Luke Evans in new ITV drama The Pembrokeshire Murders

Luke Evans shares details of 'extraordinary' true story behind new drama The Pembrokeshire Murders

The Welsh actor takes the lead in the new series

Eve Crosbie

Brand new ITV drama The Pembrokeshire Murders kicks off on Sunday and we couldn't be more excited for a gripping new crime drama to sink our teeth into.

MORE: 9 true-crime shows to get obsessed with in 2021

In the three-part series, Luke plays a detective on the hunt for a cold-blooded serial killer who has evaded suspicion for over 20 years. Speaking to Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield on Thursday's This Morning, the actor revealed he was lucky enough to meet and discuss the case with the real-life inspiration behind his character, ex-DCI Steve Wilkins, who Evans hails a "hero".

He said: "The courage and the determination of the character that I play, Detective Superintendent Steve Wilkins, gave me such admiration for him. On a very small hunch he opened this case and spent thousands of hours sifting through all this evidence, paperwork to finally catch him.

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WATCH: Luke Evans stars in the new drama which starts at 8pm on 11 January 

"I'm not gonna spoil it, but it is an extraordinary feat. There were many times during the course of the investigation where [Steve] and his team were doubting his belief that he could find the killer. And he kept their spirits alive and kept the spark alive.

"He's a hero, and it's given me such admiration for our police force and the true determination and gumption that they must have had to keep going in the face of no evidence and little hope."


The Welsh actor chatted about his new series with Holly and Phil

The drama, which comes from the makers of Line of Duty and Bodyguard, looks at two unsolved double murder cases which took place in Wales in the 1980s. The murders of of siblings Richard and Helen Thomas, and married couple Peter and Gwenda Dixon went unsolved for decades, before the cases were reopened by Wilkins in 2006.

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The Beauty and the Beast star also spoke about his experience of living in Australia during the coronavirus pandemic after Holly and Phil noted his location. "I've been here since July. I came here to shoot a TV show called Nine Perfect Strangers, written by Leon Moriarty who wrote Big Little Lies," he revealed.


Will you be watching the new series?

He continued: "You know probably that Australia has had very little COVID cases they've managed to keep it very contained. There's been very few deaths, and when they have had outbreaks they've managed to contain them so I felt very lucky to be here and that's probably why I'm still here."

