Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Landscapers’ On HBO, Where Olivia Colman And David Thewlis Play Unlikely Murders

In 2014, Susan and Christopher Edwards were convicted of shooting Susan’s parents and burying them in the backyard of the parents’ home. They maintain their innocence, but the very quirky and polite couple also spent a lot of time in France, avoiding authorities. A new miniseries, Landscapers, gives a fictionalized account of the case.

LANDSCAPERS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A rainy night in London, rendered first in grainy old-time black and white, then in a more modern black and white view, then in color. A graphic mentions that in 2014, Susan and Christopher Edwards were convicted of murder and each sentenced to 25 years in prison.

The Gist: A barrister named Douglas Hotten (Dipo Ola) runs across a courtyard in the rain, calling Susan Edwards (Olivia Colman), saying he will represent her. She starts explaining things, and he tells her that he’ll be where she is soon. After a bit more overexplaining, Susan hangs up and we see that she’s in jail.

In Paris, Susan walks around an antique store, and when the owner shows her a Gary Cooper movie poster she’s been coveting, she pays money she doesn’t have to get it. Her husband Christopher (David Thewlis) comes back to their dreary flat after another horrible job interview (he doesn’t speak French well enough to get a job anywhere) and she lies to him about how much the poster was. Otherwise, she’s a doting, encouraging wife to Christopher; she’s sure that things will turn around for them, especially after they get 100 euros in the mail from none other than Gerard Depardieu.

Susan is a film nut, and is especially enamored of Cooper. She envisions Christopher as a Cooper-like hero in one of the star’s westerns, and she often envisions their life in grainy black and white, with a dramatic soundtrack and slow-motion movement.

They’re broke but they know that going back to England is out of the question, given their situation and the fact that Susan is “fragile,” in Christopher’s words. He takes a risk and asks his wealthy stepmother for some money, telling her why they’re in France. She immediately calls out a tip to the police; Christopher told her they buried Susan’s parents in the backyard of their house in Nottingham,

In Mansfield, Nottingham, two local cops (Kate O’Flynn, Samuel Anderson) talk to the in-laws former neighbors, who mention that they disappeared without a trace 15 years prior. Their prickly boss, DCI Tony Collier (Daniel Rigby), writes Christopher an e-mail politely asking him for information, or to come in for a personal interview. Christopher politely e-mails back that they can’t come back for various reasons, and that it was an accident.

When two bodies are found in the backyard of the in-laws’ former home, two shell casings nearby, the case makes the news. Christopher, with no where else to turn, writes a new e-mail by politely telling DCI Collier that the two of them plan on taking the Chunnel train back and will surrender at a particular time. He does politely ask Collier to pay for the tickets.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? We feel that Landscapers presents an interesting enough case that if Ryan Murphy gave it the American Crime Story treatment (with a new name, of course), it would work.

Our Take: We thought it was interesting that, in the first scene of Landscapers, the graphic “This is a true story” changes to “This is a story,” with the word “true” disappearing. Indeed, the story of unlikely fugitives Susan and Christopher Edwards is a true story, but the way the Edwardses conducted their lives sort of floated between the real world and a cinematic unreality. The miniseries’ writer, Ed Sinclair, and director, Will Sharpe, conveys this unreality quite well. But what they also do is effectively balance the darkness and absurdity involved, making a show that can be gripping one second and hilarious the next.

At the end of the first episode, after the most polite fugitive capture ever, we still aren’t sure about just what went down 15 years prior in Nottingham. Why did Christopher and/or Susan kill Susan’s parents and bury them in the backyard? Why did no one seem to notice that the couple was gone? And just how long have they been in France trying to hide out? The fact that we have all those questions and are interested in finding the answers is a great sign that Sinclair and Sharpe have us hooked.

We’re figuring the subsequent three episodes will consist of the Nottingham police gathering evidence and the Edwardses’ trial. What we hope to see is more of Collier and his subordinates, who all seem to have their issues.

But, as we see from the performances of Colman and Thewlis, the Edwardses are as romantic and loving a couple as we’ve seen on TV in quite awhile. Colman plays Susan as unfailingly polite but shows moments where she’s indeed quite fragile, like when she lets the Gary Cooper movie she’s watching wash over her. For his part Thewlis’ Christopher is a study in desperation, created by how devoted he is to his wife and his desire to never let her see any harm.

So, we have a weirdly romantic story, the strangest fugitive accused murderers we’ve seen in many years, cops who might be just as messed up as the people they’re pursuing, and a trial that promises to be as quirky as the surrender was. There’s lots to like in all of those elements, and they seem to blend together very well in the first episode.

Sex and Skin: None. Old Gary Cooper films wouldn’t have any sex and skin, either.

Parting Shot: At St. Pancras station in London, the Edwardses finally encounter a huge group of police, guns drawn. “Good evening,” Christopher politely but warily greets them. Over the closing credits is actual news footage from the real-life case.

Sleeper Star: Rigby is especially funny as the overstressed Collier, who gets angry that his coffee is too hot and calls the Edwardses “Croque Madame and her pen pal muppet husband”, which makes us guffaw every time we hear it.

Most Pilot-y Line: None we could find.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Landscapers not only benefits from great performances by Colman and Thewlis, but it’s a dark comedy that’s actually howlingly funny in between all of the darkness. That balance is very difficult to achieve.

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.i

Stream Landscapers On HBO Max