White House Farm – 6 Part Documentary Dramatization = Netflix

Part 1

The White House Farm murders predate my birth, so I had to do a little bit of Wikipedia research to educate myself on what I was about to watch. Of course, some names have been changed for this series and some scenes and characters have been added for dramatization. But I believe that most of the facts remain the same. I did not read the entire Wikipedia page as I wanted to ensure that I discovered the majority of facts through the documentary, but I read enough to know that murder happened.

It’s quite eery the programme. That’s what I feel halfway through this first episode. Lots of still shots and quiet music.

So far, I’ve been introduced to Sheila, who does not seem to be coping well with life and is on medication.

Colin Caffell, Sheila’s ex-husband. Their sons live with Colin, not Sheila.

Danie and Nicolas Caffell who are Sheila and Colin’s twin sons.

June and Nevill Bamber – Sheila’s parents (adoptive). I don’t know anything about Nevill yet, but I know that June is deeply religious and someone who likes to force their own beliefs onto others.

Jeremy Bamber – son of June and Nevill and brother of Sheila – who is also adopted. He presents as quite arrogant and like he has a ‘free lifestyle’. I don’t know where he will fit as the story progresses.

I was amazed to see how long it took the police to entered the house. It must have only been ten minutes of programme time, but it felt like a lot longer. I would have thought that they’d have been more eager to enter based on the phone call received and the silence coming from the house. I do understand the amount of officers present at the scene, with an event that had so many potential victim and a supposed ‘crazy’ on the loose, it shows preparedness to meet any challenges discovered.

Five bodies were discovered, one body with a rifle in their hands.

Even without knowing the extent of this crime and the case that will unfold in due time, this feels too clean. It’s like the murders have been presented in a nice little package with no loose ends to tie up and that, to me, seems somewhat suspicious. In terms of crime, I think that rarely is the answer the simple one starring you in the face.

Perhaps that opinion comes from crime novels or crime dramas, but I believe that it is a rarity for a crime to be so neatly and quickly tided up.

I feel like this first part set the event up with a lot of conspiracies or ‘avenues of change’. It definitely doesn’t paint a clear picture and leaves the viewer wondering what they’re missing. On the front everything makes sense but there is a little niggle in the back of the mind that says, ‘maybe not’.

Jeremy’s girlfriend and the Bamber’s cousin share quite a lot of suspicious and confused looks in the final moments of this episode. It’s enough to get the gears turning in my head. It speaks of white lies in terms of what Jeremy is telling the police and gives enough insight to allow the view to begin to suspect that something is wrong.

The arrival of Colin Caffell is understandably emotional, but I almost felt like he walk walking into a spiders lair, and not into the comforting arms of what was left of the Bamber family.

It sometimes still amazes me how people would rather the clean-cut ending than to admit that something stands out. The sergeant in charge of the Bamber family clearly realises something is amiss early on but he is ‘shut up’ by the commanding officer in charge. Now obviously, I don’t know who this actually played out, so I don’t know whether this scene was added for dramatization or whether there actually was a sergeant who saw something else. But it does give me food for thought, and it does return me back to the thinking of human brains (an area I am fascinated by).

Yet, the sergeant brings up a good point. If it was murder-suicide, why then, does the suicide victim have two shots to their body…?

The end of the first episode ends with the bodies being taken away.