Originally published by L.S.Media. June 8th 2012.
L.S. Media Rating * * * *
Cast: Trevor Eve, Geraldine James, Tom Ellis, Richard E. Grant.
When art imitates life, are those that are the subject of the creative mind really aware of what they have become? This was the question that vexed Geraldine James and Trevor Eve in the latest of series of plays shown by the Sky Arts channel.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Suranne Jones, Tom Ellis, Douglas Henshall, David Warner, Sarah Smart, Iain De Caestecker, Olivia Cooke, Maise Williams, Bill Milner, Kian Parsiani, Pixie Davies.
It seems odd that the premier 20th century British horror writer, James Herbert, has never had many adaptations of his copious amount and in most cases prestigious work. What has been filmed has been woeful at best and an affront to British Horror at its seedy worst. For the B.B.C. to pick up the option to one of the great writer’s latter works, the sadistic and suspenseful The Secret of Crickley Hall is a coup for both writer and television viewer.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Suranne Jones, Tom Ellis, Douglas Henshall, David Warner, Sarah Smart, Iain DeCaestecker, Olivia Cooke, Maise Williams, Bill Milner, Kian Parsiani, Pixie Davies, Donald Sumpter.
The second part of Joe Ahearne’s adaptation of James Herbert’s The Secret of Crickley Hall sees the tension stoked up as the malevolent force of Douglas Henshall’s Augustus Cribben starts to take more of a hold on the lives of the young family that resides in the former orphanage.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Suranne Jones, Tom Ellis, Douglas Henshall, David Warner, Sarah Smart, Iain DeCaestecker, Olivia Cooke, Maise Williams, Bill Milner, Kian Parsiani, Pixie Davies, Donald Sumpter.
The final part of James Herbert’s acclaimed supernatural thriller, The Secret Of Crickley Hall, contained one of the most shocking scenes in recent memory on television and even though the scene was short, the chilling sight of children on the floor would have struck a nerve with anyone who has read anything of the disposal of human bodies during World War Two. Unnerving and it stuck in the craw but it proved to be an incredible piece of story-telling adapted for television by Joe Ahearne and for that the B.B.C. and the cast of the three part series deserve high credit for their acting.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Michael Sheen, Tom Jones, Matthew Rhys, Aimee-Ffion Edwards, Tom Rhys Harries, Karl Johnson, Iwan Rheon, Aneurin Barnard, Ioan Gruffudd, Kimberley Nixon, Steffan Rhodri, Mark Lewis Jones, Richard Harrington, Sophie Evans, Melanie Walters, Griff Rhys Jones, John Rhys Davies, Andrew Howard, Rakie Ayola, Jonathan Pryce, Sian Phillips, Bryn Terfel, Katherine Jenkins, Charlotte Church, Tom Ellis, Aneirin Hughes, Robert Pugh, Suzanne Packer, Eve Myles, Alexandra Roach, Craig Roberts, Sharon Morgan, Owen Teale, Di Botcher, Sian Thomas, Jon Tregenna.