Vanishing Act ITV: cast with Kate Atkinson as Melissa Caddick, and true story of missing Australian woman

Kate Atkinson stars as ill-fated Australian woman and suspected fraudster Melissa Caddick in ITV drama series Vanishing Act. The three part series aired in Australia last year but is now available to watch in the UK.

Vanishing Act follows the shocking and unsolved disappearance of Caddick from Sydney who had defrauded investors of millions of dollars. Original Australian true crime series Underbelly, which ran from 2008-2013, followed the stories of real life Australian criminal figures.

Vanishing Act is a continuation of the Underbelly series and was released under the Underbelly title in Australia. This is everything you need to know about the new true crime drama series:

Is there a trailer for Vanishing Act? 

Yes there is, and you can watch it right here:

Who is in the cast of Vanishing Act?

• Kate Atkinson as Melissa Caddick
• Maya Stange as Angie Beyersdorf
• Jerome Velinsky as Anthony Koletti
• Anne Tenney as Barbara Grimley
• Frankie J. Holden as Ted Grimley
• Colin Friels as George K
• Dylan Hare as Nash Malouf
• Ursula Mills as Phoebe Quinn
• Tai Hara as Vincent Lee
• Otis Dhanji as Josh
• Annie Rose Buckley as Teenage Melissa
• Gabi Sproule as Teenage Angie

When is the release date of Vanishing Act?

Vanishing Act is a three part series that will be released on ITV1 nightly at 9pm on December 18, 19, and 20. Additionally, the full series is available to stream online on ITVX now.

Is Vanishing Act based on a true story?

The series is based on the true story of an Australian woman, Melissa Caddick, who disappeared in November 2020 and was declared dead in 2023. 

Caddick’s disappearance came during an investigation into her by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) - she vanished the day after a police raid on her home at Dover Heights, Sydney. At the time Australian authorities suspected that Caddick had fronted a Ponzi scheme in which she had defrauded around A$30 million from investors, including her own family and friends.

In February 2021 human remains - a foot - were discovered on a beach in New South Wales - DNA testing revealed them to be Caddick. In May 2023 she was declared dead by a coroner, though an official cause of death could not be determined.

What are the theories about Melissa Caddick’s disappearance?

There have been various theories surrounding Caddick’s disappearance following the discovery of her partial remains. Criminologist Dr Xanthé Mallett suggested that she may in fact still be alive, due to the absence of any other remains being found.

Caddick’s ex-husband Anthony Koletti, who had been divorced from her since 2013, claimed that she had been murdered and that she had never been involved in the fraud she was accused of.

Another theory as to her disappearance is that Caddick went into hiding to avoid jail time over the fraud investigation and may have cut off her own foot to lead investigators to believe she was dead.

Police concluded in February 2023 that the most likely answer to Caddick’s disappearance is that she killed herself by jumping from the cliffs at Rodney Reserve in Dover heights, on the Australian coast.