Sky and HBO’s new four-part true-crime drama Landscapers charts the story of Susan and Christopher Edwards, a married couple who were found guilty of murdering the former’s parents and sentenced to a minimum of 25 years behind bars in 2014.
Patricia and William Wycherley, aged 63 and 85, were both shot twice at their home in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, in May 1998, before being buried in their back garden. The police didn’t discover their remains until October 2013.
We’ve unpacked all the key details from the extraordinary tale right here.
Speaking to RadioTimes.com about how he thinks Susan and Christopher, who are played by Olivia Colman and David Thewlis, will feel about the series, creator and writer Ed Sinclair said: “Well, that’s a concern, actually. This may sound strange because they’re obviously convicted double murderers, but I wouldn’t want them to be upset by anything that we have done.”
He went on to say that he had spoken to Christopher, who was “very clear” about one particular detail.
“The real-life Chris is obviously different to the one on film,” said Sinclair. “The real-life Chris is very even-handed and sensible and he was very clear when I was writing to him that he didn’t want this to be a hatchet job on the police, on the prosecution case, which is fascinating. So I think he’s got quite a sort of philosophical outlook on it, so I don’t think he’ll find any version of it particularly troubling.”
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As for Susan, Sinclair added: “She’s probably, well that word again, more fragile, but I think, well I certainly hope– we won’t have got a lot of stuff right about her, but a slightly more sympathetic exploration of what brings someone who’s had the experiences she had to this place.
“I hope that she will find that it’s not too awful to watch.”
Will Sharpe, who co-wrote and directed Landscapers, added: “I think one of the things I was immediately struck by with this project was how empathetically it tried to treat the story of this crime and how it was setting out to be respectful both to the perpetrators and the victims, and to the police. And I think we all were trying to tell the story in as accurate and fair and responsible a way as we could.
“But at the same time, I think it’s important to say that these are fictionalised versions of the characters and at the end of the day, we have no agency over the truth. We’re also just storytellers presenting a version of the truth in a show that is in part about different versions of the truth.”
Landscapers is available to watch on Sky Atlantic and NOW. Looking for something else? Check out the rest of our Drama coverage or take a look at our TV guide.