Severn Screen starts work on BBC One Welsh crime drama Steeltown Murders

Cardiff-based prodco Severn Screen has begun filming fact-based drama Steeltown Murders, which is set to be air on UK pubcaster BBC One next year.

Philip Glenister (L) and Steffan Rhodri

All3Media will handle international sales of the 4×60’ series, which centres on the hunt for the killers of three young women in the Port Talbot area of South Wales. It is set in both 1973 and the early 2000s, with the mystery finally being solved by pioneering DNA evidence.

“The series explores the very nature of justice and what it means to live on in the shadow of such brutal tragedy,” said Rebecca Ferguson, commissioning editor for BBC Drama.

Philip Glenister (Life on Mars) and Steffan Rodri (In My Skin) lead the cast as DCI Paul Bethell and Phil Rees.

The executive producers are Ed Talfan, Jon Hill and Ed Whitmore for Severn Screen, and Ferguson and Helen Perry for the BBC. Additional funding for the project was provided by Creative Wales, the government agency supporting the nation’s arts industry.

“It’s important that these Welsh stories are told to an international audience,” said Gerwyn Evans, deputy director of Creative Wales. “This drama will bring to light the impact these tragic events had on the community.”