Jeremy Bamber: As new documentary airs on C5, 'gripping' drama about the 'nightmarish' murders is free to watch now
The shocking murder of five family members has previously been dramatised
Jeremy Bamber’s gruesome crimes are the subject of a new documentary on Channel 5, however the “massacre” has previously been made into a “gripping” drama.
Most people in the UK will have heard of the devastating 1985 true crime (even if they weren’t born yet). That year, police discovered five dead bodies in a farm house in Tolleshunt D’Arcy, Essex.
Although it was, at first, considered a murder-suicide, police subsequently arrested Jeremy Bamber for the murder of five of his family members – his adoptive mother and father, his sister, and his nephews.
The victims were June Bamber (61), Nevill Bamber (61), Sheila ‘Bambi’ Caffell (28), and six-year-old twins Daniel and Nicholas Caffell. Crimes don’t come more devastating than that.
So if the Channel 5 documentary piques your interest, here’s everything you need to know about the award-winning Jeremy Bamber drama.
Is there a Jeremy Bamber drama?
In 2020, ITV broadcast a six-part drama based on the Jeremy Bamber murders. It became water-cooler TV, and subsequently won multiple awards.
The series dramatised the real-life events that took place on August 06, 1985. That day, five members of the Bamber-Caffell family were shot to death at White House Farm, Essex.
The police, led by detectives DCI Taff Jones (Stephen Graham) and DS Stan Jones (Mark Addy), investigated the case. At first, a murder-suicide seemed to be the obvious tragedy behind the deaths.
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During police questioning, the Bambers’ son Jeremy claimed that his sister, Sheila, was suffering from schizophrenia and went “berserk”. However, as the murder case unravelled, a different suspect came to light – Jeremy himself.
Out of respect, the producers took care not to use any filming locations (or even the village) that were associated with the real-life case. The one exception was the trial scenes at Chelmsford Crown Court.
Worth saying, too, that Sheila’s ex-husband Colin Caffell and father of the murdered boys gave his blessing to the series, and was involved in its making.
Who’s in the cast?
A brilliant cast came together to star in the gripping ITV drama about Jeremy Bamber and his family.
The huge ensemble cast includes:
- Adolescence’s Stephen Graham as DCI Taff Jones.
- Slow Horse’s Freddie Fox as Jeremy Bamber.
- Doctor Thorne’s Cressida Bonas as Sheila Caffell.
- The Full Monty’s Mark Addy as DS Stan Jones.
- The Tower’s Gemma Whelan as Ann Eaton.
- Happy Valley’s Mark Stanley as Colin Caffell.
- Unchosen’s Alexa Davies as Julie Mugford.
- Girl Taken‘s Alfie Allen as Brett Collins.
- The Last Kingdom’s Millie Brady as Sally Jones.
- Silent Witness’ Amanda Burton as June Bamber.
- Signora Volpe’s Nicholas Farrell as Nevill Bamber.
- Still Game’s Scott Reid as DC Mick Clark.
- The Outlaws’ Grace Calder as Heather Amos.
- Grantchester’s Oliver Dimsdale as Peter Eaton.
- The Windsors’ Richard Goulding as David Boutflour.
- Slow Horses’ Sean Gilder as CS George Harris.
How to stream Jeremy Bamber drama White House Farm
All six episodes of White House Farm are available to stream on ITVX now.
A synopsis of the drama says: “The Bamber family, with the exception of son Jeremy, are found dead at White House Farm. But the case might not be as open-and-shut as first thought.
“Freddie Fox stars in this chilling account of the notorious murders, which destroyed a family in 1985. Pieced together through extensive research and police investigations.”
Reviews for the Jeremy Bamber drama White House Farm on ITVX
The crime drama was nominated for multiple awards, including a Royal Television Society award. It also won the TV Choice Awards for The overall score on Rotten Tomatoes is 83%, based on 17 reviews. Audiences gave it 91%.
The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan gave it three out of five stars, and said: “ITV’s new series on the notorious killings in 1980s Essex wastes its star Stephen Graham – and will leave you reeling at a bonkers police botch job.”
The i Paper added: “The adaptation is sensitively done and based on police evidence, interviews, and the input of Colin Caffell (played by Mark Stanley), the ex-husband of Jeremy’s sister, Sheila, and father of the murdered boys.”
The Financial Times said: “Given that Jeremy Bamber still vehemently protests his innocence, the makers of White House Farm tread on the material with exceptional care. The settings, especially of the murder house, are meticulous, the Eighties look is spot on, from the blowsy hairstyles to the clunky landline phones. A raven-haired Freddie Fox, if anything slightly less pretty than the real Bamber, brings to life a strange and mercurial character, weepy and empathetic one moment, flippant and cold the next. Even murderers can grieve, after all.”
At the time, Stephen Graham received some criticism. Some viewers mocked Stephen Graham’s portrayal of Welsh detective “Taff” Jones, with some stating that his Welsh accent was inauthentic.
What happened in the White House Farm murders?
- On 7 August 1985, a 24-year-old Jeremy Bamber rang police claiming his father had called him to say his sister Sheila Caffell had "gone crazy" and had a gun.
- Police visited White House Farm and found the bodies of Jeremy Bamber's parents Nevill and June, Sheila Caffell and her six-year-old twin sons Nicholas and Daniel.
- Officers initially treated the case as a murder-suicide after Sheila Caffell was found with her fingers around the rifle used in the shootings.
- A silencer which allegedly had traces of Sheila's blood on it was found in a cupboard three days after the murders.
- A month after the killings, Jeremy Bamber's then girlfriend Julie Mugford told police he plotted to kill his parents for the £436,000 inheritance.
- Police charged Jeremy Bamber with the murders. He stood trial in 1986.
- The trial heard expert evidence that Sheila Caffell could not have placed the silencer in the cupboard because of her two gunshot wounds. Her injuries from the first shot would have rendered her incapable.
- A jury found Jeremy Bamber guilty by majority verdict. He was sentenced to five life prison terms, despite protesting his innocence.
- The judge, Mr Justice Drake, called Bamber "warped and evil beyond belief".
Read more: New documentaries and true crime on TV and streaming in June 2026
