TONIGHT, Wednesday January 13, sees the third and final part of The Pembrokeshire Murders air.

From the opening scene, it’s clear that Wilkins needs to act fast to cage Cooper.

Pat’s death is described as natural from the get-go, but theories will no doubt talk about how ‘Cooper must have done it’. He didn’t.

Her passing weighs heavily on Wilkins’ shoulders, you see that when he breaks the news to Andrew and it could be argued that her passing gives the team that extra bit of energy to finally see Cooper caged for his crimes.
11 minutes into the final part, Wilkins gets his ‘Golden Nugget’, Peter Dixon’s blood is found on John’s bathers after the hem is unpicked, they also find a hair from the Dixon’s daughter.

They’ve got him.

Luke Evans’ restrained joy boils over as he gleefully tells the DNA expert that he bloody loves her and that moment of relief is palpable for Wilkins who can now see the end in sight.
Within 120 seconds, we see Cooper collared by police for his crimes and literally dragged off kicking, screaming and swearing as his scheming is finally brought to an end, although it wasn’t filmed in Letterston where it took place in reality.

Caroline Berry as Pat Cooper (L) and Oliver Ryan as Andrew Cooper (R)

The scene where they find Cooper has tooled himself back up to, we assume, kill again, felt a tad unbelievable, a stretch too far even.
I didn’t particularly enjoy how stupid it made the cunning, clever Cooper seem when the race had already been run and I wasn’t entirely sure it served much of a purpose besides showing us how close the writers think Cooper was to killing again. I didn’t believe this scene was based on fact, until I got told by a friend that it was! I couldn’t believe Cooper didn’t know when to call it a day, unless by that point he genuinely felt he had nothing to lose.

It does however set up the face-off between Wilkins and Cooper that we’ve been waiting for 2 days to see.
The battle of the fathers takes place with Wilkins barely saying a word for the first few questions, but his triumphant gaze at Cooper, who now clings to his ‘ask Adrian’ defence, tells you everything you need to know about the calmness of Wilkins character and Luke Evans, again, plays this scene subtley, Allen’s Cooper though is rebellious to the end.
The victims of the Nolton Hill Estate attack get their chance at closure, their dreadful experiences have been somewhat under-mentioned so it felt rewarding to see a human reaction to part of Cooper’s crimes that are easily overshadowed by the double murders, but shouldn’t be forgotten.
As we hurtle towards the end, we see Wilkins steeling Andrew Cooper up to testify at John’s trial by video-link in a scene that, once again, shows the two standout actors of this production at their very best.
A non-threatening but righteous Wilkins coaxes Andrew into doing the right thing in a touching scene where Andrew finally gets the support he’s been lacking, only this support comes from the Police, not his family as he so dearly craved.

Cooper trips himself up in spectacular fashion during the trial as he’s forced to either admit lying to the court previously, or lying to the court now.
That moment, for me, secured his conviction as he’s finally left speechless and, to be honest, a tad pathetic.
Allen nails Cooper’s outburst as he’s taken down and that anger kicks in as he swears at the judge and finally disappears from view to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
The Pembrokeshire Murders ends with Wilkins’ son deciding to become a Policeman like his dad and the battle of the fathers is over.
Andrew Cooper hated his dad and wanted to be nothing like him, Steve Wilkins son ends up deciding to be more like his father so Steve Wilkins wins the day. Bravo!

‘The Pembrokeshire Murders’ is a story we’ve seen on countless cop shows for years. A cold case, a disgruntled cop with a chequered past is brought in to find the truth, through the course of the story he discovers the truth and in doing so mends himself and the lives of those around him.
It’s nothing special.
Until you factor in the true story elements, the superb performances and, to be frank, the local setting. If this was called ‘The Lancashire Murders’ I dare say that maybe I wouldn’t be as forgiving with the misfires as I am with this.

A great adaptation of a meaty story that does what it can with a story seen a thousand times before, the performances of Luke Evans, Keith Allen, Alexandria Riley, Oliver Ryan and Caroline Berry bring real heart and soul and set this apart from the rest. 4/5

Check out this weeks Herald where we’ll be taking another look at a confusing local double murder some say bares all the hallmarks of John Cooper….