The Pembrokeshire Murders
Season 1 M-Net Sat (*101) 22:30 Drama
Any fan of British crime series knows that there’s always something sinister and dark happening in a grey, sleepy British town. In new crime miniseries
The Pembrokeshire Murders, a determined detective turns the coastal town of Pembrokeshire in Wales on its head with his investigation into a legendary and troublesome unsolved crime.
Set in the mid 2000s, sullen Detective Superintendent Steve Wilkins (Luke Evans) is tasked with reopening a cold case from the 1980s – two grisly murders were never resolved and the killer is still at large. With new, modern advancements in technology, forensic evidence collected at the crime scene and safely stored away points to the suspect being an already convicted prisoner named John Cooper (Keith Allen), who is serving time for assault and burglary. It’s a tense race against time as Detective Wilkins and his team need to find actual evidence before John is released from prison.
Filled with all kinds of twists and turns, what makes this show remarkable is that it’s based on a true story with the real-life Detective Wilkins consulting on the show. Luke points out how valuable it was to have Steve around to tell his story. “Steve and I held dialogue almost every week for a few hours. We had conversations before we started shooting where I would speak to him about John Cooper and having to deal with his family. When you’re playing somebody who is real and alive, and the relatives of the victims are alive, you have a huge sense of responsibility to do the job correctly, with authenticity,” says Welsh-born Luke.