Stream It Or Skip It: ‘A Confession’ On BritBox, Where Martin Freeman Is A Cop Who Skirts The Rules To Solve A Missing Person’s Case

A Confession, written by Jeff Pope, aired on ITV in 2019; it’s based on the real-life story of how Detective Superintendent Stephen Fulcher (who’s credited as a writer on the limited series) broke protocol to get a serial killer to admit to two murders. The murders were of two young women: Sian O’Callaghan in 2011 and Becky Godden in 2003. Martin Freeman plays Fulcher, and he’s joined by two other British actors of note: Siobhan Finneran and Imelda Staunton.

A CONFESSION: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: “This is a true story” is displayed on screen, followed by a disclaimer that it is dramatized based on police reports, interviews, etc. Then shots of the woods near Swindon in the UK.

The Gist: We see Elaine Pickford (Siobhan Finneran) woken up by her pilot boyfriend; they’re in a hotel room, and he’s been called on his day off to go into work. She asks her parents to drive her back home to Swindon. At the same time, Detective Superintendent Stephen Fulcher (Martin Freeman) pulls into the parking lot of a truck stop; there he meets DCC Ray Hayward (John Thomson), who wants his advice when it comes to sexual harassment charges he’s up against. Fulcher tries to be sympathetic, but tells Hayward that he shouldn’t say the things he’s accused of saying.

When Elaine gets home, she gets word from her son, Liam O’Callaghan (Jake Davies) that his sister Sian (Florence Howard) didn’t come home after a night out with her boyfriend Kevin Reape (Charlie Cooper). It’s not like her to not come home from a night out or even call, and at a certain point, a missing person’s report is filed. Fulcher is called in the middle of the night to lead the task force to find Sian.

In the meantime, a neighbor down the road, Karen Edwards (Imelda Staunton) is taken by her son to see the new house in the neighborhood that his family just bought. However, she’s still concerned about her other child Becky (Stephanie Hyam), whom she hasn’t seen in months and she knows works as a sex worker nearby. She has her second husband Charlie (Peter Wight) drive her to the place where she last saw Becky every week or so, just to ask the women there where she might be.

As time goes on, it becomes increasingly apparent that Sian is missing and in danger. Fulcher is questioned about why he put together a task force so soon, but he thinks the sooner he can find out who might have done it, the more of a chance they’ll find Sian alive. Data shows that her mobile phone started pinging for hours in woods that are 15 miles away from town, and then stopped hours later, so a massive search effort begins.

A key piece of CCTV evidence shows a car that looks like a taxi shine headlights in Sian’s direction, then she disappears after they pass. Could this be a key to the case?

Our Take: The first episode of A Confession proceeds much like a standard police procedural whose case arcs over an entire season. The person is reported missing, the family is concerned, the lead cop starts the task force and gets really emotionally involved in the case, the woods are combed, CCTV is examined, people are questioned.

If you were to base whether to watch A Confession or not by the first episode, you might not want to continue, even with Freeman, Staunton and Finneran on board, all of whom do their usual fine jobs here. If you know the particulars of the real-life case, though, you’ll want to keep watching.

Why? Because there will be plenty of twists and turns, and seemingly unrelated stories will get tied in, until Fulcher eventually lands on a cabbie named Chris Halliwell (Joe Absolom), and the way he gets Halliwell to confess will be fascinating to watch, especially because Freeman carries the proper intensity, emotional heft, and just-warm-enough manner to play Fulcher, who chips away at Halliwell and gets him to confess.

The story isn’t about the murder, it’s about how Fulcher pretty much put his career in danger in order to secure that confession. And there is nothing about the first episode that will lead you to that conclusion if you don’t know anything about the case. After the first episode, you’re likely happy you’ve watched a well-acted story about a missing girl. But the miniseries is about so much more than that.

Sex and Skin: Nothing.

Parting Shot: After the press conference Fulcher has with Sian’s family, he’s told that Hayward hung himself. But then he’s told that he’s now a part of Sian’s case, as he had a car similar to the one seen in the key CCTV footage.

Sleeper Star: Staunton’s story will link into the bigger story at some point, because her daughter was one of Halliwell’s victims. She does a good job in the first episode of showing that Karen isn’t your typical doting grandmother.

Most Pilot-y Line: We know Fulcher is married with kids, but there are shots of him very alone in his apartment, then one with his wife, who seems to live somewhere else with the kids. It’s an aspect of Fulcher’s life that isn’t fully explained and we’re not sure why it’s germane to the story.

Our Call: STREAM IT. We’re recommending A Confession purely for the lead actors — we’d watch Freeman read his Twitter feed for an hour — and where we think the story is going. The first episode, though, while well-acted, doesn’t give any indication of where things will end up, so you need to keep watching.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company.com, RollingStone.com, Billboard and elsewhere.

Watch A Confession on BritBox