The Ellen Pakkies Story

The Ellen Pakkies Story is a 2010 South African television documentary by the filmmaker Michael Duffett about Ellen Pakkies, the Cape Flats mother who killed her drug-addicted son in 2007. It was entered for awards under the title Ellen. (The documentary's exact broadcast title is to be confirmed: it may have been titled simply Ellen, and should not be confused with the 2018 feature film, whose English title is also Ellen: The Ellen Pakkies Story.)

The documentary

The documentary was produced by Michael Duffett as part of his investigative work for the M-Net actuality programme Carte Blanche, and dealt with the 2007 case of Ellen Pakkies of Lavender Hill on the Cape Flats. Entered under the title Ellen, it won Duffett the 2010 Webber Wentzel Journalist of the Year Award in the Broadcast Category.

According to ESAT records the documentary was also shown on DStv's Crime and Investigation Network at 8.35pm on a Wednesday in 2010; this broadcast is to be confirmed, as other sources associate the work solely with Carte Blanche.

The documentary is generally regarded as the direct inspiration for the stage play My Naam/My Name is Ellen Pakkies, which Lizz Meiring wrote after seeing it.