DEADLY GAME

Luke Evans is a Welsh detective hunting the ruthless ‘Bullseye killer’ in a chilling true story

- SEAN MARLAND

NEW CRIME DRAMA

The Pembrokeshire Murders

Monday-Wednesday, ITV HD, 9pm

When DCS Steve Wilkins returned from working in London to become Head of Crime Operations at Dyfed-Powys Police in 2005, he was determined to close the file on two unsolved double murders – crimes that had haunted the peaceful Pembrokeshire community for almost two decades.

Peter and Gwenda Dixon were shot dead while walking along a picturesque coastal path on a sunny June afternoon in 1989. It was a tragedy that was eerily similar to a double murder committed at a nearby farmhouse four years earlier (see panel, right).

The killer was never found, but Wilkins believed that convicted burglar John Cooper was the culprit and over the course of the next five years, he and his team re-examined every shred of evidence from the two cold cases in the hope that modern forensic science would shed new light on the investigation.

Meanwhile, Cooper was about to be released from prison after serving time for a string of robberies. Faced with the prospect of a dangerous killer walking free, Wilkins slowly built a case against their prime suspect…

Now, the remarkable story of one of Britain’s most notorious murder cases has been turned into a three-part drama stripped across ITV this week. Produced by the team behind dramas Line of Duty and Bodyguard, it features Luke Evans, star of The Hobbit and Fast & Furious film series, as the intrepid detective who sought to bring Cooper to justice.

We caught up with Evans, 41, to find out more....

What made you want to play DCS Steve Wilkins?