Steeltown Murders

A slow-to-accelerate but ultimately absorbing dramatic series about the virtual haunting of a small town—not in rural Mississippi, but industrial Wales.

Solidly crafted by writer Ed Whitmore, a veteran of nearly 30 Silent Witness scripts as well as the 2022 Bafta-nominated Manhunt: The Night Stalker, Steeltown Murders justified its existence in an overcrowded true crime landscape.

It takes its time but never flags or becomes ponderous (thanks to Marc Evans’ directorial talents, as well as the dense script, and it takes its responsibilities to the living and to the dead seriously.

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.

Writer Ed Whitmore and director Marc Evans are clearly trying to handle this story with care and an absence of sensationalism, but have ended up with four turgid hours of television.