Amanda Knox, who was convicted and later acquitted of murdering British student Meredith Kercher in Italy in 2007, has defended her sold-out solo comedy show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe against calls for it to be cancelled. The show, called Cartwheel, explores motherhood and how Knox intends to explain the Perugia case to her daughter, but has drawn strong criticism from Kercher's family, who fear it will trivialise violence against women.

Stephanie Kercher, Meredith's sister, told BBC Breakfast she believes the show risks "normalising and trivialising" violence and questioned whether Knox had considered the impact on the family, whose "pain is immense" two decades on. A petition against the show, started by a friend of Meredith's, has gathered nearly 5,000 signatures, arguing it disrespects her memory. Knox insists the show, running for 11 days at the Gilded Balloon Teviot and named after a much-publicised claim she once did cartwheels in a police station, is a sensitive and personal exploration of how "the world is unsafe and unfair towards women", and said she would welcome direct dialogue with the Kerchers.