NetflixA terrifying new Netflix docuseries will explore the bizarre story of a Brazilian TV host who allegedly ordered murders in a bid to boost his TV ratings.
The true crime series will focus on Wallace Souza, a TV host turned politician who is accused of arranging murders for his own TV crime series.
Netflix has ordered the production of the seven-part docuseries titled Killer Ratings from British producers Caravan and Quicksilver, Deadline reports.
Watch the trailer below:
Souza career catapulted when he became the host of Canal Livre, a TV programme broadcast in Brazil’s Manaus, a remote and lawless city placed in the heart of the Amazon jungle.
The show was met with huge success until Souza was accused of ordering the murders to take place himself in a bid to ensure the show was a hit. His own bodyguard accused him of being at the helm of the criminal organisation responsible for the murders.
He was charged with murder, drug trafficking, intimidation of witnesses, the illegal carrying of arms and the formation of a criminal group and was expelled from the state assembly in October 2009. Souza disappeared when a warrant went out for his arrest, however he eventually gave himself up before dying of a heart attack the following year.
NetflixShow creators have said to have gathered a huge assemble of information on the case, from interviews with people from Canal Livre, to close friends and family of Souza and police involved in the case. The show will also include never-seen-before footage of Souza filmed while the scandal was taking place.
As reported by Deadline, Killer Ratings is directed by Daniel Bogado, best known for his work on The Hunt for Boko Haram, and is produced by Suemay Oram from Drug Map of Britain. It is executive produced Matthews, Lord and Alex Marengo from Captive. It was commissioned by Ben Cotner of the Wild Wild Country and Ugly Delicious, who recently left Netflix to lead A24 and IAC Films’ non-fiction venture, along with Londoner Kate Townsend.
NetflixBogado told the publication:
What I thought I knew about Wallace Souza when I set out, turned out only to be the starting point of this extraordinary story. When I looked deeper, I saw the events that followed were full of the most jaw-dropping turns, twists and shocks which would be deemed too outlandish in a Hollywood script.
Killer Ratings is set to hit Netflix on May 31.
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Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.