Written by Ed Whitmore who previously wrote the true life Manhunt series starring Martin Clunes. Directed by Marc Evans who also made the true life The Pembrokeshire Murders.

Steeltown Murders is also based on true events. The hunt for the Saturday Night Strangler who killed three young women in Wales in 1973.

The murderer was never caught but with advances in forensic science and DNA evidence. The cases are reopened in the early 2000s.

Philip Glenister plays DCI Paul Bethell who is heading the cold case investigation. He was a rookie cop back in the early 1970s and had reservations with the original investigations.

The first episode jumps forwards and back in time, with Bethell played by a younger actor for the flashbacks. The police in 1973 had a suspect for one of the murders, they would have been happy to fit him up for the crime. Only to find he could not drive, so he would not have been able to dump the body in the remote countryside.

The opener is low key and respectful. I did find that the victims were thinly sketched, especially the two women that would become the next fatalities.

In short Whitmore and Evans were following the same plot beats from their previous works.