The Secret Of Crickley Hall

This was a great and thrilling drama.

Centring around two periods of the same house, Crickley Hall. The first being the present day, where the Caleigh family have moved in for six months to get away during the one year anniversary of parents Eve and Gabe's son Cameron going missing. The other is the house used as a orphanage in World War 2, where the children are mistreated by brother and sister Augustus and Magda Cribbins and events around the tragic deaths that took place there.. And the connection of the two periods acts through the character of Percy Judd, who worked for the Cribbins and remained as the caretaker of the house through to the present day.

The show does well to show underlying themes of child abuse, through Nancy Linnet's campaign to free the children from the grips of the Cribbins, and bullying of Loren Caleigh because of her brother's disappearance. The attitudes of the Cribbins toward German orphan Stefan Rosenbaum, also reflect on how German refugees may have been treated by many people during the war. And with these underlying themes came the mystery of what happened to Stefan and Maurice Stafford whose bodies were never found.

The three-part drama works well to shift smoothly between the two times and it keeps the mysterious of both times twisting and turning in a very good way. Also the way the ghostly happening are filmed with close up shots helps to add to their potential realism. It was interesting to see how the stories became more darker as they develop, with the sweet romance between Nancy and Percy and then her later murder by Maurice and Magda, and the deaths of the orphans apart from Stefan at the hands of Augustus.

With this in mind, the final episode saw a great deal of tension and heartbreak, as Percy discovered the truth about Nancy's disappearance and the Caleighs found out about Cameron's accidental death, which was handled in a very affective manner. Furthermore, we later find out that Maurice, now known as Gordon Pyke, is under the control of the ghost of Augustus to kill one of the Caleigh children, which he finally gives up doing when confronted by the ghost of Nancy.

Suranne Jones, Tom Ellis, Olivia Cooke all give great performances, adding a lot of emotion and strength to the story. Other cast members including Douglas Henshall, Sarah Smart, Iain de Caestecker, Susan Lynch, Donald Sumpter and David Warner, also give good performances, allowing their characters to develop well. I also have to give credit to young actors Maisie Williams, Pixie Davies, Elliot Kerley and Kian Parsiani, who did a great job at showing their great potential.