4 out of 5

Directed by: Joe Ahearne

After the disappearance of their son, Eve (Suranne Jones) – holding on to the belief, months on, that her son will return – and Gabe (Tom Ellis) – seeking to move the family on – move, with their two daughters, out to Crickley Hall, a remote location away from the city of London, and a hopeful respite where they can all reset and recharge. But the history of the Hall, tied to a local disastrous tragedy involving children, only furthers Eve’s dedication to finding her son; coupled with her minimal psychic abilities, she begins to connect with the many spiritual occupants of the home, and we start to unravel the mystery of what happened at the Hall through flashbacks and Eve’s modern day investigations.

Echoes of The Others and The Orphanage and other similar mothers-love-kid-ghosts tales ripple through Crickley Hall, but there’s something very important that helps to elevate this tale, beyond its great cast: everyone gets to see the ghosts. Normally, you isolate the one believer, and much of the tale is about them both fighting to find the ghost MacGuffin or solve the central mystery while also convincing everyone around them of that truth. Though the script has Gabe flip-flopping between support and dismissal of Eve’s claims of seeing / hearing housebound specters – this being part of some inconsistencies which prevent the series from being a bit stronger – there is the sense that he’s at least doing this out of a need to protect his family and his sanity, and not outright disbelief. As, more importantly, when it comes down to it: he gets it, because all of the family, daughters included, can see what Eve sees, and she starts to gather a small group of psychics / locals who support that as well. So it’s just a nice roadblock that’s instantly removed from the show: just go into it assuming the supernatural exists, easy-peasey.

The other thing that’s well handled is the dual timeline structure. Often, splitting a story as such feels, ultimately, a bit pointless: one side of the story will inevitably be the important one, leading the events of the other on a leash. So why not just tell the one side? But here, we’re very invested in the character drama of the modern day, and by dangling the possibility of events being connected to the missing son, we’re also invested in understanding how the mysteries of the past flashbacks connect. So: all moments of the tale are compelling.

Writer / director Joe Ahearne, adapting a James Herbert novel, does an excellent job of maintaining the tone. Both cinematographer Peter Greenhaigh and maybe especially composer Dan Jones lend the look and feel of the series a sense of weight the subject matter deserves; Ahearne then balances that out with a good sense of humanity – not necessarily joking, but allowing for the actors and scenes to not be wholly sad or heavy. Life is attempting to go on; we are just always reminded of the past.

But – this is also an instance where too much compression may’ve led to missing out on more impact. The introduction of Eve’s psychic connection to her son, and how that helps open her up to the Hall, ultimately feels a bit superfluous to the story, especially given how everyone can see the ghosts. And while the resolutions are very satisfying, they moreso thematically connect than feel fully justified, like maybe some more details and scenes were fleshed out on the page which strengthened the story’s paths from A to B to C. On the flipside, you’ve got Jones and Ellis being eminently watchable and convincing, and the rest of the cast filling things out very effectively, including Maisie Williams, David Warner, and others.

The Secret of Crickley Hall is structured and looks like a “typical” UK supernatural drama. It has the heavy look; it’s got missing kids; it’s got messages from the beyond. But certain structural tweaks and a great crew in front of and behind the camera elevate it significantly in that genre.