Most critics take to Landscapers, and eleven of the thirteen reviews are positive. The praise gathers first around Olivia Colman and David Thewlis, who are credited throughout with making the murderous couple sympathetic and keeping the emotional truth intact while the series experiments around them. Will Sharpe’s direction comes next: the 1950s silver-screen conceits and fantasy sequences drawn from Susan’s Hollywood obsessions are widely seen as a fresh way into a familiar true-crime story, one that studies the marriage rather than the case.
The reservations are about that same style. Variety finds the investigation plot lags and the stylistic shifts flashy and somewhat punishing; Radio Times finds the flourishes brave but distracting, overshadowing the story. The Times admires the direction but is uneasy about the tone given the real murders. The spread is narrow, with no negative reviews, and nobody questions the two lead performances.