Getty Luke Evans attends the Premiere Of Lionsgate's "Midway" at Regency Village Theatre on November 05, 2019 in Westwood, California.
Luke Evans is single after a breakup with art director Rafael Olarra following an 18-month relationship. He is not married and does not have kids, but he hopes to be a father one day, he said in recent interviews.
Evans plays Steve Wilkins, a Welsh detective determined to solve the cold case on “The Pembrokeshire Murders.” The three-part series is being released on BritBox Tuesday, February 2, 2021. It was released over three nights in the United Kingdom on ITV beginning January 21, 2021. Cooper is played by Keith Allen. Evans’ character is based on a real person.
Here’s what you need to know:
Evans Confirmed His Breakup, Saying ‘It Is What It Is’
@BritBox_US will show The Pembrokeshire Murders from Feb 2nd
Evans and Olarra began dating during the summer of 2019, and drew speculation about a breakup when Evans unfollowed Olarra on Instagram and deleted pictures with his ex earlier this year, according to the Independent. Their relationship became official when Evans shared a video of the two laughing together during a trip to Hawaii.
“He loves my welsh humour… no, honestly!! He does!!” the post said.
Another post included a photo of the two riding horses with the caption, “Good times.”
He confirmed the breakup to The Times and said he was newly single.
‘What made you take the role of the serial killer in The Pembrokeshire Murders? “About forty grand.” Keith Allen on @SixOClockShow
“It is what it is,” he said.
He added he wants to have children.
He told Attitude he decided to support himself and move away from his hometown in Wales when he was 16. He was raised as a Jehovah’s witness, and described his family as “loving.” Still, he said, it was difficult to tell his parents he was gay.
“I needed to find my identity, and I needed to be independent of my family, find my voice and be a happy, gay teenager. A teenager living on his own,” Luke says.
Evans Was Drawn Into the Story of ‘The Pembrokeshire Murders’ Because of the Characters & Their Fight for Justice
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Evans told The Eagle that the character development in “The Pembrokeshire Murders” was part of what drew him into the story.
“There’s a real journey of many characters who are broken, damaged, fighting for what’s right and fighting for a voice,” he said. “It’s really powerful.”
Wilkins was also a storyteller. He wrote a book about the case in 2013, “The Pembrokeshire Murders: Catching the Bullseye Killer.” At the time he wrote the book, he had retired as a police detective superintendent.
The book’s description says:
In the words of the detective chief superintendent who led it, this recollection tells the story of Operation Ottawa, the cold case investigation of John Cooper for two Pembrokeshire double homicides: the Scoveston Manor murder of Richard and Helen Thomas in 1985 and the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path murder of Peter and Gwenda Dixon in 1989. Retired DCS Steve Wilkins describes how he gathered a specialist team to review the murders and used cutting edge forensic techniques to prove Cooper’s involvement in the crimes, and discusses the role the television program Bullseye played in identifying the killer. The dramatic narrative features psychological profiling and intimidation on Cooper’s part and highlights the relationship between the police and the media in the arrest and the travails of the victims’ families during the long years the cases went unsolved. The combination of painstaking evidence gathering, new forensics, psychological profiling and careful detective work made Operation Ottawa a template for subsequent murder inquiries. For the first time, the lead detective tells the store of how a vicious killer was brought to justice.
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