WOMAN IN THE WALL series, BBC One

12th October 2023

Gothic thriller The Woman in the Wall is a sensitively crafted, fictional drama series which examines the legacy of one of Ireland’s most shocking scandals – the inhumane institutions known as The Magdalene Laundries.

Filmed in the lough shore village of Portaferry, we have particular interest in the film as it showcases the Ards and North Down scenery. Find out more about Strangford Lough and this seaside spot.

Produced by Motive Pictures, backed by Fifth Season, The Woman in the Wall hit our screen on Sunday 27th August at 9pm on BBC One. Written and created by Joe Murtagh (Calm with Horses), the six-part series was made on location in Northern Ireland and is produced by Motive Pictures with funding from Northern Ireland Screen.

Lorna Brady (Ruth Wilson) is a woman from the small, fictional Irish town of Kilkinure who wakes one morning to find a corpse in her house. Lorna has no idea who the dead woman is, or if she herself might be responsible. That’s because Lorna has long suffered from extreme bouts of sleepwalking ever since she was ripped from her life at the age of 15 and incarcerated in a convent. There, Lorna gave birth to her daughter Agnes, who was cruelly taken from her and whose fate Lorna has never known.

Unluckily for Lorna, Detective Colman Akande (Daryl McCormack) is now also on her tail, for a crime seemingly unrelated to the body she has discovered in her house.

As Colman searches for a murderer and Lorna searches for her daughter, their paths collide in ways they could never have anticipated. Lorna’s search for Agnes will take her deep into her own past and to the heart of Kilkinure’s darkest secrets, as she and Colman seek the answers they each so desperately need.

What is the mystery of The Woman in the Wall? Distinct, stirring and revelatory, The Woman in the Wall is a psychologically and emotionally compelling detective story shot through with dark humour.

The series was directed by Harry Wootliff and Rachna Suri, with Susan Breen as producer. Executive producers are Simon Maxwell (Get Millie Black, Deep State), Sam Lavender (Saint Maud, The Lobster, ’71), Joe Murtagh, Ruth Wilson and Harry Wootliff, with Lucy Richer for BBC.

Start watching The Woman in the Wall series today on BBC iPlayer.