'The Midwich Cuckoos' is Here in Time for Halloween

It took over two years for the newest adaptation of The Midwich Cuckoos to arrive in the U.S. after it aired and streamed on SkyMax in mid-2022, doubling the length of its title along the way to become The Midwich Cuckoos: Villiage of the Damned (possibly as a reminder of the two movie versions from 1960 and 1995). Based on the 1957 John Wyndham novel, the tale is famous enough in the U.K. that most have absorbed it via the cultural hive mind, even if they haven’t read the book or seen the earlier versions. For Americans who are less aware, it’s the story of a community that hosts a clutch of mysterious and scary children.

The “Midwich” of the title is not a village but a tidy, comfortable market town within easy reach of London. Series creator David Farr has updated the story with care and thoughtfulness. It features a strong cast, led by Keeley Hawes as child psychologist Dr. Susannah Zellaby and Max Beesley as chief of police DCI Paul Haynes. The series hints at current events, addressing issues of government surveillance, reproductive choice, and forced birth, and then steps back as the story unfolds.

It is a complex and demanding series with seven episodes of about one hour each. However, two significant storylines stand out: Sam Clyde (Annika’s Ukweli Roach) and Zoe Moran (Aisling Loftus), who’ve just moved to Midwich and are excited about their new home. The other is the story of Susannah, whose attempts to nurture and protect make her a collaborator until she takes on the responsibility to protect Midwich and, you suspect, much more.