A Cambridge graduate has secured her first major role as murder victim Meredith Kercher in The Amanda Knox Story, an American TV film. Amanda Fernando Stevens, 26, attended the Central School of Speech and Drama after graduating with a Natural Sciences degree in 2005. Having primarily worked in theatre until now, it was her uncanny resemblance to Kercher that secured director Robert Dornhelm’s casting choice.

Kercher, 21, was a Leeds University undergraduate taking part in an ERASMUS exchange scheme at the University of Perugia, Italy in 2007. On 1 November 2007, she was found with her throat slashed in the apartment she shared with a fellow student, American Amanda Knox. After an extensive legal battle, Knox, her ex-lover Raffaele Sollecito, 26, and drifter Rudy Guede, 23 were all convicted of her murder and sexual assault. Knox was jailed for 26 years and Sollecito for 25, while Guede’s sentence was recently reduced to 16 years from 30.

Stevens will act opposite Hollywood actress Hayden Panettiere as Knox, who gained notoriety during her internationally publicised trial which lasted for 11 months. Another British actor, Paolo Romio, will accompany as Sollecito. The film has been made by American company Lifetime, and production was beset by problems. In addition to serious budgetary issues, Perugia’s city council refused filming permission – instead, the production was forced to use Rome as its primary location.

Both the Knox and Kercher families and their defence lawyers were reportedly angered by the studio’s choice of material, though Dornhelm has suggested that ‘the film will tell the psychological journey that lead Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito to kill Meredith Kercher.’ According to the Daily Telegraph, Dornhelm said, ‘the film is not a reportage, it is not a documentary, it is not fiction, it is a true story. I just wanted to describe the people involved as they emerged from reading about them.’

The project reached completion ten days ago, and will be broadcast in America in March 2011. On Saturday, Knox and Sollecito will return to a Perugian court to launch their appeal against their convictions on the grounds of flawed DNA techniques.