Netflix just quietly added ‘one of the best true crime series’ of all time-Joel Harley-Entertainment – Metro

Luke Evans stars in moody true crime thriller The Pembrokeshire Murders (Picture: REX/Shutterstock)

Netflix has added the crime thriller series The Pembrokeshire Murders to its roster – three years after the show first aired on ITV.

Based on a true story, the three-part drama stars Luke Evans as a police officer on the hunt for a serial killer after re-opening a historical cold case.

With the so-called Bullseye killer already in custody, the programme reveals how Detective Superintendent Steve Wilkins and his team uncovered the evidence needed to convict him of the double murder of siblings Richard and Helen Thomas.

Keith Allen plays killer John William Cooper, terrorising the residents of a small South Wales town in the 1980s with his crimes – including a second set of murders which claimed the lives of husband and wife Peter and Gwenda Dixon.

Cooper was sentenced to four life sentences for the murder of four people in the 1980s, but only charged for the crimes in 2011.

In a particularly bizarre twist to the tale, police cracked the cold case after matching artist impressions of the suspect to a 1989 episode of the darts gameshow Bullseye Cooper had featured in.

Keith Allen plays serial killer John William Cooper (Picture: Shutterstock)

The miniseriesalso features Coronation Street actor Charles Dale, Line of Duty star Owen Teale, and Gavin and Stacey’s Steven Meo.

Directed by Marc Evans, it is based on the 2012 book by Steve Wilkins – written by the same police officer Luke Evans plays in the show.

Utilising cutting-edge forensic science, Wilkins and his team discovered vital evidence which linked the murders to a spate of historic burglaries – all within a radius of the killer’s home.

Among the show’s true-to-life developments is its depiction of Cooper’s eventual capture, including his fateful appearance on the TV gameshow Bullseye.

Luke Evans’ Steve Wilkins led the hunt to catch a killer (Picture: Shutterstock)

Re-released on Netflix this week, the series currently boasts a fresh 82% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, with reviews praising its ‘compelling’ performances and the respect extended to the real-life victims of the crimes.

A writer for The Guardian went so far as to describe it as a ‘perfect’ example of the true-crime thriller.

However, not everyone was so kind about the show at the time, with Loose Women panellist Janet Street-Porter sharing some choice words about its leading man.

‘For it to work, the lead character has got to have depth to them. They’ve got to have faults… One of the problems I had with it, is that the leading man – played by Luke Evans – had all the charisma of an ironing board. He was wooden,’ Janet complained.

However, she agreed with the praise owed to Keith, describing him as ‘absolutely chilling’ as the killer.

Keith Allen spooked as the killer (Picture: Shutterstock)

Speaking to Lorraine Kelly in an interview at the time, star Keith Allen said that his performance ‘reflects that [killers] walk among us.’

He continued: ‘Anyone is potentially a murderer and you would never know it. It’s mind-blowing really.’

‘You’ve got to be very careful,’ he said, on the careful balance in making shows based on real-life cases. ‘You’ve got to respect the victims more than anything else.’

Star Luke learned how the truth can be stranger than fiction (Picture: Shutterstock)

Meanwhile, The Beauty and the Beast star Luke revealed how shocked he had been to learn of the story’s basis in reality. ‘The unbelievable twists that the story takes during the investigation are mind-boggling,’ he told Metro.co.uk in 2021.

‘When I read it (the script) I remember sitting in my trailer and I started Googling it because I think I might have been a bit too young for it to have an impact on me when it actually did happen.

‘I wasn’t living in Wales at the time but when I read the story I realised that there were no fictional embellishments. It is as true to the facts as you possibly can be.’

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