Death of a Showjumper review – the investigators in this bleak true-crime drama restore your faith in humanity

This propulsive, gripping three-parter about a young equestrian’s death shows a duo who refused to give up on her. It’s an important attempt to do justice to a deeply dark taleWhen exactly is true crime a force for good? It’s a question we should probably ask ourselves every single time we consume something in this lurid and inevitably exploitative genre. Death of a Showjumper is, in many ways, a standardly sensationalised account of a young woman’s murder: paced for maximum dramatic intensity; details judiciously withheld to spin the most compulsively watchable yarn. But its broader subject matter – the epidemic of violence against women, and the ways such abuse is silenced, minimised and weaponised against the victims themselves – is one of the few that can justify the existence of a series like this.It’s easy to feel cynical at first. Visually stunning and thematically arresting, Death of a Showjumper’s backdrop is tailor-made for a TV crime drama. It’s set amid the equestrian community of Northern Ireland, and we are transported to a place brimming with bucolic beauty as well as “secrets and silence”. The lifestyle is familiar but subtly alien: horses are ubiquitous and the associated culture not reserved for toffs – the hunt is an adrenaline sport for skilled riders. And 21-year-old Katie Simpson was one. Continue reading...

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