In Cold Water is a must-see for true crime fans
Plus: Eddie Redmayne's tense new British thriller, an intriguing Chilean film festival, and two tearjerking documentary series.
This new docuseries might not give you any answers, but it’s still a gripping piece of television.
In 2010, New Zealander Peter Beckett was on holiday in Canada’s Rocky Mountains, enjoying a relaxing afternoon fishing on Upper Arrow Lake. His Canadian schoolteacher wife Laura Letts-Beckett was with him, reading a book at one end of their small Zodiac inflatable while Beckett threw his fishing line in from the other. It was a hot day, and Letts-Beckett asked her husband to move the boat into the shade. As he drove toward the stony beach, focusing on the water behind him, Beckett heard a splash. When he turned around, his wife was gone.
This is the mysterious moment at the heart of In Cold Water: The Shelter Bay Mystery, a new three-part true crime series screening on Prime Video and Sky Open. Beckett – a former Napier city councillor – is the only witness to Letts-Beckett’s death, which initially is viewed as an accidental drowning. But Letts-Beckett couldn’t swim and wasn’t wearing a life jacket, and Beckett’s behaviour after his wife’s death arouses suspicion. One year after that fateful day on the lake, Beckett was charged with first degree murder.
There’s no doubt that the events that follow make for a gripping true crime docuseries. A New Zealander accused of murder on the other side of the world, and a troubled marriage between victim and suspect. A jailhouse informer who was paid by police, and who alleged that Beckett planned to kill five courtroom witnesses. A murder case based on circumstantial evidence and a journey through the courts that lasted a decade, involving trials and mistrials and appeals. And at its centre, an unusual, antagonistic suspect who is described as “his own worst enemy” but who protests his innocence at every turn.
“It’s not homicide or murder,” the murder-accused insists, “but was it accident or suicide?”
If you’re looking for the answer to that question, you won’t get it in In Cold Water. Rather, the series lays out the investigation, taking viewers through the events leading up to Letts-Beckett’s death and the bizarre twists and turns that occurred afterwards. We hear from Letts-Beckett’s friends and family, as well as detectives, forensic experts, lawyers and journalists (the case gained considerable media interest in both Canada and Aotearoa, and clips from RNZ and 1News feature heavily). Each interview offers a different account of Beckett, and reveals a variety of strange and shocking allegations.
Beckett’s account is the most compelling of them all. He met Letts-Beckett when she took one of his Unimog tours in Hawkes Bay in the mid 1990s, and their connection was instant and enduring. The documentary paints a picture of Beckett as a threatening figure, but there were no signs of physical violence on Letts-Beckett’s body when she died, no signs of struggle on the boat, and no tangible evidence that Beckett was involved in the death of his wife. This is why Beckett calls this case “the biggest miscarriage of justice, I think, in the world.”
While Letts-Beckett’s voice is heard in the documentary through her journals and letters, the loudest voice in In Cold Water is Beckett. The story of this vibrant, beloved woman who died either from a terrible accident or a terrible crime comes second to Beckett’s own narrative of a man tormented by the system. Rather than pay tribute to the life of Letts-Beckett, the final word goes to her husband, in what is possibly one of the most chilling moments of the entire series.
Rather than trying to convince us one way or another, In Cold Water asks: who do you believe? How would you behave in a moment of crisis? This is a case where the truth may well be stranger than fiction, and viewers are left to weigh up the evidence about Beckett’s innocence or guilt, much like the jurors did in his murder trials. Chilling, indeed.
In Cold Water is available on Prime Video and screens free-to-air on Sky Open from 18-20 November at 8.30pm.
Why you should watch: Home Education (The Spinoff)
The final episode of Home Education features the Baker whānau on a farm in Hiruhārama, Tairāwhiti. When a whale washed up on Tokomaru Bay, Israel and Petrina Baker decided it was important to take time out of school so that their tamariki could learn how to harvest the taonga. It took a few weeks, and the truancy officers were not too pleased, so home education began for the whānau through Te Kura (formerly the NZ Correspondence School). Now, the kids make time for correspondence school in between mustering horses, fencing and planting kūmara, side by side like fish. Family always comes first, so Hana, who is gaining credits to study veterinary science at university is planning to “come straight back” to help her people once she’s qualified.
Made with the support of NZ On Air.
