Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Steeltown Murders’ On Acorn TV, Where A Police Detective Investigates Three Murders In Both 1973 And When The Cases Are Reopened In 2002

It’s intriguing when a mystery thriller goes back and forth in time between two time periods in the past, instead of between past and present. A new drama, based on actual events, shows a murder being investigated in both 1973 and 2002, when the case was reopened.

STEELTOWN MURDERS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A scientist in a lab rubs an apple with his tie and sets it down on his desk. He’s looking at an old CRT monitor. When he realizes what’s on the screen, he bites the apple then puts it down hard on the desk.

The Gist: In 2002, DCI Paul Bethell (Philip Glenister) finds out from an old police friend that the Llandarcy murders, a cold case that he investigated as a young detective in 1973, is being reopened by CID. As soon as he hears that news, he knows he should be put back on the case, despite not having touched it in decades.

As the middle-aged Bethell tries to get over a hangover, we flash back to 1973 and see his younger self (Scott Arthur) talk to his wife Karina (Elinor Crawley; the 2002 version is played by Nia Roberts) about a “schmooze” he has to do involving a rugby match in nearby Neath. At the match, he talks to two detectives from Neath about the murder of Sandra Newton, a Port Talbot resident who was found in Neath. The detectives take Bethell to who they think killed her, namely John Dilwyn Morgan (Ben McGregor) a boyfriend who was cheating on his wife with Sandra. The Neath cops rough him up a bit, then leave him an hour walk away from his house. Bethell isn’t sure they have the right guy, given that the guys says he can’t drive.

In 2002, Bethell makes his case to new CID boss Jackie Roberts (Karen Paullada); she tells him that new DNA evidence has led to CID reopening the case, but won’t say much more. To this day, Bethell is convinced that the two girls who were killed in Llandarcy were killed by the same man who killed Sandra. After talking to Roberts, Bethell then goes to DC Phil “Bach” Rees (Steffan Rhodri), who worked with him on the case in 1973, to let him know that the case is being reopened. Rees is skeptical, thinking about how unreliable DNA evidence has been in recent cases.

Back at a police function in ’73, Bethell talks to the young Rees (Sion Alun Davies) about how he thinks the Neath detectives have this all wrong, and that whoever the killer is could be planning on killing his next victim.

Meanwhile, two young clothing factory workers, Geraldine Hughes (Calista Davies) and Pauline Floyd (Jade Croot) go to a club in Swansea after their friend Sita Anwar (Natasha Vasandani) is taken home by her father, afraid to let her out after Sandra’s murder.

In 2002, Bethell finds out from Roberts that he’s got the case. He and Rees are joined by a younger detective, DC Geraint Bale (Gareth John Bale) in the former police HQ, which is now a dusty building used to store evidence.

Back in ’73, Bethell gets a call from his boss, DI Tony Warren (Steve Nicolson), that two bodies were found in the woods in Llandarcy: Geraldine and Pauline. Many of the details of how they were found were similar to what happened to Sandra. One of the first things he does is go to the only suspect the Heath detectives had in Sandra’s case, and he finds out he’s got a good alibi for the night of the Llandarcy kilings.

In ’02, Bethell starts with two rapes that happened in Neath prior to Sandra’s murder, to see if they were at all connected, and the survivors could give eyewitness accounts. One of the victims, Jane Marchant (Lisa Victoria), is a friend of Rees’, and she readily and vividly recalls the night of her assault for the detectives.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Steeltown Murders feels like a combination of Bodies and Life On Mars, the latter of which starred Glenister and also took place largely in 1973.

Our Take: Written by Ed Whitmore and based on the actual events surrounding the “Saturday Night Strangler” case in Wales, Steeltown Murders takes a bit of attention to discern exactly what’s going on. And it’s not the Welsh accents that makes things a bit inscrutable. Whitmore isn’t giving the viewer particularly glaring demarcations between 1973 and 2002. In fact, the only clues that are telling viewers that the more “modern” portion of the story is taking place twenty-odd years ago is the constant presence of tube TVs and monitors.

We get why it was done that way, though. The thought is that, with Bethell as the main connection between the two time periods (but not the only connection), his investigation into both Sandra’s murder and the Llandarcy killings will blend together between the ’70s and the ’00s.

Even though Bethell and his small task force need to start almost from scratch in the ’00s, boiling down a list of thousands of names to a more manageable number, the notion that this is a continuation of the original investigation is a palpable one. So as we watch Bethell and Rees look into the killings 30 years apart, we get the feeling that things they find in ’73 will inform what they do in ’02. That’s where the thrill of this mystery will take hold.

We also get the feeling that the series is going to show the roadblocks a young detective like Bethell runs into in the early ’70s, especially with regards to how the all-male police force deals with issues of rape. There are already mentions in the first episode that the Neath detectives dismissed the idea that Sandra was raped because they figured she had sex with the suspected boyfriend before she was killed. In other words, there was a lot of victim-blaming going on, something that likely got in the way of Bethell’s efforts to link Sandra to the Llandarcy killings back in the day.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: In 2002, Bethell stakes out Dai Williams (Keith Allen), Sandra’s father, whose 1973 picture matched a description Jane gave of her rapist.

Sleeper Star: There are lots of early ’70s needle drops in this series, but having Bethell finding out about the reopening of the Llandarcy case after watching a Badfinger cover band seemed like a nice touch, given that Badfinger was founded in Swansea.

Most Pilot-y Line: Eager to get started, Bethell hands his coffee to DC Bale when Bale asks if he can get a cup before starting. “You serious?” Bale says. “I only took a sip, man,” Bethell yells behind him as he exits the room.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Steeltown Murders has the potential to be a really intriguing mystery that spans 30 years, as long as the scenes from the Seventies flow well into the scenes from the Aughties and vice versa.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.