# The Pembrokeshire Murders (2021)

> A detective superintendent reopens two unsolved 1980s murders in Wales, using forensic science to tie them to a string of burglaries before a convicted suspect is released.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/97011

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 3
- Episode runtime: 47 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: crime, drama
- Created by: Nick Stevens
- Network: ITV1
- Cast: Luke Evans, Keith Allen, Caroline Berry, Oliver Ryan, Alexandria Riley, Charles Dale, David Fynn, Steven Meo
- TMDB rating: 7.1/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11649104/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: mild
- Tone: tense, sober, procedural, unsettling, restrained

## What critics say

Reviewers find the miniseries gripping and well acted, with Keith Allen's unsettling turn and a sober, procedural approach, though some evidence threads feel stretched.

## Synopsis

The Pembrokeshire Murders (2021) is a British true crime police drama miniseries created by Nick Stevens and produced by World Productions for ITV1. Across three forty-seven minute episodes, it follows dogged detective superintendent Steve Wilkins (Luke Evans) as he reopens two unsolved murder cases from the 1980s in Pembrokeshire, Wales. His engine is a race against time: he must gather enough forensic evidence to link the killings to a string of burglaries before the prime suspect, John Cooper (Keith Allen), is released from prison. Cooper is portrayed as unsettling and creepy, and the investigation draws the detective's team into patient, methodical work, with DNA advances sitting alongside old fashioned police legwork. Each episode is built around a new lead, a fresh piece of evidence, and the grind of reconstructing decades-old events. The tone is tense, sober and procedural, with an atmosphere of quiet dread and moral unease rather than spectacle. Based on a real conviction, the drama is restrained in tone, condensing years of work into a compact run while sometimes questioning how solid its own evidence is. Fans of Making a Murderer, Line of Duty and The Staircase will find resonance in its blend of real case reconstruction and forensic procedure.

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