The Secret of Crickley Hall

[RiaOverTheRainbow]

Did anyone else watch this? Thoroughly creeped out.

I was a disappointed, but it wasn't as bad as it could've been.

A few things, we too sighed 'you're joking' when nancy appeared in the well. and also when maurice fell down the well he would of knocked Loren down who was hanging on by a fingernail.

and also would they really just stand in the hall way watching all the ghosts calmly?

Spoiler alert

Ok, maybe I'm missing something that would make the ending better. Lots of unanswered questions:

• how did they end up at Crickley Hall in the first place (a complete coincidence?)
• why does Eve hear Cam saying "I'm not dead"? If it was an orphan, surely she'd know it wasn't her son?
• why was the modern day vicar so edgy?
• the orphans might be at peace, but Cribben is still roaming around mad. What happens to Crickley Hall now? What did the Caleigh family do when they saw where the ghosts went? (Presumably get the hell out, at last??)
• was Maurice only haunted when he went to Crickley Hall? Or could Cribben reach him beyond the Hall walls?
• why was Nancy in the well a zombie? And I thought they had only found some clothes down there?
• how did Percy sort out Stephan's adoption?
• why were both daughters' names in the book, when Cribben only wanted one?

Other things I didn't like:

• how did they get Cam's grave next to Stephan's?
• the whole "it's the war, but the child who doesn't get gassed is the Jewish boy" felt heavy handed, somehow
• Tom Ellis was out acted by the rest of the brilliant cast
• so why did Cribben have welts on his back? The vicar hinted at self-purification, but that never went anywhere
• what was the significance of Nancy's withered arm?

But - despite the above - I did enjoy it (though thought the first episode was by far the scariest of the three)!!!!!

they had a feast and then leaped about in their room....no explanation at all!

Really? I thought it was obvious that the food was drugged. They were shown lying unconscious up in the room with it strewn about.

- why was the modern day vicar so edgy?

I think because he was related to the war time vicar who had said that he would spend the rest of his life paying for missing the abuse.

how did Percy sort out Stephan's adoption?

It was in the war and they were friends who had lost a child in the blitz - I imagine it may have been easier to do that kind of thing. Maybe even without any official stuff?

why were both daughters' names in the book, when Cribben only wanted one?

I think because he didn't care which one so it could have been either of them.

If Stefan didn't die there..................as he went off to live with nice family who gave him a kitten...........why was he haunting Crikley hall.

He had managed to escape it and didn't die until years after?

He was was the one in Eve's dreams? and the voice she heard? and he also was the one who hit Gabe's hand when he was fishing in the cupboard.

Also not explained - why did Stefan call Nancy "Mami" when he let her into the house at night (on subtitles) and why did Nancy speak fluent German to him?

I didn't understand the whole resolution about them finally being at peace. I thought the whole point was that Cribben wanted two more because Maurice and Stefan had escaped. But then once Maurice died, that was suddenly enough. Or did the fact that Cameron died somehow tie in? But how would that work? Why would he be a substitute? If that was the case, surely any child that died could be a substitute? How did Cribben even know what had happened to Cam to be able to tell the medium? Just because the dead know everything about all the other dead? Or was there some special connection with Cam that was never explained?

At one point, Maurice said that he couldn't die until Cribben was satisfied - but it was his own death that satisfied Cribben - if he was so tormented he should have killed himself to prevent all of this, instead of trying to sacrifice other children. And wasn't Cribben specifically obsessing about Stefan because of his own accident? Why would an elderly Maurice dying satisfy him?

I thought it was a really promising story which totally failed to deliver. The final episode was completely unscary, apart from the bit where the girls were escaping (why did they come out of their hiding place that he had just searched nearby and obviously not seen in order to stand unprotected in the mum's bedroom?) And the Nancy-zombie was really silly - a ghostly remembrance of her saying that, and then him deciding on his own to sacrifice himself would have been much more effective. Disappointing.

You lot should read the book, explains everything

I am reading it,trouble is I've also read the spoilers on here too!and don't think I can bear reading the Stefan bit now,sounds too harrowing for words.

I though it was crap, the only believable bit was when Suranne Jones was on the phone

I will read the book.

I can't work out why Stefan's grave said he died in 2009.

The book is awful. Really dreadfully written.

I think reading the book would be unhelpful as it is so different.

Because Percy said that stefan grew up to have a family and then died a few years earlier. I presumed a few means around three hence 2009!

Although the story can't really be set in the present day - given that the events happened in the early 40s, that would make Maurice about 90 and Percy about 95, which they clearly aren't.

Well it can't get any worse than the plot of the programme!

Fwiw though I did think that this was one of his better novels. I thought his recent book Ash was terrible. James Herbert is either good or crap I think

Stefan wasn't haunting Crickley, Eve heard the last orphan to die and thought it was Cam because he was all she could think about.

Cribben only wanted one child, he let Maurice go because he would never tell anyone what he did. I think he let the children go in the end because Nancy had finally won.

When Percy was explaining rehoming Stefan he said they changed his name so he would fit in seemlessly with a new family, why did his gravestone not show his new name and why on earth was his gravestone next to Cam?

I loved the first part and think like so many programmes it had fantastic potential but ultimately it had such ridiculous elements and left so many open ended questions that I felt just really disappointed by the whole thing.

I cannot bear to read the book though having read such awful reviews of it!

Can anyone that has read the book confirm that the loose ends are tied up?

They're not really tied up to be honest. Stefan does die in the book and the methods of killing the children is hideously graphic. A lot of the book describes backgounds of various characters - what happened to Maurice when he escaped etc and Magda as an old lady is seen a few more times. Also Lilli Peel is from somewhere else and is more involved in the finale!

Thanks, Ghosts.
I did find it very moving in the end, but the ghost bits were a bit predictable.

And the zombie hand...well, no, that was just silly!

so cribbens gased all the kids and they wanted everyone to know this rather then they died in the flood -is that why they were ghosts and couldnt leave?

the nancy ghost was pathetic let alone maurice then falling down the well

this is all the vicars fault in the 40's for not reporting after he knew!!

glad stefan was adopted and lived happily ever after

Stefan could easily have revered to his birth name as an adult.

WRT the the more graphic nature of the book - James Herbert is a horror writer.

Agreed - Nancy Zombie was daft. Just her voice would have done.

Partner liked the storyline of crickley Hall. I thought it may have been inspired by Private schools and sec Mods in the 1950s

Seriously, I found it more than a little sadistic. Man with the monster punishment book. But there is an audience for being frightened.

How was it inspired by private school and sec mods? All schools,including grammar schools and primaries ,used some form of corporal punishment,unless you were very,very lucky.

I thought the zombie nancy was merely a product of Gordon's conscience finally being pricked. ie. looking down the well reminded him of killing Nancy and he imagined the zombie Nancy while throwing himself down sort of thing.