Tom Ellis Faced Supernatural Threats in a Horror Series Before Lucifer, With Game of Thrones Star Maisie Williams — TVLine
Ellis in a haunted manor
The Secret of Crickley Hall premiered on the BBC in 2012. Ellis plays Gabe Caleigh, a husband and father who moves with his family into a former orphanage.
The family’s youngest son, Cam, disappeared at a park a year earlier. Soon after settling in, they encounter supernatural events involving the spirits of children and former staff.
Williams joins the cast
Maisie Williams plays Cally, one of Gabe and Eve Caleigh’s children. Suranne Jones portrays Eve, while Pixie Davis plays Loren and Elliot Kerley plays Cam.
The manor’s troubled past
The story moves between the present and 1943, when the manor housed children evacuated from London. At the time, Augustus and Magda Cribben, played by Douglas Henshall and Sarah Smart, own the property.
The siblings are depicted as cruel authorities who punish the children in their care. The flashbacks tie the present-day hauntings to earlier suffering at Crickley Hall.
Gothic horror and drama
The series combines an old manor, ghosts and tragic characters with the family’s human struggles. Rod Lott, reviewing the show for The Oklahoma Gazette, described it as a “deeply affecting drama.” Its use of past and present may appeal to viewers of Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor.
Key points
- The Secret of Crickley Hall debuted on the BBC in 2012 as a three-part miniseries.
- Tom Ellis portrays Gabe Caleigh, whose family moves into a former orphanage haunted by its past.
- Maisie Williams plays Cally after beginning her Game of Thrones role as Arya Stark.
- Flashbacks to 1943 connect the hauntings to the manor’s history.