Iten, known as the Home of Champions. Tirop, an Olympian and two-time World Athletic Championship medalist, was found stabbed to death in her home there - soon after clinching a 10 000-metre world record in Germany. She would have been a favourite at the Paris Olympics.
"'Dark Side of Glory' puts the spotlight on the real voices behind these cases, from the relentless Durban police team that brought Ntshongwana to justice, to the courageous friends and families of Tirop, Muthoni and Muthee, who exposed the exploitation of female athletes,” Perretta said. “These are raw, powerful and shocking stories.”
‘Dark Side of Glory’ is directed by Arianna Perretta and produced by CMG Productions, who won best documentary at the 2023 Broadcast Digital Awards for 'The Footballer, His Wife and the Crash' and were nominated for a 2024 true crime award for 'Football Fraudster'.
The first episode, 'The Durban Axe Murderer: The Rugby Killer', premieres on Showmax on Wednesday, 31 July. The jaw-dropping 76-minute documentary follows Joseph Ntshongwana, who played for South Africa at under-21 level and for the Blue Bulls between 1998 and 2001. Ten years later, he was arrested for killing four men with an axe, and wounding two others.
Ntshongwana claimed to be avenging the gang rape and subsequent HIV infection of his daughter - but police found he had no children...
“There’s a saying that goes ‘he wouldn’t hurt a fly'," his former Blue Bulls team-mate, Springbok winger McNeil Hendricks, said. “It’s hard to believe that Joseph Ntshongwana, as we knew him, had chopped people’s heads off.”
Other interviews include captain Rico Naidoo, colonels Jason McGray and Ze-Ev Krein, detective Marius Van Der Looy, and former South African Police Service head profiler Dr Gérard Labuschagne, as well as senior state advocate Nadira Moosa, psychiatrist Dr Zuber Moola, rugby journalist Brenden Nel, and key witnesses, among others.
“I felt it was crucial to ensure that the testimonies of the victims and witnesses in 'The Durban Axe Murderer' were heard,” Perretta said. “Fikile Mkhwanazi, the partner of murder victim Paulus Hlongwa, sharing her story was particularly powerful.”
Raw, powerful, shocking
The second episode, 'Death in the Heartlands', premieres on Wednesday, 7 August. The 86-minute instalment investigates the murder of three female runners in Kenya in 2021: Edith Muthoni, a day later Agnes Tirop, and six months later Damaris Muthee Mutua. All had allegedly been killed by the men closest to them – their partners or coaches.
Two of the murders happened in the elite running community of Iten, known as the Home of Champions. Tirop, an Olympian and two-time World Athletic Championship medalist, was found stabbed to death in her home there - soon after clinching a 10 000-metre world record in Germany. She would have been a favourite at the Paris Olympics.
"'Dark Side of Glory' puts the spotlight on the real voices behind these cases, from the relentless Durban police team that brought Ntshongwana to justice, to the courageous friends and families of Tirop, Muthoni and Muthee, who exposed the exploitation of female athletes,” Perretta said. “These are raw, powerful and shocking stories.”
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