User reviews

Just found this on Amazon Prime. I'd never heard of it before.

For those sensitive to child abuse (and who isn't) there's a big chance for triggering, here.

But for the rest of the story, and the many mysteries that slowly unravel and unfold, it's just marvelous. Wonderfully cast, filmed, and acted. The pace isn't rapid but it's not tediously slow, either. It is definitely one to be binge-watched in a big 3 hour session, but it's only slightly longer than a full-length film so that shouldn't be too difficult.

Did I mention the wonderful cast?

It's not a high-brow think piece, but it is what it is, and for that it's definitely fun. I really enjoyed it. If you sit back and just decide to enjoy an old-style ghost story with romance and danger and sad, sorrowful events (and just a little bit of redemption and joy), you should have a good time.

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.

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 purposely hadn't watched this series, based on the mainly negative reviews I'd read, but a dark miserable wet day and it went on, if I wasn't miserable enough before, I certainly was about fifteen minutes into this.

The story itself is dark and disturbing, but the way in which it was produced it was overly macabre and grim. It has a very good opening episode, a sound second, and a rather disappointing conclusion. It all fell apart a little at the end.

The best thing that can be said about this drama is the acting, some quality performances, Suranne Jones, Tom Ellis, David Warner, Sarah Smart etc all really good, Douglas Henshall is great as the creepy Augustus Cribben, but it's the wonderful Olivia Cooke that gave the most endearing performance as Nancy Linnet, she was great.

Worth a watch I guess, but if you've read it I fear you may be a little disappointed in it. 6/10.

Shows like this are hard to find. When we do find them they are too often cheesy and ridiculous. The Secret of Crickley Hall is anything but. This was a wonderful show about an old house in the north of England. It takes place both in modern times and in 1943.

After having their son go missing, a family moves to this old estate for a few months hoping to deal with their loss. Unfortunately, the house has a lot of secrets of its own...secrets that need to come out.

Shows like this should be made more often. This was atmospheric - especially the first episode - it was tragic and haunting, and it was emotional. Anytime you have ghostly goings-on in an large, old, creepy house in England, you know you're heading in the right direction.

This is an actual ghost story, but it's very well done. It's not cheesy, it's not hokey. It allows you to meld into the story, you feel their pain and frustration as well as their emotional rollercoaster dealing not only with their missing son but the tragedies of the past that they begin to uncover.

I wish there were more shows like this. Ignore the bad reviews, they probably come from people who read the book and think this isn't a perfect representation. Fortunately, I haven't yet read the book so my viewpoint isn't tainted.

Usually Mystery Drama/Thrillers like this that are aired on the BBC are slow, boring, drawn out affairs, but this is actually a pretty good mini-series. I mean there's nothing spectacular about it, but it does keep you watching with interest.

Also with it being a BBC TV program there's obviously not going to be anything too graphic about it, like blood or very heavy scares so you need to keep that in mind if you decide to watch it as it MAY be a bit disappointing if you were expecting any of that.

Be prepared for it being a wee bit slow for the first couple of episodes as well, but it's not a boring kind of slow. It's a slower pace, but it builds everything up pretty nicely for the third and final episode where everything comes to a head.

You also have to pay attention to it as well because it jumps back and forth a lot from present time to 1943. I mean it's obvious when it happens but with it being constantly back and forth all the time you do still need to watch closely to follow both the story lines.

The series is well played out by the cast, but the character of Eve Caleigh (played by Suranne Jones) did grate on my nerves a bit. I understand she's a mother who wasn't giving up hope of finding her son, even a year on from his disappearance, but some of her actions just rubbed me the wrong way. Douglas Henshall did a fine job playing the part of Augustus Cribben, the uncaring and heartless owner (along with his sister, Magda) of the orphanage, and a person who you never feel any sympathy for.

Overall, this is a pretty enjoyable series to watch and one I'd recommend giving a go, especially if you enjoy a bit more of a subtle approach to your Supernatural movies.

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.)

Being a James Herbert fan I'd read this book many years ago and enjoyed it. This mini series only serves to disappoint. The jumping between two different time periods becomes confusing and tiresome and the story crawls along at a snails pace. Suranne Jones although acting well becomes annoying and repetitive as the grieving mother. Some parts have been altered from the book which I find most infuriating....if you're going to adapt a book, do it faithfully or not at all. If you're really bored and have nothing else to do it passes the time easily enough but not for true horror fans.

Kudos once again to the BBC for another good, old-fashioned ghost story. This one was a great tale with quite a few truly unlikable characters and well written, directed and some top-notch acting.

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.

The Secret of Crickley Hall is a clichéd but creepy Haunted House story.

Eve (Suranne Jones) and her husband Gabe (Tom Ellis) to move to a house in the country with teenage daughter Loren (Maisie Williams) for a short time some months after their young son went missing.

Crickley Hall past the village of Devil's Cleave harbours its own secrets. An orphanage in the past, we learn via flashbacks to 1943 when it was run by the cruel and sadistic Augustus Cribben (Douglas Henshall) and his sister Magda (Sarah Smart). The orphans lived in dread.

