The Body Next Door (Sky Documentaries) is the latest true-crime story from the makers of The Tinder Swindler. It starts in the quiet Welsh village of Beddau. One day in 2015, the police community officer takes a call from a housing officer who says a tenant has reported finding a dead body wrapped in plastic sheeting in the garden of their block. “A body? You’re having a laugh,” says the officer, who resolves to enjoy his lunch first before checking it out. There has not been a murder in Beddau for almost 20 years.
This sounds like the beginning of a cosy crime drama, and initially it plays out that way, despite the grisly find. From a quirky start, the documentary unspools over three episodes and quickly darkens. The detectives who worked on the case take us through it methodically. They initially have no idea who the victim is, except that it is a white, middle-aged male wearing a gold signet ring, who died from blunt force trauma to the head.
The police work through a list of suspects, including residents of the small block of flats where the body was found. One is the woman who alerted the authorities, claiming that she had believed the package in the garden was a medical skeleton, which she was planning to place on her sofa as a prank on one of her neighbours.
Another is a flamboyant former cabaret singer. “When she first turned up in Beddau, for a woman in her early 60s, she was wearing denim shorts and fishnet tights. Which isn’t usual,” says the local pastor. The series effectively draws us into this community where everybody knows each other and eccentric behaviour stands out. The presentation of the characters is more reminiscent of a drama than a straightforward documentary.
Episode one seems a tad slow, stretching things out with comments from residents. But pay attention, because some of what they say proves important later on. By episode two, you can see why the film-makers were drawn to this story: solving the mystery involves an unexpected detour and a shocking, desperately sad case of child abandonment.
“This story is not just about a murder, it’s about our lives,” someone says, reminding us that, for all the programme’s stylings, this crime is horribly real.
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