The Secret of Crickley Hall

The Secret of Crickley Hall

This ghost story from beyond the pond toggles regularly and frequently, without notice, across the pale between Then and Now. (Mixed idioms are intentional.)

Then is at a private orphanage in 1943 Devon, at a time when children were bused from London to escape The Blitz. Primeval's Douglas Henshall plays the evil headmaster.

We start out, however, in the Now. Mother ("Eve Caleigh", played by Suranne Jones) and her five-year old Son have a special, even psychic, connection. Son disappears from the playground when Mother falls momentarily asleep. Mother is disconsolate for months thereafter.

Approaching the one-year anniversary of Son's disappearance, Father ("Gabe Caleigh", played by Tom Ellis) gets a job out west (in the aforementioned Devon of the novel), and the family takes the opportunity to move, in hopes of escaping the sad memories at home. The house they choose is the now-abandoned orphanage of Then; and Now, of course, it's haunted…by ghosts of children and staff who died in a long-ago "flood".

(The couple have two other children, both girls, one preschool; and the school bus which collects the older one for classes is labeled, "Manchester", per the location of filming.)

Once ensconced in the haunted house, Mother finds and reassembles a screw-driven toy top – like one I had as a child, but mine was less fancy than the one used here – and she uses it to reconnect psychically with her lost son, believing him to be still alive. From here, she employs extraordinary means to find him, beset all the while by Henshall's haunting.

This U.K. miniseries is an enjoyable Halloween treat, and I was happy to be able to watch the entire thing as a three-hour TV movie on BBC America the day before its scheduled U.K. broadcast.

(Note: This review is dated October 29 in my files, indicating the original scheduled airing in the U.K. It was not yet available for voting on IMDb then, hence my tardiness in submitting this review. December dates on previous reviews suggest that the U.K. presentation may have been delayed a month beyond the original scheduling.)

I like a good ghost story and this BBC dramatisation of a James Herbert novel (which I've not read) made for entertaining if far-fetched viewing. Spread over three hour-long episodes, I imagine gave the serial time to stay closer to the novel and to be fair I didn't notice a lot of unnecessary padding.

Set in two different time-frames, one set in the present day with a young family trying to get over the apparent loss of their beloved young son, the other telling the more interesting story of a sadistic brother and child-abusing sister who run an oxymoronic "safe home" for young evacuee children during the Second World War, whose methods are challenged by a game young teacher who comes into their employ. The two stories converge when the modern family unaccountably pick the spookiest house in the country to recuperate from their loss, with the mother and her two other young children apparently seeing and hearing the presence of the young children murdered 70 years ago and the former believing that the ghosts might be able to contact her missing son.

As I've indicated, it's probably best to pop a few massive coincidence pills in before watching and while some confusion inevitably enters the narrative, it coheres well enough to engage me through three Sundays in a row. The actors put the hokum across pretty well as a group with special mention going to Olivia Cooke as Nancy Linnet, the defiant young teacher who braves the dastardly brother and sister at risk of her own career and indeed life. Douglas Henshall also makes for a creepy "Whacko" villain, who fetishistically notes down every beating he gives out and demands one more victim in return for the one that got away.

The special effects were okay, more about suggestion which is usually the best way in programmes like this with no cliché unturned (subjective camera shots, pouring rain, dark sets, voluminous background music at key moments) and of course there's an impossible rescue of the daughter by her father, but if you're watching this as a study in realism then think again.

I've watched more realistic and scarier ghost stories than this but this twin-spook story engaged me reasonably even if at no stage was I tempted to hide behind my sofa or even peek through my fingers at any point during it.

I watched the entire thing in one night. This is really right up my alley with the horror and drama vibes. It was like an earlier version of Haunting of Hill House - just as gripping and enjoyable to watch. I would say it's more disturbing than scary but I appreciate the effort of not resorting to cheap scares. I see the effort that was put in the storyline. The acting was also on par and honestly, this was a good find.

I was enticed from the moment I saw the eerie opening credits. I can't fault this series, every minute I was gripped with a new twist, amazing performances and a remarkable story line. Although some twists were cliché; you can easily forgive and forget, thanks to something new and exciting happening within the next minute.

I read in a bio that the series was classed as a "drama", and a drama indeed it was. If you were expecting a gory horror I'd turn away now. As this series should be engaged with the expectations of a great story line drama... Even if the series still managed to spook me in parts and have me on the edge of my seat nearly all the way through.

The story line was truly captivating. The juxtaposition was easy to follow and fun to see a new time period.

The only reason for me not rating the series a '10' is simply because I wanted to know a little more about the boy, for which the bio of the series stated was one of the main focus points.

A must watch for everyone!

The core of any good story is the story, and this little treasure packs a WALLOP. The Secret of Crickley Hall is, firstly, a drama for people who like to read. There are certainly ghosts, but the story is what will invest you in these characters, not its special effects, so be prepared to carve out a block of time to see the series complete and uninterrupted. Like any good book, I couldn't put it down.

There isn't just one story here, and so the multiple plot lines converge with devastating — and at times, shocking — effect as the story takes unexpected twists and turns you couldn't possibly have seen coming.

Based on James Herbert's best selling novel, The Secret of Crickley Hall is so well written, cast & produced, I've given it 8 stars _and_ a review (rare for me). Bravo.