Catholic nuns, a remote Irish town and a mysterious murder come together in The Woman in the Wall, the six-part BBC One gothic drama that has recently found a new streaming home on Netflix.
Set in the fictional town of Kilkinure, the series combines a murder investigation with a deeply unsettling exploration of one of the darkest chapters in modern Irish history.
A Murder Mystery With A Much Darker Story Beneath It
Ruth Wilson stars as Lorna Brady, a survivor of a Magdalene Laundry. Sent there as a teenager after becoming pregnant, Lorna continues to struggle with the trauma years later.
Her life takes another disturbing turn when she wakes one morning to discover a dead body inside her home.
At the same time, Detective Colman Akande, played by Daryl McCormack, arrives in Kilkinure to investigate the murder of a priest.
As Lorna and Colman begin trying to understand the events surrounding the deaths, their investigation gradually exposes something far larger than a single crime.
The series delves into institutional abuse, the forced separation of mothers and babies, and the culture of secrecy surrounding the Church.
Inspired By A Dark Chapter Of Irish History
Part of what makes The Woman in the Wall so haunting is its connection to real events.
The drama draws on the history of Ireland’s Magdalene laundries, institutions where thousands of women labelled as “fallen women” — often unmarried or pregnant women — were forced to live in harsh conditions.
The laundries continued operating until they were officially closed in the late 1990s, making the story explored by the series particularly recent and disturbing.
Ruth Wilson And Daryl McCormack Lead The Cast
Wilson anchors the drama as Lorna, bringing the character’s trauma and uncertainty to the centre of the mystery.
McCormack plays Detective Colman Akande and may be familiar to viewers from Peaky Blinders and Bad Sisters.
Their investigation provides the framework for a story that becomes increasingly complex as the truth surrounding Kilkinure begins to emerge.
Critics Praised The Gothic Mystery
The Woman in the Wall currently holds an average 77% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Guardian awarded the series four stars, praising Wilson as “mesmerising” and describing the production as a “beautifully made gothic mystery.”
With its combination of crime, psychological drama and historical trauma, the series offers considerably more than a conventional murder mystery.
The Woman in the Wall is streaming on Netflix now
