The Pembrokeshire Murders is a dramatisation of real events, so things that might otherwise be treated as spoilers are unmarked on this page.
The Pembrokeshire Murders is a docudrama about several real murders in Wales, a Police Procedural centred on the 2006 decision to revisit the case using the latest forensic science. It's based on the 2013 True Crime book of the same name by Steve Wilkins & Jonathan Hill.
Seventeen years ago, Peter and Gwenda Dixon, the victims of the Pembrokeshire "Coastal Path" murders, were killed by an unknown attacker with a shotgun. No-one was ever charged with the crime. Their case is back in the news now, with journalist Jonathan Hill talking about the unsolved case.
DS Steve Wilkins has recently moved back to Pembrokeshire and conducted a review of the force's capabilities, with forensics identified as their biggest weak point. Prompted by the renewed press coverage, Wilkins also decides to take a second look at the Coastal Path case. When he meets the retired DCI who led the murder investigation, he's immediately told that there was a likely suspect - John Cooper. After the murders, but before the bodies were discovered, Cooper sold a gold wedding ring matching the victim's. But he insisted it was his own property, a story his wife supported, and the police were unable to prove anything.
When Wilkins takes a closer look, it seems that the Dixons may not be Cooper's only victims. And although Cooper's now in prison for lesser crimes, he's due for parole in the near future. What started as a cold case now seems increasingly urgent as Cooper's release approaches.
The Pembrokeshire Murders contains examples of the following tropes:
- Coincidental Broadcast: Wilkins arranges for a news story about a reopened investigation to catch Cooper's attention, seemingly coincidentally, as he knows which news programmes Cooper always watches in jail.
- Deliberate VHS Quality:
- The first episode's opening credits cut back and forth between a clear aerial view of the Welsh coastline and scenes of families camping and children playing on the beach. The footage of people is a little blurry, sometimes marred by interference, and is presented as old, pre-digital holiday videos.
- The series is set in 2006, but the black and white cameras recording Ottawa's interviews with John Cooper are shown with little crackles of interference, not a consistently clear picture.
- Disowned Parent: Andrew's cut all ties with his family, and has even changed his first name.
- Docudrama:
- Establishing Character Moment: When DS Wilkins is introduced at the start of episode one, he irons a shirt, sips a hot drink and then washes up the mug, alone in a spacious house on the coast, with no evidence that anyone else lives there. A tea towel gets carefully folded. There's no dialogue, as there's nobody to talk to. By the time he leaves the house in suit and tie, he's established as neat, organised and a little bit isolated.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: At the end of John Cooper's first day of interviews, he's seen in a police station cell. He takes his glasses off and holds them up, idly looking at them. The scene cuts to the start of the next days interviews and, a few seconds later, its revealed that he's broken the lenses and claims he can't see the evidence he's supposed to he reviewing.
- Frame-Up: When interviewed by the Ottawa team, John Cooper repeatedly tries to throw suspicion towards his son.
- Historical Domain Character:John Cooper, Jonathan Hill, Steve Wilkins
- I Have No Son!: John Cooper has no love for his son, and even tries to frame him when Ottawa ask about the evidence.
- It Has Been an Honor:
- Killed Offscreen:
- The second episode ends with John Cooper free from prison, home with his wife Pat, and then a voiceover as he phones for an ambulance. The start of the third episode reveals that Pat has died, apparently from heart failure and natural causes.
- During Cooper's trial, it's mentioned that Karen, the third of the teenage girls he attacked, has died.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: At the start of the second episode, Wilkins mentions a report claiming that suspect John Cooper has a very low opinion of womens' intelligence. DI Ella Richards is then chosen as one of his interviewers, partly in the hope that he'll underestimate her.
- Poor Communication Kills: In the final episode, when Andrew testifies against John Cooper from another room, the audio from the court intermittently cuts out. John's defence lawyer tries to present this as evidence that Andrew's avoiding questioning and his story is unravelling. For a moment it looks like this might be effective - and then a court official interrupts, confirms that they are having genuine technical problems, and pauses things until the audio's fixed.
- Revisiting the Cold Case: The series is set in 2006, but all four of the murders being investigated were in the 1980s. The rape and assault connected to Cooper was in the 1990s.DS Steve Wilkins: Cold cases are 99% forensics, so we need to do everything we can to help the scientists find that DNA golden nugget
- Serial Killer:
- Shout-Out: When the investigation team first assembles, they're told that the first rule of Operation Ottawa is that you don't talk about Operation Ottawa. So is the second rule. One team member immediately comments on the Fight Club reference.
- The Show of the Books:
- Would Hurt a Child: When Andrew meets his estranged mother, he reveals that his spinal injuries date back to his father John punching him in the back when he was a child.
