The 2023 BBC drama 'The Woman in the Wall,' starring Ruth Wilson as a survivor of the Magdalene laundries, has climbed into Netflix's top 10 TV shows. The six-part series, set in a sleepy west Ireland town, weaves a murder investigation around the real-life horrors of the church-run institutions.
Plot and Premise
The story follows Lorna Brady, who decades after her time in a convent tries to find out if her daughter Agnes survived. She receives a letter from a stranger claiming to know what happened to her child. The next day, she finds the corpse of the woman who sent the letter in her home and hides it behind a wall. Meanwhile, Detective Colman (Daryl McCormack) investigates the murder of a priest, crossing paths with Lorna.
Critical Reception
The show has been praised for its blend of psychological horror, black comedy, and gothic undertones. Critics singled out Wilson's performance and the handling of the serious subject matter. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 77% rating.
The Wall Street Journal said the show 'tightens its grip on the viewer’s neck and [moves] him toward the edge of his seat, as if to correct his posture.' The Post NZ called it not a 'comfortable' watch but 'nonetheless addictive appointment viewing.' The Guardian described it as 'beautiful' and 'harrowing,' adding: 'Such a rarity this – the gothic element, spilling out of Lorna’s mind and home, feels not like a bolt-on to add drama lacking elsewhere but an integral part of the story.'
Cultural Context
The drama highlights the Magdalene laundries, institutions where parents sent daughters to hide out-of-wedlock pregnancies. Newborns were often taken from their mothers and given up for adoption, and infant mortality was high. 'People think that this couldn’t happen again. Then they forget that the last laundry closed in 1996. It wasn’t medieval times. The f**king Macarena was in the charts,' says one character.
'The Woman in the Wall' is now streaming on Netflix.
