It’s a dark thriller.
Peaky Blinders actor Daryl McCormack is set to join The Affair actress Ruth Wilson in a new BBC series that is inspired by Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries.
The Woman In The Wall is a six-part thriller which sees Lorna Brady waking up one morning to a corpse in her home.
Unaware of who the woman is or if she’s even responsible, as she suffers from terrible sleepwalking.
The show begins during Lorna’s teenage years as she is incarcerated in the Catholic Church’s infamous Magdalene Laundries.
As Ruth plays Lorna, Daryl is set to place Detective Colman Akande who is investigating Lorna for what initially seems to be an unrelated crime to the woman found at her home – but is hiding his own secrets.
Speaking about the upcoming role, Ruth said: “Lorna Brady is a complex and fascinating character and I’m thrilled to help bring her to life. In The Woman in the Wall Joe has created both an enthralling gothic thriller and a moving examination of the legacy of The Magdalene Laundries.
Creator and executive producer Joe Murtagh added: “My family is from Mayo, the county in which our fictional town of Kilkinure is set, and it deeply frustrates and saddens me that it feels so few people have heard of the Laundries that existed across Ireland.
“I hope that by making something that has the familiarity of a genre piece we are able to shed some light on the awful things that occurred within these kind of institutions and introduce this history to the wider public, so that nothing like it may ever happen again.”
The Magdalene Laundries operated in Ireland under the Catholic Church for 200 years until the final one was closed in 1996.
Deemed as one of the darkest aspects of Irish history, the Government issued an apology in 2013 and a €58m compensation scheme for survivors was set up.
An air date for the BBC series is yet to be announced.
