THE PEMBROKESHIRE MURDERS | WE’VE BEEN WATCHING
Jamie Rees waxes lyrical about the latest slice of gritty Welsh true crime drama, where a double killing out west 30 years ago continues to pose questions…
There was much anticipation for ITV’s new drama set in Pembrokeshire. The talk was of a stellar Welsh cast putting a true Welsh crime on prime-time network telly – complete with the all-important authentic accents – and a certain Luke Evans’ return home from Hollywood in the leading role.
Forensics and the police investigation are brought into sharp focus in the writing of The Pembrokeshire Murders. Indeed Jonathan Hill, one of the journalists who covered the story in detail at the time and wrote a book about it with Steve Wilkins, forms part of the writing trio alongside Nick Stevens. Building drama from actual events such as this, where viewers already know who did it, can be a challenge for a creative team. They pull it off with aplomb here, though, under the expert eye of director Marc Evans.
Twenty years in the solving, the mystery of who committed the murders of Peter and Gwenda Dixon on the Pembrokeshire coast in 1989 have cast a fog over this beautiful, maritime county for too long. The murder of siblings Richard and Helen Thomas in the area went the same way, as did the attack on a group of teenagers at gunpoint, where one girl was raped and another sexually assaulted.
Police failings rear their head in the first episode of this three-part drama, a subject area which in recent years has become an artform in itself for Netflix documentary filmmaking. Enter Det Supt Steve Wilkins (Luke Evans) – returning to his home county after a spell at the Met in London, with a determination to solve this long-running cold case. Assembling a crack team of detectives to aid him, we follow the story of Operation Ottawa as they build a case against the prime suspect. Enter Keith Allen as killer John Cooper.
As is often the case in crime drama, it takes time to build narrative and tension, and whilst the first episode was quite slow in doing this, it was worth the wait. Throughout, a chilling Allen nonchalantly brushes aside police questioning with an arrogance that really ramps up our disdain for the bad guy. And how it pays off. The scene where Wilkins and his sidekick, DI Ella Richards – performed superbly by Alexandra Riley who owns the scene, no mean feat considering the company she’s in – present Cooper with the case they’ve built against him is brilliant.
Close-up shots of a crumbling Cooper and a winning Wilkins eyeballing whilst DI Richards brings it home will have had audiences, all 6 or 7 million of them, clasping their fists in great satisfaction on their sofas. As the perpetrator realises he’s been caught out by a tiny speck of blood – who knew a pair of khaki shorts could be so entertaining? – we finally get to revel in his downfall.
The following court case offers a few more nervous moments for the prosecutors and viewers alike. As the foreman of the jury reads their verdict, count by count, we experience emotions reminiscent of the classic final moments of Jim Sheridan’s In The Name Of The Father as the Guildford Four are found in the opposite direction.
This is a big moment for Welsh television, with Russell T Davies’s new drama It’s A Sin also due for release on Channel 4 next week. It would be interesting to know, in light of his comments yesterday, what Davies makes of Luke Evans’ performance as a straight detective here. One thing’s for sure: the authenticity of the Welsh storytelling and performances are undeniably a cut above that of mere interpretation in crime dramas gone by.
All three episode of The Pembrokeshire Murders are available to watch now on ITV Hub. Info: here
words JAMIE REES