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The surreal suburban murders of a couple who were killed by their daughter and son-in-law will be brought to life in a new TV series starring Olivia Colman. 

Landscapers, which premieres tonight on Sky Atlantic, tells the story of killers Susan (played by Colman) and Christopher Edwards (Harry Potter star David Thewlis) who shot her parents, William and Patricia Wycherley, in May 1998. 

For the 15 years, Patricia and William's bodies lay buried in the garden of their home in a housing estate in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. 

To the world, the couple were very much alive, with neighbours and relatives told they had moved to Ireland to enjoy the 'good air' in letters and Christmas cards forged by Susan and Christopher. 

Meanwhile the killers were slowly stealing £280,000 from the dead couple by siphoning off their pensions and benefits and selling their home.

Their complex web of lies eventually came crashing down and the Edwardses handed themselves into police. They were both sentenced to life in prison in 2014. 

The grisly tale will be brought to life in the four-part Sky drama Landscapers, written by Colman's husband Ed Sinclair.

The Landscapers, which premieres tonight on Sky Atlantic, tells the story of killers Susan Edwards (played by Olivia Colman) and husband Christopher (Harry Potter star David Thewlis), pictured, who shot dead William and Patricia Wycherley in May 1998

Killers Christopher (left) and Susan Edwards (right) stole £280,000 from the dead couple by siphoning off their pensions and benefits and selling their home

The show – described as 'blackly comic' – is said to draw viewers into 'the surreal fantasy world that Susan and Christopher created by casting themselves as their Hollywood heroes in stories of their own invention'.   

Ed, 50, became fascinated with the story after reading a newspaper article following the Edwards's court case. 

Olivia plays Susan, a former librarian who lives in a fantasy world inspired by her favourite films. She's been longing for a knight in shining armour to come and rescue her from her dreary life with her controlling parents.

David Thewlis plays that unlikely hero, Christopher Edwards, a credit control officer for a copywriting firm, who meets Susan through a dating agency.

They shared a joint passion for signed photographs and memorabilia from Hollywood greats (not a cheap hobby when some items can cost as much as £20,000) and they soon married.

One May bank holiday in 1998, Susan's parents Bill and Pat Wycherley were both murdered, shot twice at their semi-detached home in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. 

The exact details of who shot who are unknown and none of the neighbours heard a blast.

The only two photographs police found of Mr Wycherley after discovery of the bodies. Photos of his wife Patricia have not been seen in public since

For the 15 years, Patricia and William's bodies lay buried in the garden of their home in a housing estate in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, pictured

They told neighbours and relatives that the Wycherleys had gone on a tour of Ireland for the 'good air' or moved to the seaside. Pictured: The home in Mansfield

A Second World War Commando Colt .38 calibre revolver of the type police say was used in the murders of William and Patricia Wycherley

Susan and Christopher told family members that her parents were travelling in Ireland in 2011 

One, however, did see Christopher digging a hole up to his waist in the back garden in the middle of the night – but didn't think that was suspicious. The next day, when they saw shrubs on top of a new earth mound, they presumed he'd been landscaping the garden for his in-laws.

As soon as the banks opened the next day, Susan emptied her parents' savings accounts of £40,000, before opening a joint savings account for her and her then deceased mother.,   

She spent the next 15 years diverting £173,767 in pension and benefit payments to the account, banking another £66,000 from the sale of the house in Mansfield and making applications for loans and credit cards in Mrs Wycherley's name.

The total amount diverted into the joint account was said at trial to be £245,705, although this was later revised upwards to £286,285.

Susan and Christopher regularly travelled from their home in Dagenham, east London to the Wycherley property to maintain the garden, with Mr Edwards posing as a nephew.

They told the Wycherleys neighbours, relatives and few close friends that the Wycherleys had gone to Ireland, the seaside, or even Australia. 

This story was relayed in a series of letters and cards purporting to be from the Wycherleys, sent in a bid to trick relatives, doctors and financial institutions into believing they were alive. 

Susan and Christopher grew worried that someone would suspect something when the Department for Work and Pensions sent a letter to Bill, asking for a meeting to assess his needs and insisting that a letter would not suffice. So the couple fled to France, which is where the four-part series begins. Pictured, Colman and Thewlis as the characters in the series

With the net closing in, Christopher emailed the British police and said they were coming home to surrender themselves. Pictured, Colman and Thewlis as Susan and Christopher

In one letter, the couple had posed as Mr Wycherley to decline an appointment at a chest clinic: '(I'm) feeling better, and I will be visiting with relatives over the next months: for that reason it is not convenient to make an appointment.'. 

There was 'good air' in Ireland one relative was told in a letter, while Susan told another her parents were loving their travels, adding 'it's good to see them with such zest'. 

No one suspected a thing and in 2005 they felt secure enough to sell the house, pocketing another £66,000. 

But they grew worried that someone would suspect something when the Department for Work and Pensions sent a letter to Bill, asking for a meeting to assess his needs and insisting that a letter would not suffice. So the couple fled to France, which is where the four-part series begins.  

By 2013 they had spent all of the £245,000 they had stolen, mainly on film memorabilia which they didn't want to part with. They could barely afford to eat and were living in poverty alongside their pictures of long-dead acting legends, so Christopher phoned his stepmother Elizabeth. 

He claimed his wife had been staying with her parents when she woke up to discover her mother had shot her father. Edward said Mrs Wycherley then boasted she had slept with him, her own son-in-law, and Susan had shot her in anger.  

The horrifying story prompted Elizabeth to phone the police.   

Detective Chief Inspector Rob Griffin later said: 'When we received that call on October 1, it was difficult to believe that what she said had happened could have happened. But we took it seriously and that is when the investigation started.

'In the days that followed, we started to see that perhaps it was all true, and that was confirmed when we started the excavation in the garden and discovered Patricia and William were there.'

With the net closing in, Christopher emailed the British police and said they were coming home to surrender themselves. 

They were arrested, and despite claiming that Susan was provoked into shooting her mother after Pat had shot Bill, the couple were both convicted of murder in June 2014 and each sentenced to 25 years.