The Midwich Cuckoos

The Midwich Cuckoos starts airing on Sky this week and it stars Keeley Hawes and Max Beesley in what is an adaptation of John Wyndham's classic novel.

Where have I seen Cherrelle Skeete before? Where have I seen Lewis Reeves before? Where have I seen Lara Rossi before? Where have I seen Ukweli Roach before? Where have I seen Aisling Loftus before? Where have I seen Max Beesley before?

Keeley Hawes and Max Beesley describe the plot and why you should watch Sky's chilling new adaptation of John Wyndham's sci-fi classic The Midwich Cuckoos.

So saying yes to The Midwich Cuckoos was a no-brainer for me." "There is the concept of something alien invading and infecting people. "Because the situation is within arms’ reach, it gets under your skin more. Aisling adds: "It is such a potent story. Max Beesley says: "The role of the cuckoos is so inspired. "Then when I saw David Farr’s name on this script, I was so excited to read it. I thought, 'this is very similar to my life!'" "The kids present their parents with a terrifying dichotomy: their love for their child is fighting against a very clearly unknown force. "It’s very subtle and builds slowly until the danger becomes more apparent. Cassie is very isolated, and so I completely related to her. Heinous, heavy-duty things happen, and Paul starts to see that they are the result of these children. Location filming of Sky's new adaptation of The Midwich Cuckoos mostly took place in Amersham, Buckinghamshire last year.

The Midwich Cuckoos star Keeley Hawes has revealed the one creepy detail in Sky Max's new show that you may have missed…

"They were dealing with wigs and lots of little boosters, piles of boosters everywhere had to go on the make-up chairs, and the teeth. They all had much longer make-up calls than any of the adults," said the 46-year-old actress. Like this story?

Keeley Hawes plays Dr Susanna Zellaby in Sky Max's modern retelling of John Wyndham's iconic sci-fi tale...

"It's very telling that in the book, the person at the centre of this female story about women and their bodies, is a man. "It’s horrifying because it is emotional, because it's relatable and because the idea of having something in our bodies like this is awful. "I was aware of the story, but hadn’t read the book or seen the film adaptations. But actually, when you watch it, you're not aware of all of those things, because they're done in a very subtle way. Then this event happens, which is actually the start of them repairing their relationship a bit. There are girls in school uniforms as young as 15, right up to women in their 40s, so they're all at different stages in their lives.

The Midwich Cuckoos is now available to watch on Sky and NOW but it's a series that shouldn't be watched in a dark room, according to one Stylist writer.

If you’re left with one thing after watching this series, it’s that the children of Midwich are definitely not to be trusted. The episodes are slow-burning but what propels this series forward is the fact that you know at any given time, a child is carefully watching a Midwich adult. They congregate in groups and the “blackout mums” never really discuss just how odd their children’s behaviour is to the others, for fear of judgment. It’s then that you begin to realise that the usually private experience of pregnancy is made to be a town-wide issue. But it’s when the children are born that the abnormal feeling of being watched kicks up a notch. We learn that Dr Zellaby was actually in the right place at the right time – although her date ends terribly – as she realises all the power in Midwich has been cut.

It may sound fun but, despite the terrific Keeley Hawes, this adaptation is humourless and tedious.

I doubt it will take viewers as long to reach the same verdict about this series. This all sounds quite fun, but sadly the script (written by David Farr, responsible previously for The Night Manager and Hanna) never ignites. With this premise, involving elements of high-concept sci-fi and body horror, it’s natural that adaptations have tended to err on the side of scary. And into this milquetoast milieu descends a bolt of golden lightning, and the so-called “day out”, where all the Midwichers fall unconscious and the village is rendered inaccessible from the outside. The Midwich Cuckoos (Sky Max and NOW) follows a spread of characters living in the rural village of Midwich, one of those unexciting places where nothing much happens. The Midwich Cuckoos, legendary science-fiction writer John Wyndham’s 1957 novel, has twice been adapted for the screen before, both times under the more sensational title, Village of the Damned. The assumption, presumably, with these movies, was that the book’s curiously twee – and singularly British – title would alienate international audiences.

An entire village of women fall inexplicably pregnant in this pedestrian remake of the creepy sci-fi novel. Given the times we live in, it's a hugely wasted ...

As it is, we are left with no more than an adequately told, already known story dragged out for at least two hours longer than necessary while using about 10% of the talent its actors have to offer. To make such a pedestrian version of Wyndham’s book, instead of using its potent premise as a springboard for deep dives into motherhood, female autonomy or experience, or any of the other avenues it opens up, feels like a hugely wasted opportunity. Jodie (Lara Rossi doing her best with a character whose entire description, I’d wager, consisted of the word “feisty”), sister-in-law of the local police chief Paul (Max Beesley – “stoic” for him), is less thrilled. Newcomers to the village Zoë (Aisling Loftus) and Tom (Ukweli Roach) are thrilled that Zoë is pregnant, having been told they were infertile. This is when you know you are in for eight hours of traditional fare rather than any dizzying innovation, and so it proves. Sky’s new seven-part drama The Midwich Cuckoos (Sky Max) is the latest adaptation (by David Farr, who did the same with John le Carré’s The Night Manager to much acclaim) of John Wyndham’s perennially popular 1957 sci-fi tale.

Keeley Hawes is standout in this adaptation of John Wyndham's 1957 novel - but those of a nervous disposition should hide behind the sofa.

This was folk horror meets domestic noir, with the enviably pristine interiors of those “kitchen island dramas” which are all the rage nowadays. Hawes was the standout performer, although Samuel West later lent class as a government spook who arrived to conduct secret experiments. It fell to local child psychologist Dr Susannah Zellaby (Hawes) and police chief

Creator David Farr and director Alice Troughton on how their new adaptation of John Wyndham's The Midwich Cuckoos explores the nuances of parenthood.

You know, I mean, you can’t do giving birth to aliens without giving birth to aliens, and I found that a really interesting kind of challenge as a director. It really felt like it bookended the first two episodes really well and gave you that frisson to go forward into the next time jump basically. That idea that you have to stand there and say no, this is what I see. I think that that’s where we want to caveat it because being a genre piece just means that you can bring your own expectations to it. But he is the more humanized Cuckoo. Is it nurture? So actually, that was one of the most interesting things, the episode two abortion sequences, which was really important to place us in a state where that choice is available and suddenly is rendered not available through this external force. I think a lot of horror and a lot of science fiction has that. I mean, I think she’s a bit more conscious is the only thing I’d say because an outlier can be an outlier because they’re just not in the Venn diagram. It was the 80s and it was that kind of weird Thatcherite time when everything was too good to be true. He does a bit, very quickly, very cursorily and I wanted to focus majorly on that so we shifted Zellaby across from the “lecturer man” if you like, to the “listener woman”. And that was a great role for someone like Keeley and then we had to get an amazing director who sees that all. Wyndham is brilliant and I would say that in fact, Cuckoos is a favourite book, but it’s not my favourite book. I wanted to update it, obviously, so I moved it to a commuter town away from the rural thing.