BBC’s new gothic thriller The Woman In The Wall was described as ‘utterly fantastic’ by viewers on Sunday.
The six-part series explores the legacy of one of Ireland’s most shocking scandals: the inhumane institutions known as the Magdalene Laundries.
And the opening episode Lorna Brady (Ruth Wilson) wakes up one morning to find a dead body in her house. Horrifyingly, she had no idea who the dead woman is or whether she herself could be responsible for the apparent murder.
Lorna has long suffered from extreme bouts of sleepwalking after being locked in one of the infamous laundries and having her daughter taken from her at the age of 15.
On Twitter, someone wrote: “Absolutely fantastic first episode of The Woman in The Wall. Ruth Wilson once again shows us what a great actor she is.”
Scary stuff: BBC’s new gothic thriller The Woman In The Wall was labeled ‘utterly fantastic’ by viewers on Sunday
Drama: The opening episode Lorna Brady (Ruth Wilson) wakes up one morning to find a dead body in her house. Chillingly, she had no idea who the dead woman is and whether she herself could be responsible for the apparent murder
While another said: ‘Wow, just saw The Woman In The Wall, BBC1, can’t wait for next week’.
A third commented, “Woah, The Woman In The Wall is damn good, isn’t it.”
To which a fourth agreed: ‘THAT WAS GOOD’.
Someone else said, ‘The woman in the wall! A wild bunch of actors in it, I love them all. There’s a lot going on. I’m still trying to find out though, next Sunday.”
And: ‘Seen the first episode of The Woman In The Wall. it’s as dark as it sounds. Definitely worth a look’.
While another viewer found the series a bit more disturbing, saying “That’s me not sleeping tonight after watching The Woman In The Wall”.
The Catholic-run laundries, where unprecedented horrors are said to have taken place, housed women branded “undesirable” by the Church and orphaned children. They were shockingly in business until 1996.
Lorna was imprisoned in one of the Magdalena laundries before giving birth to her daughter Agnes, who was cruelly taken from her and whose fate she never knew.
Spooky: And the opening episode Lorna Brady wakes up one morning to find a dead body in her house (stars Ruth Wilson and Daryl McCormack pictured)
Big fans: Someone wrote on Twitter: ‘Absolutely fantastic first episode of The Woman in The Wall. Ruth Wilson once again shows us what a great actor she is’
Scared stiff: While another viewer found the series a little more disturbing, saying “That’s me not sleeping tonight after watching The Woman In The Wall”
In the BBC’s new series, ambitious and elusive detective Colman Akande (played by McCormack) is on Lorna’s heels for a crime seemingly unrelated to the dead woman she’s discovered in her home.
The Woman in The Wall, made by Motive Pictures for BBC and SHOWTIME, is written by Joe Murtagh, directed by Harry Wootliff and Rachna Suri, with Susan Breen producing.
Executive producers are Simon Maxwell, Sam Lavender, Joe Murtagh, Ruth Wilson and Harry Wootliff, with Lucy Richer for BBC.
The Magdalene Laundries were institutions, usually run by Catholic religious organizations, that operated for more than 200 years, from the 18th century to the end of the 20th century.
Depicted in the award-winning film ‘The Magdalene Sisters’, the laundries are estimated to have endured uncompromising hardship for an estimated 10,000 women and girls from the age of nine from the founding of the Irish state in 1922 to 1996.
Run by Catholic nuns, the laundries have been accused of treating prisoners like slaves and imposing a regime of fear and prayer on girls who are sometimes entrusted to their care because they become pregnant out of wedlock.
They were established to house unmarried mothers, but were later expanded to house girls considered ‘promiscuous’, criminals, the mentally ill, and girls seen as a burden to their families.
The Woman In The Wall continues on BBC1 on Monday at 9pm