Peter Beckett documentary lands nomination at Canadian Screen Awards

Peter Beckett always maintained his innocence over allegations he murdered his second wife, Laura Letts-Beckett. Photo / Prime Video

A three-part documentary series on the murder trial of New Zealand man Peter Beckett, accused of murdering his wife in Canada, scored a nomination at the 2025 Canadian Screen Awards.

Director Trish Neufeld‘s In Cold Water: The Shelter Bay Mystery was a finalist for Best Factual Series in the awards, livestreamed on Saturday. Ultimately, the docuseries Who Owns The World was crowned the winner.

The Canadian series by AJP Productions and produced by Pablo Salzman, Thomas Robins and Suze Hannagan, was broadcast in New Zealand on Sky Open shortly after its global premiere on Prime Video last November.

Beckett, a former Napier City councillor, was accused of killing his wife Laura Letts-Beckett after she died during a fishing trip in Canada in 2010.

What ensued was an intense police investigation, scrutiny of a strained relationship, an alleged plot to kill witnesses, and nine years behind bars before an eventual acquittal – all of which are explored in the true crime series, told through the eyes of Beckett.

Letts-Beckett, a 50-year-old Canadian schoolteacher, drowned in remote Shelter Bay on Upper Arrow Lake, inland northeast of Vancouver on August 18, 2010.

While initially thought to be a tragic accident, her husband – who was the sole witness to her death – was arrested for her murder a year later in a case that shocked both Canada and New Zealand, sparking discussions about whether a former Kiwi local-body politician could be capable of killing.

The true crime series has also received six nominations – programme, direction, screenwriting, cinematography, picture editing and musical score – in Canada’s Leo Awards. Winners will be announced in July.

“Couldn’t be more proud of the whole team,” the director wrote on Instagram today.

Beckett died in February in Rio Dulce, Guatemala, where he moved to after residing for some time in Belize following the overturning of his murder conviction in 2020.

A man who knew Beckett told the Herald he believes Beckett died due to a badly infected leg, which he had battled “for quite some time”.