If you are considering putting a deposit down on a second-hand home at the moment, you might want to avoid ITV’s new drama series 'Marchlands'. Have you ever wondered who exactly lived in your house before you moved in? Are there tell tale pictures or decorative paintings lining you walls which you are itching to find out more about? Well maybe you’ll think again after casting an eye on this spooky series. This beautiful, yet incredibly creepy drama explores the worrying hold the ghost of a little girl has on three families, linked by the home where she lived.
'Marchlands' delves into the lives of three different families, living in the same house in different time periods, 1968, 1987 and 2010. Tragedy struck in the 1960s when Alice, the daughter of the Bowens drowned in the woods. Not able to accept this, her mother, Ruth, is convinced that something more sinister ended her Alice’s life. Rebelling against the traditional 1960s’ values of brushing things of this sort under the rug, Ruth seems determined to get to the bottom of the story, with or without her husband’s help. But with her husband’s parents under the impression that Ruth should be over the death by now, that might not be as easy as she thought. The pure intensity of the Bowens’ scenes left me with my fingers covering my eyes on more than one occasion last night. Accompanied by a Jaws-like soundtrack, this ghost series is not for the faint hearted. And why is it that the ghost is always a blonde haired girl with a music box?
Moving on to the 80s (some shocking wallpaper on display), Amy Maynard is taking the slack for her imaginary friend Alice’s sneaky tricks. While Amy’s parents refuse to believe their daughter’s claim that Alice is imaginary, strange things start to happen around the house. While some of the scenes were laughable, such as the predictable running taps, the bath scene with the dolls head was horrific. Adding a bit of humour to the programme (only a bit though), the Maynards are obviously the central characters with the most to tell. With the promise of even spookier ghostly activity in the coming five episodes, they’ve definitely left us on the edge of our seats for more.
Meanwhile, in the present day, a young pregnant couple, Nisha and Mark, have just moved into the haunted house with great plans for redecorating and starting their life together in the quiet countryside. Little do they know that they have just walked in to Alice’s territory and whatever happens from here on in is going to be anything but calm for them. Already Nisha has acquired a broken ankle and there’s confusion over Mark’s upbringing around the area of the Marchlands.
We are left with unanswered questions after the first episode. Is Alice trying to tell the new inhabitants of the house something? What does Mark have to hide and what really happened to Alice in the woods? After just one episode, the creators have managed to pack in so much drama that I am definitely returning for more.
The series reminds me of a mixture between 'The Lovely Bones' and 'Final Destination' and the fresh idea of overlapping between the eras works very well. However, with last night’s stormy weather, it might not have been the perfect time to get my teeth into a ghost drama.
Sarah Carty