Why you should watch: Day of the Jackal (TVNZ+)
In The Day Of The Jackal, “one of the best TV shows of the year“, Academy Award winning chameleon Eddie Redmayne transforms into an icy globe-trotting gun-for-hire. His first foray in the action-thriller genre is a far cry from Les Misérables or The Theory of Everything, but critics seem to agree that Redmayne is “astonishing”. After killing a Muskian tech-bro billionaire, he finds himself in the sights of MI6 agent Bianca Pullman (Lashana Lynch). She’ll stop at nothing to track down and kill the Jackal before he leaves another trail of bodies in his wake. A “gripping cat-and-mouse yarn” if you’re in need of a killer thriller. / Thomas Giblin
You might also like: Say Nothing (Disney+): Currently sitting at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, this based-on-a-true-story historical drama tells the story of an IRA kidnapping in Belfast in 1972.
Why you should watch: Auckland’s new film festival Cordiella
From 19 November to 1 December, Academy Cinema will be screening seven films from Chile as part of a new festival, Cordiella. Its inception is a labour of love by Camila Araos-Elevancini, so that she doesn't have to watch them alone on her laptop. There’s “a bit of everything,” she says, though if you don’t speak Spanish you’ll have to read a lot of subtitles. The films range from documentary, comedy, drama, science fiction and erm, puppetteering. I’m particularly intrigued by Isla Alien (Alien Island), a science fiction documentary about a group of radio enthusiasts who communicate with mysterious beings who claimed to have close relationships with an extraterrestrial race. / Gabi Lardies
Other pop culture news from The Spinoff:
Gabi Lardies and Stewart Sowman Lund braved the new Lord of the Rings musical, and discovered it’s better than you’re probably expecting.
Duncan Greive takes a deep dive into the ratings for Three News, and shares what they reveal about the state of New Zealand media.
Chris Parker, Kura Forrester, Tom Sainsbury and Brynley Stent, together in one play? Gabi Lardies goes behind the scenes of upcoming theatre show Camping.
I had a lovely time watching trucks drive really slowly in the return of the TV show Moving Houses (TVNZ+).
Actor and star of A Remarkable Place to Die (TVNZ+) Chelsie Preston Crayford takes us on a trip down TV memory lane in this week’s My Life in TV.
Perrin Hastings, creator and host of The Gender Agenda (YouTube), shares their personal journey to making a new local series about gender for rangatahi.
Lyric Waiwiri Smith takes us inside Mystery Festival, Auckland’s most secretive concert.
And of course, we’ve got all the best new shows and movies to watch in this week’s New to Streaming.
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Why you should watch: America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders (Netflix) and On Pointe (Disney+)
“Is this early menopause?” I had to stop and ask myself for the hundredth time, as I wiped tears from my eyes, watching America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders and then again, during the six-part documentary miniseries On Pointe. Typically, I’m not much of a crier when it comes to movies and TV. I could watch Angela's Ashes, The Incredible Journey and Beaches back-to-back and not shed a single tear. But I’m physically incapable of watching a figure-skating routine or dance performance without spontaneously bursting into tears. What the fuck? My only theory is I was a thwarted dancer in a previous life whose legs were tragically mangled in a threshing machine accident.
Nevertheless. I challenge you to watch On Pointe – a seven-part documentary series about junior ballerinas preparing for their annual production of The Nutcracker – without getting a little misty-eyed. Weeping during America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders is perhaps less forgivable, but I have to admit I was utterly captivated by the premise, the cheer routines and those ice-cream white cowboy boots. America’s Sweethearts is high Shakespearean docu-drama in tailored white hotpants, and I sincerely hope that all the girls involved have a generous mental health stipend in their employment contracts. / Hera Lindsay Bird
Before we pop off…
The new Bridget Jones movie trailer is out, and it seems Bridget is still searching for her happy ending (with someone called… Roxster?).
Carl Shuker, author of new novel The Royal Free, reveals his favourite reads in this week’s Books Confessional.
Taika Waititi’s new four-minute Christmas film features a CGI octopus, music from The Little Mermaid and a whole lot of Disney joy.
“We were 57,000 babies having the time of our lives”: Madeleine Chapman reviews the first Coldplay concert in Auckland, while Alex Casey has a lovely time at Crowded House’s Christchurch concert.
Who is sending all the shoes? I loved Hera Lindsay Bird’s account of how we’ll miss the post office when it’s gone.
That’s it for Rec Room for this week. If you liked what you read, why not share Rec Room with your friends and whānau.