Eve hopes that Crickley Hall will heal their grieving but its dark past brings it own haunts and there is a malevolent presence.

The opening episode certainly showed a lot of promise and creepiness but the subsequent episodes started to get silly and the plot more hokey. Suranne Jones is very effective as the grieving mother and there was a lot of melancholy with the climax but the series never excelled.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

Gabe (Tom Ellis) and Eve Caleigh (Suranne Jones) re-locate to the West Country from London a year after the disappearance of their son. They set up home in Crickley Hall, an old residence that used to be a boarding house for evacuees during the war. But it is this fact that holds the secret behind some ghostly hauntings, and a terrifying truth behind what now possesses them.

It seems that in the case of a fairly lengthy novel, the format best favoured in many cases for adaptation is to turn it in to a serial drama rather than go all out and just make a feature length adaptation, which may test the viewer's endurance. But Joe Ahearne's approach, with his adaptation of James Herbert's The Secret of Crickley Hall, somehow manages to do this anyway, over the course of three episodes shown over three weeks.

There's no doubt the first part opens well, establishing an effective atmosphere and air of suspense, which even someone who's already read the novel and pretty much knows what is going to happen can see. But somehow, even by the second episode that AOS doesn't feel as strong. Spacing each episode out over the course of a week probably doesn't help, dragging it out too long and doing the opposite of keeping you in suspense. Aside from this, certain segments inevitably get lost in translation going from novel to film, and the constraints of being a TV film inevitably creep through. I said 'inevitably' twice in that sentence, and that's sadly what an adaptation of a novel is always going to be: an inevitability. Something that is doomed not to be as good as it's source material from the start, even if it has a bigger budget and goes to theatres, where I think this may have worked better.

The performances are probably the best thing in it. Jones shows promise she may be more than another ex Corrie actress, avoiding a future in panto or cheap reality shows, showing an emotional intensity and depth as a mother wrapped up in guilt for the loss of her boy. Ellis isn't bad, but somehow isn't quite as good, except in certain scenes where his character really gets dealt a heavy blow. Douglas Henshall has an undeniable presence as the villain, but his accent is so thick it's sometimes really hard to understand what he's saying. He's at his most unnerving in quieter, more subtle moments, like when he's holding the little boy over the well or is nearly caught whacking him with a cane in his private room.

It's all too well made and sincere to even verge in to Sunday Night territory, and even Herbert himself said he thought it was pretty good. If only the whole thing had stuck together more solidly, and not come off so naff compared to the book. ***

Like most british 'ghost stories' this struggles to grab intrest,(especially if you are a wide open,movie going 1000 mph to an Abrupt and ususally unsatisfying end),But if you give it a little while to figure out who's who and what's going on it's pretty good. Like many British movies TV shows and mini series, the star is usually the house and the grounds and this is no exception. The whole family can watch it so that's a rarity too.

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!

Featuring a great cast, though it definitely had the mid-range made-for-television BBC production value. Regardless, i do recommend this if you like good old fashioned ghost stories... i admit i haven't read the book, but i think i will give it a read just to compare.

Someone once said of Frank Sinatra that he would do anything for money. I can only assume that this description applies to the group of mainly excellent actors who performed in this grubby little story.

The rather tenuous connection between the loss of her own child apparently set off the sequence of events that took us back to the grisly happening in Crickley Hall many years ago. Flashbacks were on the whole handled clumsily, the supposed frightening occurrences were mostly ridiculous, rather than frightening (as I assume they were supposed to be) and it became increasingly difficult to understand who was who (in both the past and present). Although I now wish that I had followed my initial instinct and given up on it after the first episode, I stayed to the messy end and not for one moment did I feel scared/frightened (as I suppose the writers intended) - but disgusted that anyone should write such tripe (presumably for entertainment's sake). When it was over I was left with the thought that at least it kept people in work - but I would have very much liked to see their talents deployed elsewhere.

My obsession with Suranne Jones is strong. Such a great actor. She picks brilliant characters to play. This is a good retelling of the novel. I'm glad I found it.

This has good actors and settings but the script gets progressively worse as it goes on. It is full of movie cliches like parents saying "I promise" to kids regarding things they can't promise. Also there is no sense of urgency in highly time sensitive situations. Sneaking in the office of the psycho abuser looking for the punishment ledger? When you find it you should A) quickly escape to police before sadist catches you B) take your time in browsing the ledger while barely holding it because of your gimpy right arm then loudly drop it on floor? Followed by A ) quickly hiding in next room then bolting to safety after danger has passed B) quickly hiding and after danger has passed...unnecessarily turning on the lights and conversing with your other enemies while they prepare to kill you instead of bolting from your spot atop the stairs far away from the bad guys? Or as a priest who discovers the sadism of the headmaster you A) quickly leave with incriminating evidence and dash to police or B) let sadist know that you will give him time to take his ledger evidence and to pack up and leave the place free to go and abuse other children somewhere else and he can murder alk the orphans before he dissappears?

There are many more unbelievable idiotic decisions made by those who should know better. So watch at your peril.