Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Ruth Wilson, Simon Delaney, Philippa Dunn, Mark Huberman, Hilda Fay, Abby Fitz, Daryl McCormack, Ciara Stell, Frances Tomelty, Dermot Crowley, Caoimhe Farren, Cillian Lenaghan, Stephen Brennan, Rory Corcoran, Liam Heslin, Lynn Rafferty, Chizzy Akudolu, Ardel O’Hanlon, Eimear Morrissey, Charles Abomeli, Brendan McCormack, Aoibhinn McGinnity, Helen Roache, Anne Kent, Fiona Bell, Dominic Anglim, Brian Doherty, Genevieve Hulme Beaman, Brendan Conroy, Nicolas Nunes de Souza, Sodem Solana, Alexandra Moloney, Anthoy Kinahan, Frank O’ Sullivan, Fiona Browne, Orla Gaffney, Eoin Gleeson, Karen McCartney, Michael O’Kelly, Aisling O’Neill.
Criminal actions are not restricted to those who seek to gain advantage over the law, but by those who believe they are above the law, the politicians, the relics of an age long needed to be consigned to the bin of history, and those who claim to be on the side of God can be amongst the worst perpetrators of crime against the individual, against the welfare of the masses.
The state, no matter which country we claim to be from, has their hidden and dark disturbing secrets, whether it be England, France, The United States of America, or Ireland, each have their issues with religion having played their part in degrading and abusing women and children across the ages, especially against those they deem vulnerable and working class.
In recent years many truths have come to light of the absolute shame that frames the Catholic Church in Ireland in a bad light, and in The Woman In The Wall, the sense of disgrace is one of infamy as the legacy of the church run laundrettes and the selling, some would say trafficking, of new born children, taking them away from the mothers who had them young, out of wedlock, and possibly by means that are despicable; but mostly because of indoctrination of a religious mantra run by priests and willing nuns.
The six part series is one that tears at the soul and the heart, the sheer drama of the situation that has seen generations of women robbed of love, and it is heartbreaking, it is illogical, and as the story of Lorna Brady and the women of the small Irish town becomes clear, so the damage inflicted is one of tragedy, distress, and a brilliantly portrayed by the cast which is led by the talented Ruth Wilson and Simon Delaney.
It is argued correctly that many would not understand the complexity of the religious questions, however, to witness, even in drama, such brutality and degradation of the human spirit is to know that all who seek to have authority over us have little interest in our self-worth or autonomy of body.
The Woman In The Wall is a drama of excellent quality, one that is unafraid to lift the stone on the dirty secrets that church, government and state are willing to pay a high price to keep.
Ian D. Hall