Ruth Wilson defends The Woman in the Wall as first episode divides viewers
Ruth Wilson has spoken out on her latest role in new BBC drama The Woman in the Wall as viewers are divided by the first episode.
The actress, who also starred in Luther, Mrs Wilson and His Dark Materials, plays Lorna Brady, an Irish woman who wakes one morning to find a dead body in her house. The six-part series takes one of Ireland’s most shocking scandals – the Magdalene Laundries – and turns it into a murder mystery meets psychological horror.
Her character, Lorna, is a survivor of the laundries who has suffered from sleepwalking since being imprisoned in one of Ireland’s mother and baby homes at the age of 15. Her baby was taken away from her at birth, but she still believes her little girl is alive and is determined to find her.
But when a dead body turns up in her house – and she has no idea who the woman is or of her own culpability due to her extreme bouts of sleepwalking – she is investigated by Detective Colman Akande, played by Peaky Binders and Bad Sisters star Daryl McCormack, who is hiding a dark secret himself. At least 30,000 women were imprisoned in Magdalene institutions run by the Catholic Church across Ireland for being unmarried mothers between 1922 and 1996. Some were rape victims. All had their babies confiscated by nuns and most never saw them again.
Ruth Wilson as Lorna Brady in new BBC drama The Woman in the Wall (BBC/Motive Pictures/Chris Barr)The BBC describes The Woman in the Wall as a “murder, mystery, morality. One woman’s traumatic past threatens to expose Ireland’s most shocking and darkest secrets” and calls it a “gothic detective story”.
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In an interview with The Independent, Wilson said it is essential Magdalene survivor’s experiences be validated. “These women need their voices to be heard. They want it to be recognised as something that happened and something that was wrong.” She added: “Women’s bodies have been controlled by political states or religions for time immemorial. The past is painful but if we don’t revisit it, then we will make the same mistakes, and it’s bound to happen again.”
But while some viewers praised Wilson’s performance in the first episode which aired on the BBC on Sunday night, others were not as impressed and blasted it for being “disrespectful” and in “bad taste” to real-life Magdalene victims.
Fans will have to tune in on Sundays to see how Lorna's story unravels (BBC/Motive Pictures/Chris Barr)One social media said: “Found this is a real let down. Having met women who survived the Magdalene Laundries, this is not a respectful portrayal of them and of course the local Guard is inept. Typical Irish stereotypes. 2 out of 10 #WomanintheWall.”
“Well that was weird #womaninthewall,” another commented, while a third wrote: “Enough Irish cliches in #Womaninthewall to start a drinking game but not worth it (What’s with ‘London Irish’ writers spoon-feeding British viewers Irish stereotypes?” [sic] A fourth chimed in: “There is enough gothic horror in the real-life story of the Magdalene Laundries. Using it as a thriller hook is a bad call. Excellent performances in ‘The Woman in the Wall’ though.”
“Why does this 2015 Ireland look like 1955? FFS #womaninthewall,” a fifth asked, while a disgruntled sixth added: “It’s looking like yet another BBC drama is going down a cup of cold sick. #WomanInTheWall When the corporation are consistently churning out poorly received dross, they should do to their drama department as they did to their comedy department, and shut it down.”
*The Woman in the Wall airs on BBC1 Sundays at 9.05pm or catch up on BBC iPlayer
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