It’s ok to leave the light on after ‘The Enfield Haunting’


Historically, there’s something in everyone’s life whether it be a movie you’ve seen, book you’ve read or newspaper story you came across that made you sleep with the light on for the next several days. No shame in that. Happens to all of us. Two examples I will forever proudly admit had that effect on me early on were watching The Exorcist and reading Stephen King’s The Shining. For many, it might just be the forthcoming 3-part drama, The Enfield Haunting, which premieres on Sky Living on 3 May.

Adapted from Guy Lyon Playfair’s book This House is Haunted,  the show is a supernatural drama based upon real events surrounding the phenomena, and draws on extensive documentation, recordings and witness statements. The incident remains to this day the most documented account of poltergeist activity in British history.

The Enfield Haunting with Timothy Spall and Matghew Macfadyen

In 1977 a small house in Enfield, London made newspaper headlines worldwide. It would become the most documented paranormal event ever recorded in the UK with thirty eyewitnesses, all observing one truly terrifying story.

Timothy Spall (Harry Potter, Blandings) stars as Maurice Grosse, a rookie paranormal researcher. After a recent personal tragedy, he is drawn to the house on Green Street after disturbing reports of a desperate family terrorised by malevolent unseen forces. Juliet Stevenson (Bend It Like Beckham, Truly Madly Deeply, The Hour) will star alongside Spall to play his wife Betty.

Matthew Macfadyen (Spooks, Ripper Street) will play Guy Lyon Playfair, an experienced investigator who approaches the case with scepticism. Working together to get to the heart of the supernatural happenings, Maurice and Guy will both have to confront their own pasts. Can they save this family from the hauntings and make peace with their own ghosts?

For many, a reason to sleep with the lights on might just happen May 3 when The Enfield Haunting premieres on Sky Atlantic….including one of the main stars of the drama, Timothy Spall. According to Spall, he was a bit hesitant about taking on the job and initially turned it down because it “…frightened the life out of me. I certainly didn’t want to wake up at night with the doors opening and shutting because, being an actor, I am someone who works off my imagination.”

Let’s hope this makes it’s way to America soon. I need a new good reason to sleep the light on…

 


In: Drama