Keeley Hawes and Max Beesley are back to bring a bit of drama and sci-fi entertainment in the first-ever TV adaptation of the John Wyndham novel. With the story having already been adapted for the big screen twice in ‘The Village of The Damned, creator and writer David Farr infuses a socially relevant update to an outdated story.
The series, which is set in the small English commuter town of Midwich, follows the town’s inhabitants after encountering a complete electrical blackout one night. Befalling a blackout which sees every resident fall unconsciously only to wake the following day with some of its female inhabitants having mysteriously fallen pregnant.
In the first major change Farr has made to the original story, Hawes plays the show’s protagonist, psychotherapist Dr Susannah Zellaby. Having been absent from the town on the night of the event, Zellerby returns to find her own vulnerable adult daughter as one of those changed by the event.
Farr, who is a self-confessed fan of the original book had wanted for years to adapt the story but felt it needed a change in direction. Although Wyndham favourably leans towards male characters, this story is heavily focused on women and especially Mothers and Farr wanted to make sure this was the main focal point of his retelling.
Also in news – Liam Neeson to reprise role as Qui-Gon Jinn in ‘Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi’
“I knew it was a story about mothers really, Wyndham is a very male writer even though the book is about women getting pregnant. Instinctively, the first change was Zelleby, in the book he is a centurion male who lectures people, he’s very brilliant, he talks alot. I thought, what if Zelleby was a woman who didn’t talk very much at all and was a listener, a therapist, someone whose wisdom, whose role is kind of priestess of the town. Looking after the flock was not based upon big speeches but upon sensitivity and being able to attune herself.”
Hawes added “My character in the book was originally a man, and this is such a female story. It’s about these women. It’s about women in this town and their bodies being taken over by an alien force. We don’t know what it is, which is part of the mystery of the show. But it is about women and their bodies. And so actually, it feels quite dated now that the man was at the centre of that when the book was written.”
The series is available now on Sky Max and NOW.
