TV fans have been given a first glimpse of a brand new real-life crime drama about a series of Welsh murders that were solved 30 years later using brand new DNA techniques.
Steeltown Murders is based on a real-life Port Talbot case in which detectives strive to catch the killer of three young women in 1973 and will air on BBC One later this spring.
Philip Glenister from Life on Mars and Gavin & Stacey's Steffan Rhodri lead the cast as DCI Paul Bethell and Phil ‘Bach’ Rees, with their younger selves played by Scott Arthur (Good Omens, Borg McEnroe) and Siôn Alun Davies (The Sandman, Hidden) respectively.
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Keith Allen, who appeared as killer John Cooper in incredibly successful true crime drama The Pembrokeshire Murders back in 2021, also stars and he's joined by Priyanga Burford (Industry, No Time To Die), Sharon Morgan (Yr Amgueddfa, Gangs Of London), Nia Roberts (Red Rose, Yr Amgueddfa), Elinor Crawley (Vikings, Ordinary Lies), Gareth John Bale (35 Awr, Y Pris), Kriss Dosanjh (The Larkins, Casualty), Matthew Gravelle (Silent Witness, Broadchurch), Amy Morgan (Mr Selfridge, Showtrial), Dyfan Dwyfor (A Very English Scandal, Bang).
Set in both 1973 and the early 2000s, Steeltown Murders centres on the hunt to catch the killer of three young women in the Port Talbot area and the remarkable story of how - in the first case of its kind - the mystery was solved almost 30 years later using pioneering DNA evidence.
In September 1973 teenage factory workers Geraldine Hughes and Pauline Floyd left the Top Rank nightclub in Swansea together to try hitching a lift home. But they'd never reach their destination.
Instead their bodes were discovered the next day dumped in Neath Port Talbot woodland having been raped and strangled. It was a hideous crime which left two families in mourning and an entire community in fear of where its perpetrator might strike next.
The resulting search for the culprit, Wales' very first documented serial killer, ended up becoming one of the longest-running murder hunts in this country's history. Indeed it would take 30 years before officers finally unmask the a man who'd come to be known as The Saturday Night Strangler - and whom, it was discovered, was responsible for a third death.
Contrasting the policing methods of the 1970s with the forensic breakthroughs of the early noughties, Steeltown Murders is a portrait of a town dealing with the repercussions of an unsolved case three decades on, and asks if justice can ever truly be found.
The new factual drama was written by Ed Whitmore (Manhunt, Safe House) and made by Severn Screen (The Pembrokeshire Murders, Hidden/Craith) for the BBC in association with All3Media International have been released. The four-part series co-commissioned with BBC Wales is coming soon to BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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