Landscapers, review: turning true crime into the most daring and dazzling drama of the year

From The Crown’s imperious monarch to a downtrodden murderer in a knitted beret. Never let it be said that Olivia Colman isn’t versatile, either in character or headwear. The actress tackles her darkest role yet in Landscapers (Sky Atlantic) and, alongside the reliably brilliant David Thewlis, she shines in this beguiling four-parter, which is one of the most breathtakingly beautiful dramas you’ll see all year.

This category-defying miniseries is half-true crime thriller, half-quirky romance, and all unique. It’s a close-knit affair, written by Colman’s husband Ed Sinclair, with Bafta-winner Will Sharpe (who Colman worked with on Flowers) on directing duties. Together they’ve created a blackly comic, tonally playful gem which will stay with viewers for days after the credits roll on the final episode.

Colman and Thewlis excel as the seemingly ordinary couple from Dagenham: meek librarian Susan Edwards and her doting accountant husband, Christopher. Landscapers tells the startling tale of how they came to shoot and kill Susan’s parents, William and Patricia Wycherley, in 1998 and bury their bodies in the back garden of their Mansfield home.

These unlikely killers, all anoraks, knitwear and politeness, gradually withdrew large sums from their victims’ bank account – spending thousands on Hollywood memorabilia, particularly autographs of Susan's idol, Gary Cooper – while keeping up the pretence they were still alive. The crime remained undiscovered for 15 years, until Chris phoned his stepmother from France, where the couple had fled, and casually confessed. As Susan later tells her solicitor: “My husband and I have got ourselves in a bit of a pickle.”

The script might draw on extensive research and hours of interviews with those connected to the case but Landscapers is no conventional crime drama. It’s not a whodunit because we know full well who done it. It’s not a police procedural because the inept detectives are mainly played for laughs. Instead it’s a shattering portrayal of love, trauma and co-dependency.

When Nottingham Police separate the devoted spouses to interrogate them, they take refuge in a vivid fantasy world of Susan’s creation, built around her obsession with classic Westerns and French cinema. She’s cast as the damsel in distress, with Chris as the gallant cowboy hero. When we discover that she was the victim of childhood abuse and was bullied by her parents well into adulthood, we begin to see why Susan retreats from the real world.

Colman’s status means she’s likely to hog the headlines and the award nominations, but she shouldn’t. Thewlis is equally hypnotic and heartbreaking. They’re both towering performances, full of intelligence and empathy.

The supporting cast punch their weight too, notably Dipo Ola as Susan’s kindly barrister, and the detective double act of Samuel Anderson and Kate O’Flynn. The latter begins as a Vicky McClure-from-Line of Duty tribute act before deepening into something much more nuanced. It’s testament to the writing that they all get redemptive subplots of their own.

The other star is Sharpe’s stylised, often surreal direction, which is as unhinged as his protagonists. Photography switches to black-and-white for romantic reveries, to green or red-filtered for nightmarish flashbacks. Shots are framed from gorgeous painterly angles. The overall effect is macabre and magical, hallucinatory and heightened.

It’s unlike anything else but imagine an art-house film co-directed by the Coen brothers and David Lynch. Or an immersive theatre production crossed with an Edward Hopper painting. Characters break the fourth wall, walk behind the scenes, even put on and take off their wigs. It’s a left-field approach that explores the artifice of storytelling and film’s relationship to truth.

By the time the case reaches court, Colman’s wobbly lip, frightened face and defiant testimony are downright devastating. It’s no spoiler to say that in 2014 the couple were convicted for double murder and imprisoned for 25 years. To this day, they maintain their innocence.

However, there’s still time for one last flourish. This bold, boundary-pushing series climaxes with a stunning Wild West pastiche, complete with a shootout in the woods. Exhilarating, eccentric and endlessly surprising – Landscapers might have left it late but it’s one of the best dramas of 2021.