Grandma Nancy Drews.
No, it's not a new sitcom coming to CBS this fall (though we'd totally watch it), it's what The Keepers' Gemma Hoskins and Abbie Schaub like to refer to themselves as. The two retired women are front and center in Netflix's latest true crime docu-series, directed by Ryan White, which shines a light on the 1969 murder of Sister Cathy Cesnik, and the massive cover-up that followed.
Gemma and Abbie were two of Sister Cathy's students at the Baltimore high school she taught at, and felt a need for justice, launching their own investigation and Facebook page, which eventually connected them to Ryan White.
"We met Gemma on one of our first visits to Balitmore," he told E! News. "We met her in a Home Depot parking lot. Her old SUV was covered in bumper stickers, and she started peeling around the city showing us all the hot spots."
After meeting the duo, White knew their point of view was key to his series.
I already knew about the Facebook group they had started, it was quite small at that point. But I was really drawn to the idea of looking at a mystery though that point of view, they describe themselves as grandma Nancy Drews," he explained. "It just felt like such a unique way to look at some sort of mystery that's been deliberately buried that's been unburied by these retired grandmothers. So that drew me right away."
Much like viewers, White found Gemma and Abbie's dynamic compelling, complete opposites that work incredibly well together.
"Abbie is Gemma's exact foil. They're this odd couple, where Gemma is very brash. She's the extrovert. She's out in public all the time, knocking on doors, asking questions," he said. "Abbie is the exact opposite. Abbie likes to be in the library stacks or in the state archives quietly looking through things."
And White grew quite close with the pair during the three years they spent working on the project together, with White telling us, "I love Gemma and Abbie. I spent so much time with them. Gemma always buys me Fresca, which is my favorite drink, before I arrive, and Abbie buys us cheese plates before we arrive."
Frescas and cheese plates with Gemma and Abbie? Sounds like a dream.
But Gemma and Abbie are just two examples of the sisterhood Sister Cathy's legacy has created, which White believes is the true "magic" of The Keepers.
"When we began this, we never set out to solve a murder. The real magic of making it I think is watching what Gemma and Abbie and several others in Baltimore have done through this grassroot movement, saying, this institution has failed us, they've harmed us, and therefore we're going to take this into our own hands, and it's never too late to get answers," he said. "That's been really magical to watch because it's created this safe haven for so many people who've suffered in silence for so long to come out and say this happened to me as well. It's truly about a sisterhood and that's continuing to grow."
To hear more from Ryan White about The Keepers, watch the video above.
The Keepers is currently available to stream on Netflix.