The Midwich Cuckoos tells a familiar supernatural horror story as a 7 episode series. Keeley Hawes and Max Beesley lead a cast filled to the brim with spooky children.
The Midwich Cuckoos is a new adaptation of the 1957 science fiction novel written by the English author John Wyndham. It tells the tale of an English village in which the women become pregnant in a mysterious way. This television adaptation is the latest in a line of productions starting with the British “Village of the Damned” movie in 1960 and an American version in 1995.
Horror is not my favorite genre, but I thought this series was interesting. Instead of horror jump scares we got the English ability to keep calm and carry on.
On a certain day in Midwich, the electricity fritzed out and everyone fell asleep. When the women woke up, they were all pregnant. Their babies were all born on the same day. The babies grew extraordinarily fast.
It took numerous child actors to play the children at various ages as they grew. The child actors did a great job. They perfected the scary stare-down to a tee. They all shared the same thoughts, had the power to do things with electricity, and had telekinetic powers. They could control adults with their minds and had no qualms about getting rid of bothersome adults who didn’t like them. In spite of the creepy nature of the children, the parents all loved and adored them – most of the parents, anyway.
Keeley Hawes played Susannah, a psychologist who worked with the parents and the children. Her daughter Cassie (Synnove Karlsen) was the mother of one of the children. A police officer, Paul (Max Beesley), worked to solve the mystery of what had happened and maintain peace in the town. His sister-in-law Jodie (Lara Rossi) had one of the babies and Paul became the father figure for him.
With 7 episodes instead of a movie, the story stretched out. There was plenty of time for parents and children to develop personalities and issues. Sam (Ukwell Roach) and Zoe (Aisling Loftus) were important as parents.
Working with the police was an officer named Bryony (Cherrelle Skeete). Samuel West played a representative of the government, a man who was almost as mysterious as the children.
No one understood what they were dealing with, which was one kind of mystery in the story. Another was what the government meant to do about it, a well kept secret until near the end.
Once the babies were born the town was closed off from the outside. No one could leave, even if they wanted to, and no one came in. The numerous parents and children met frequently and tried to understand what was happening in their town. Susannah lead these meetings. I watched the series because of Keeley Hawes. Her Susannah was definitely the hero of the story.
Two women directed 5 of the 7 episodes: Jennifer Perrott and Alice Troughton.
The series is steaming on Acorn TV, AMC+ and Sundance Now. If you watch it, please share your thoughts below. The comments are open.
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