Genre: True Crime | Drama | Dark Comedy | Psychological
Created by: Ed Sinclair
Directed by: Will Sharpe
Starring: Olivia Colman, David Thewlis
Platform: HBO / Sky Atlantic
In an age of endless true-crime adaptations, Landscapers dares to be different. This four-part limited series based on the chilling true story of Susan and Christopher Edwards—the quiet English couple who murdered her parents and buried them in their back garden—delivers more than mystery and moral horror. It’s a deeply stylized, emotionally rich, and tragically human portrait of love, delusion, and denial.
The story begins in 2013, when mild-mannered couple Susan (Olivia Colman) and Christopher Edwards (David Thewlis) turn themselves in after years of living in hiding in France. Their secret? They murdered Susan’s parents in 1998 and buried them behind their home in Nottingham, all while continuing to collect their pensions for over a decade.
But Landscapers is not just a procedural. Instead, it is a surreal, shifting perspective drama that takes viewers into the inner worlds of its characters—especially Susan, a woman escaping reality through old movies, Westerns, and cinematic fantasies.
Olivia Colman, as always, is phenomenal. Her portrayal of Susan is nuanced and heartbreaking—portraying her not as a cold-blooded killer, but as a deeply vulnerable woman lost in her own fictions. She brings empathy and fragility to a character many might judge harshly.
David Thewlis is equally brilliant. As Christopher, he’s gentle and loyal, but morally compromised—his devotion to Susan both admirable and disturbing. Together, Colman and Thewlis create a portrait of love that’s as tender as it is tragic.
Director Will Sharpe (The Electrical Life of Louis Wain) employs experimental visual techniques, including fourth-wall breaks, black-and-white flashbacks, stage-style transitions, and film-within-a-film sequences. These creative choices reflect Susan’s psychological escapism and lend the series a dreamlike, often theatrical atmosphere.
It’s bold and unconventional—sometimes even disorienting—but it works. The show isn’t just about what happened; it’s about how people cope with what they've done and what they refuse to face.
Landscapers doesn’t just ask whether Susan and Christopher were guilty. It asks:
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How far will love go to protect itself from reality?
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Can fantasy become a prison?
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Is delusion a form of innocence—or complicity?
It also critiques media sensationalism, the justice system, and the way society assigns villainy in black-and-white terms. The show’s emotional resonance lies in its refusal to give us easy answers.
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Stunning performances from Colman and Thewlis
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Inventive, cinematic direction
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Emotionally complex and psychologically deep
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Beautiful production design and score
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Unique take on the true crime genre
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The surreal style may not appeal to all viewers
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Those expecting a traditional crime drama may feel misled
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Slow pacing in parts, focusing more on mood than momentum
Landscapers is not your typical true crime drama—it’s something more vulnerable, more poetic, and more haunting. With exceptional performances and fearless storytelling, it turns a bizarre crime into a meditation on love, guilt, fantasy, and the narratives we tell ourselves to survive.
