The Midwich Cuckoos is the latest adaptation of the classic John Wyndham (author of Day of the Triffids) sci-fi/horror novel of the same name. It has had various films made of it over the past seventy or so years, usually under the alternate title The Village of the Damned. I have to say before starting this review that I missed the very first episode, Bad Things, but having read the book, and being clued in by my father, I don't think that affected my overall enjoyment of this much.
This takes place in modern day, one day a strange blackout falls over the sleepy English village of Midwich, an incident that causes everyone in the village to mysteriously fall unconscious. The government assign a special unit to monitor the town, this includes detective Paul Haynes (Max Beesley - Homeland). It is quickly discovered that every single female of childbearing age became pregnant during the event, with only the mother's DNA detected in the foetus. The unborn children are able to exhibit a strange power over the women, stopping them from being able to get abortions, or to even leave the village. When they are born things take an even more sinister turn, the children age rapidly, can communicate with each other telepathically and have the ability to force the adults around them to do exactly as they wish. As the years pass, resident psychologist Dr. Susannah Zellaby (Keeley Hawes - Inside No.9) comes to distrust the sinister emotionless children, as do various parents who discover a dark side to their young wards.
I call this season one due to the somewhat unsatisfying way that season finale (episode 7 - Departure) leaves enough threads hanging to hint at the possibility of a sequel. Personally I wish it had wrapped up more neatly as it was within the realms of possibility to do that. Over the seven episodes there are a few time skips, the first two episodes are about the event and the subsequent discovery of pregnancies, then there is a skip of around three years with the children resembling seven or eight year olds, then a final time skip to around five years from the event, with the children looking like ten to twelve year olds. Obviously different child actors are used for the different roles, though the middle is where most the story occurs. The children are all creepy, helped by the various hair styles and wigs they sport. Most creepy is Billie Gadsdon/Indica Watson as Evie Stone, the girl with the pigtails, and Georgia Thorne/Scarlett Leigh as Hannah Moran, who looks almost inbred due to her thick hair (I assume to be a wig). The casting was good in that the different actors for the two ages always looked similar to each other, which helped with getting involved with the story.
Each episode is roughly an hour long, and at times this felt like it was to the detriment of the show. Me and my father both commented how long winded and slow moving the finale was, it seemed a good third of that episode had characters travelling on their way to different places. It felt to us this was purely used as padding to fill the episode, rather than having any actual requirement to be happening. The story escalated enough that by the end there had been several murders on both sides, with the children's immaturity resulting in them severely punishing anyone who they see as having done them wrong. It is very heavily insinuated that the children are part alien (not a spoiler to say that as it remains that way throughout), and they look the part. Effects when they are used look decent, plenty of flickering lights when the kids use their powers, and a CG effect to make their eyes look golden at times. The horror is never too strong, though with them all seeming to have a hive mind and super hearing I often wondered just how they could possibly be defeated.
John Wyndham is one of my favourite authors so I am always going to be happy to see any adaptations of this work. Despite bringing the story to a modern setting this was pretty faithful in some respects. There are plenty of alterations to the original tale, including one impactful one, but this played out relatively similar to what my memory told me would happen. At times it drags a bit, and I sure feel there isn't a need for a second series, but overall The Midwich Cuckoos told its story in an authentic way.
SCORE:
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