Michael Palin’s first sustained TV acting role in two decades casts him as Tom Parfitt, an octogenarian who tricks social services into relocating him from a Scarborough terrace to a residential home. Moments after arrival, the social worker escorting him is hurled from a sealed fourth-floor window; only Tom and the corpse occupy the room. Teenage care assistant Jodie Comer refuses to accept the police shrug-off, and her hunt for an explanation drags her family into a chain of accidents that culminates in Tom’s own disappearance from a locked ward.
Shot across Huddersfield and Scarborough in winter 2014, the three-parter blends Yorkshire miserablism with folk-horror tropes: crumbling cliff lifts, salt-strewn streets and a 70-year-old guilt that refuses to stay buried. Writer Gwyneth Hughes keeps the supernatural elements ambiguous until the final reel, letting the tension accumulate through stained postcards, snatched Urdu lullabies and Palin’s softly sinister politeness.
The serial aired weekly on BBC One from 23 November to 7 December 2014, then crossed the Atlantic for a summer 2017 PBS slot. Palin’s performance, all mild smiles and steel, earned a BAFTA nomination, while Comer’s pre-Killing Eve turn announced a star in the making.
Production Details
BBC One / 1 Season / 3 Episodes / 2014
Created by: Gwyneth Hughes
Showrunner(s): Damien Timmer, Gwyneth Hughes, Rebecca Keane
Writer(s): Gwyneth Hughes
Producer(s): Chris Carey
Cinematography: Tony Miller
Music: Ruth Barrett
Main Cast
Michael Palin as Tom Parfitt
Jodie Comer as Hannah Ward
Mark Addy as Rob Fairholme
Mina Anwar as Roshana Salim
Mayuri Boonham as Isha
Julia Sawalha as Jan Ward
Tony Pitts as DCI Grogan
Eileen Davies as Nancy
Rebekah Staton as Alison Denning
Sheila Hancock as Loveday Hutton
Richard Lumsden as Jeff Harding
Marcus Garvey as Andy Phelps
