Filming begins on Olivia Colman drama about Mansfield's most brutal double murder

Landscapers, starring The Crown and Hot Fuzz actress Olivia Colman, was set to film in 2020, but is now in production and is set to air later in 2021, the production company has confirmed.

There are also plans for some filming in Mansfield, although it is not yet clear if Ms Colman will be coming to the town.

The four-part drama details the case of Susan and Christopher Edwards, who murdered her elderly parents William and Patricia Wycherley in Forest Town in 1998.

The pair then buried the Wycherleys in their own back garden and “kept them alive in the eyes of the world” by responding to letters from doctors and council officials, and sending out letters and Christmas cards to relatives, claiming the pair were travelling in Ireland.

Until the bodies of the couple were unearthed at their Blenheim Close home in 2013, the Edwards had embezzled more than £250,000 - stealing their savings, taking out loans in their name, and eventually selling the property which concealed their remains.

Most of the cash was blown on film memorabilia, including signed photographs of silver-screen stars like Gary Cooper.

The couple eventually fled to France after stealing £10,000 from his employers, but eventually confessed that the bodies were under the lawn to Christopher Edward’s step-mother, who alerted police, and the Edwards handed themselves in when they ran out of money.

The drama, written by Colman’s husband Ed Sinclair and due to be produced as a Sky and HBO collaboration, was due to film in 2020 but a spokesman for production company Sister, which is working on the production said that filming on the project is now underway.

The are also plans for one day of filming in Mansfield later in the shoot, although exact dates have yet to be confirmed, the spokesman said, and they are expecting it to air later in 2021

Colman, who also appeared in the popular comedy drama Fleabag, is lined up to play Susan Edwards, but no further casting details have yet been released.

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