Credit: BBC
Under Her Eye
Steeltown Murders isn’t just a BBC crime drama, it’s a tragic true story too
2 years ago
4 min read
This gripping new BBC series takes an in-depth look at the hunt for the ‘Saturday Night Strangler’, who murdered three young women in Port Talbot, Wales, in the 1970s.
Did you, like so many others, find yourself hopelessly addicted to The Pembrokeshire Murders, Luke Evans’s true crime drama, when it aired on ITV back in early 2021? If so, you’ll be pleased to learn its creators have joined forces with the BBC to bring yet another high-profile police case to our screens, and it’s due to hit our screens on Monday 15 May.
Here’s what you need to know about Steeltown Murders.
What is Steeltown Murders about?
Set in both 1973 and the early 2000s, Steeltown Murders centres on the hunt to catch the killer of three young women in the Port Talbot area and the remarkable story of how – in the first case of its kind – the mystery was solved almost 30 years later using pioneering DNA evidence.
Rather than focus on the so-called Saturday Night Strangler, this true crime drama seeks to honour his 16-year-old victims – Sandra Newton, Geraldine Hughes and Pauline Floyd – as well as their families and the tight-knit Welsh community that was rocked by their murders.
Watch the trailer for Steeltown Murders below:
It will also take us forward through time to the 2000s, when police revisited the case and decided to employ a previously unknown tactic of searching for the DNA of possible living descendants of the murderer, whose genetic profiles would be similar to that of the killer. When they find a partial match with a local car thief – a local car thief who was only seven years old at the time of murders – they realise they could be closer than ever to solving the cold case and finally bringing closure to all involved.
“Contrasting the policing methods of the 1970s with the forensic breakthroughs of the early 2000s, Steeltown Murders is a portrait of a town dealing with the repercussions of an unsolved case three decades on,” promises the BBC synopsis for the series.
“And it asks if justice can ever truly be found.”
Who will star in Steeltown Murders?
Philip Glenister (Life On Mars) and Steffan Rhodri (Gavin & Stacey) lead the cast as DCI Paul Bethell and Phil ‘Bach’ Rees, with their younger selves played by Scott Arthur (Good Omens) and Siôn Alun Davies (The Sandman) respectively.
Credit: BBC
They will be joined by an absolutely stellar cast, including:
- Nia Roberts – Karina Bethell (2002)
- Elinor Crawley – Karina Bethell (1973)
- Gareth John Bale – DC Geraint Bale
- Priyanga Burford – Sita Anwar (2002)
- Sharon Morgan – Pat Williams (2002)
- Keith Allen – Dai Williams (2002)
- Rhys Rusbatch – Dai Williams (1973)
- Natasha Vasandani – Sita Anwar (1973)
- Calista Davies – Geraldine Hughes
- Jade Croot – Pauline Floyd
- Kriss Dosanjh – Rohan Anwar
- Mathew Gravelle – Seb
- Richard Corgan – DS Chris Lewis
- Oliver Ryan – DS Ray Allen
- Karen Paullada – DS Jackie Roberts
- Dyfan Dywfor – DS Vic Jenkins
- Steve Nicolson – DI Tony Warren
- Aneurin Barnard – Joseph Kappen
- William Thomas – Denver Hughes
- Richard Harrington – Colin Dark
What are people saying about Steeltown Murders?
The show’s writer, Ed Whitmore, says: “I was drawn to this tragic true story because it’s ultimately as much about the scarring effects of an unsolved crime on a community as it is the crime itself.
“The narrative unfolds on two timelines – 1973 and 2002 – and the chance to chart the interweaving lives of our characters across this epic canvas is quite simply a gift to a dramatist.”
Glenister, meanwhile, says: “When it’s based on something that is real and so traumatic because it involves three teenage girls, and having daughters myself, it hits you. It’s unimaginable what the families have gone through. I haven’t sort of looked at it as a thriller; to me, it’s more a drama-documentary that we are making.
“You want it to be entertaining, educational and informative, all the things you want in a good drama. So, hopefully we have done it justice.”
And Hannah Thomas, the producer of Steeltown Murders, states: “It’s important that we remember the victims. Three young girls, they were only 16, just doing what 16-year-old girls do at the cusp of adulthood, going out and having fun as teenagers do, and they lost their lives. It’s incredibly moving to think about what happened to them and we remember that their lives were cut short.”
Credit: BBC
Thomas continues: “We have tried to show them as they were, completely innocent victims, just out doing what young people do. Out having fun for the first time, really. Not that it would have made any difference but, for instance, they hadn’t been drinking on the night in question, they were just going out to dance and this is what tragically happened to them. We have been really careful in trying to give them agency again, to show the optimism and the excitement of youth to hopefully put the audience back in the position of being with them and tragically we know what happened to them.
“I really hope we have succeeded in showing the promise that they had.”
When will Steeltown Murders be available to watch?
The four-part series will premiere on Monday 15 May at 9pm on BBC One, with new episodes on subsequent Mondays.
Images: BBC
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