White House Farm review, Culture Whisper
In August 1985, a family of three adults and two children were shot dead in a farmhouse in Essex: Nevill and June Bamber, their adopted daughter Sheila Caffell and her sons, Daniel and Nicholas. Police and press initially believed that Sheila shot her family and herself in a psychotic episode of murder-suicide, theorised after discovering she had schizophrenia.
But new evidence eventually came to light, which pointed to Jeremy Bamber, the eldest son, who called the police after apparently hearing gunshots from the house.
After last year’s excellent procedural drama A Confession, based on the 2011 Sian O’Callaghan case, the pressure’s on ITV to deliver another true story that’s equally compelling and equally honest. White House Farm achieves that and more, psychologically penetrating this gruelling and gruesome story.
