The series is filmed on location in the Tennessee city, where Panettiere has very willingly relocated from Los Angeles.
‘There’s a real feeling of community and Southern hospitality,’ she says.
Kercher’s father, John, called the film ‘extremely distressing’.
But Panettiere appears to have pulled off the notoriously tricky transition from child and teenage stardom to serious adult acting with aplomb.
Earlier this year she earned a Golden Globe nomination for her role as the catty, conniving country-music singer Juliette Barnes in the new More4 drama Nashville. With her bad-girl persona, sequinned dresses and eye-wateringly tight denim hotpants, Barnes is a delicious departure from the good girls the actress is used to playing.
At just 23 years old, the actress could justifiably be claiming her carriage clock by now.
Panettiere was a millionaire before she was out of her teens, thanks in part to her award-winning role as Claire Bennet, a cheerleader with healing powers in the sci-fi series Heroes.