Every so often the good folks at Acorn TV send me screeners for British TV shows that will soon be available on their streaming subscription service. The most recent DVD I found on my doorstep was a mini-series called Midwinter of the Spirit, a thriller based on a novel by supernatural mystery author Phil Rickman. On the cover I read review quotes from UK papers like “truly spine-tingling” from The Daily Telegraph and “An everyday tale of exorcism, with the ghostbusting turned all the way up to 11” from The Guardian. Everyday exorcism? That made me curious enough to pop the disc in my DVD player and this is what I found…
image credit ITV Studios
Set in the bucolic Hereford countryside, we meet vicar Merrily Watkins (Anna Maxwell Martin). To say her that her life is not idyllic is a huge understatement. We quickly learn that she has recently been widowed and rather than bereaved she just seems angry. She’s raising a teenage daughter Jane (Sally Messham) who is missing her dad and, well let’s face it, is sixteen years old. Enough said.
And if Merrily’s personal problems aren’t enough to deal with, she’s been tapped by her encouraging and slightly inappropriate boss, Bishop Mick Hunter (Nicholas Pinnock) to train to be a deliverance minister. A less loaded word than exorcist, but you get the idea. The current holder of this position is Canon Dobbs (David Sterne) and it has been decided that he’s losing his marbles. Or is he?
Unfortunately Merrily’s deliverance tutor Huw Owen (David Threlfall) senses she is fragile and now may not be the best time for her to undertake this type of job. Merrily takes his assessment of her readiness as sexist and shakily accepts the challenge.
On a side note: I still find myself surprised anytime I see Threlfall in something where I can actually understand what he’s saying. Guess all those years as Frank Gallagher on Shameless has conditioned me to expect slurred Mancunian incoherence.
Almost immediately two detectives (one who just so happens to be Kate Dickie aka crazy Lysa Arryn from Game of Thrones) show up on Merrily’s doorstep requesting her assistance in investigating a ritualistic, crucifixion-style murder. She’s literally just finished her exorcism seminar and they’re looking to her to be an expert in these matters?
On the heels of that upsetting discovery, Merrily is called to hospital to give the last rites to a dying man called Denzil Joy (Oengus MacNamara) – not because he requested it, but because the nurses felt a demonic presence penetrate them whenever they were in his room. I guess they thought Merrily could force all that unpleasantness to die with him. Needless to say, Denzil infects the vicar with his poisonous spirit and the stage is set for a clash of good and evil with Merrily’s faith as the battleground.
Merrily at Denzil Joy’s death bed
image credit ITV Studios
Other forces at work against Merrily are Angela Purefoy (Siobhan Finneran) a local medium and a dark mysterious new girl in town called Rowenna (Leila Mimmack). Both women befriend Jane with the intent of turning her against her mother for their own nefarious purposes.
Angela Purefoy-her name couldn’t be further from her intentions
image credit ITV Studios
My impressions of Midwinter of the Spirit are that it’s an absorbing story that is well acted, particularly by Maxwell Martin, Threlfall and Finneran; the first two for their portrayal of modern day people of faith who aspire to do their calling despite spiritually dangerous consequences and the latter for being a proper villainess you just want to hate. She did play the scheming O’Brien on Downton Abbey after all so she’s had plenty of practice.
Being only three episodes long, it’s not really a slow burning story of suspense. However, it still manages a respectable amount of chill and creepiness as we follow Merrily on her hellish journey of feverish delusions and desperation to protect her daughter.
I also learned some things about the Anglican Church including the story of St. Thomas Cantilupe of Hereford and that the fact that ordained C of E staff actually perform exorcisms. The movies always led me to believe that was the domain of the Catholic Church alone.
Anyhow, if this series sounds like your cup of tea and you’d like to check it out in the US, episode one will begin streaming on Acorn TV Mon., Jan. 11. The remaining two installments will be added on consecutive Mondays. If you already watched it when ITV aired it in the UK last autumn, please feel free to share your spoiler-free comments below.
Everything I Know about the UK... I Learned from the BBC 