Susan and Christopher, Christopher and Susan. They only need each other and they take care of each other, because it happens that one of them is “very fragile”. They have escaped the English row house wasteland in their hometown of Mansfield. They are in the so-called middle age, she is a librarian, he is an accountant, both like to wear beige and are extremely polite. They now live in France, but mainly in their beloved films there. In the western dream world that Susan loves so much, she becomes Grace Kelly and he becomes Gary Cooper high noon Christopher’s idol is Gérard Depardieu. Christopher and Susan, that could simply be the story of a great love, two people to each other and to the cinema – if it weren’t for the double murder.
Christopher and Susan Edwards were sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2014, as you can see in the opening credits of the series. Convicted of the 1998 murder of Susan’s parents, who were shot in her bedroom and then buried in the garden, only discovered 15 years later. It’s the bizarre story of a seemingly perfectly normal and at most conspicuously inconspicuous English couple who appear in the miniseries landscapers will be staged as a superbly visually powerful drama by director Will Sharpe.
Oscar winner Olivia Colman becomes Susan, whose controlled English friendliness has been able to hide the dead bodies in the garden for years. In The Crown Colman has just played Queen Elizabeth – another true Englishwoman with a very orderly facade, but Colman excels in the role of Susan. In Susan she combines a pounding heart, a broken soul and a willingness to kill. Colman is in landscapers all together: Grace Kelly, Queen Elizabeth, a wounded child and Susan Edwards, who killed her parents with her husband.
Englishman with an orderly facade: “Landscapers” tells the true story of the Edwards, who were sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2014 for murdering Susan’s parents and burying them in the garden.
(Photo: Stefania Rosini/Sky)
was written landscapers by Colman’s husband, Ed Sinclair. Her serial husband Christopher, Susan’s great savior, her great love, her Gary Cooper behind thick glasses, is played by David Thewlis (Remus Lupine in Harry Potter). At the beginning of the series he tries to learn French and somehow make money. The Edwards fled to France after Britain’s Pensions Agency said they would like to speak to their father-in-law, who is now approaching his 100th birthday. It is Christopher who finally confesses when the money runs out. It is also Christopher, who will then exchange very polite emails with the British investigative authorities from France, “we are happy to assist”.
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One of the many absurdly true details of the story is that the couple are also running out of money because they have pursued their passion for buying outrageously expensive Hollywood star memorabilia, paying £20,000 for an autographed Frank Sinatra photograph, for example. Or that a matter of trial will be whether it’s possible the Edwards ate fish and chips at the scene. landscapers is a satire of the British, a lovingly grotesque, an outstanding cinematic dream world. It would all be highly romantic – if it weren’t for the murder.
Landscapers, at Sky.
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