Oh, I know what the world’s like when it’s run by children, I’ve got three of them!
As thrilling new sci-fi series The Midwich Cuckoos arrives on our screens, DANIELLE DE WOLFE learns more from stars Keeley Hawes and Synnove Karlsen
THEY say never work with children or animals but Keeley Hawes did plenty of the latter on the set of ITV hit The Durrells.
Now she is working with the former in new sci-fi drama The Midwich Cuckoos. But these are far from ordinary youngsters.
Based on John Wyndham’s classic 1957 novel, which was previously adapted into the film Village of the Damned, the action takes place in the sleepy town of Midwich where, one night, all of the young women inexplicably fall unconscious – then wake up to find they are pregnant.
As the children of the phenomenon grow, it becomes clear they are not of this world.
The It’s A Sin and Line of Duty actress plays Professor Susannah Zellaby, a trained psychotherapist who is brought on board by the local police in an official capacity to help with the aftermath of events.
“I haven’t really done sci-fi since [BBC fantasy crime drama] Ashes To Ashes, I suppose. Well, it’s a version of sci-fi, it’s got time travel,” says Keeley, 46.
When Midwich experiences a localised blackout all communication to the town is cut off.
With a new generation of children, all conceived on the night of the blackout, harbouring dark and dangerous tendencies, chaos begins to ensue from the inside out.
Working together, it’s not long before the youngsters are the ones in control.
“Oh, I know what the world’s like when it’s run by children,” exclaims Keeley, who is married to her former Spooks co-star Matthew Macfadyen. “I’ve got three of them!”
“I feel like we kind of just had a blackout,” reflects Keeley’s co-star Synnove Karlsen, 25, whose other roles include TV series Medici and Clique, noting the show’s parallels with the real world.
“For me, it felt like the perfect project to be working on off the back of this global pandemic, which felt like a complete blackout in itself. Just waiting. Sat at home.”
It’s a point Keeley expands upon, noting the short-lived mass exodus from urbanised areas during lockdown.
“I think a lot of people were leaving the city to go to towns like Midwich,” says the actress. “And then, as we found, everybody realising that it might not be all it’s cracked up to be.”
In the series Susannah is trapped outside Midwich while her daughter Cassie (played by Synnove) remains inside. Sneaking in to find her, the professor sees scientists carrying out tests and her neighbours lying unconscious.
Police officer Paul Haynes, played by Suits and Mad Dogs star Max Beesley, is tasked with maintaining order. Then, as quickly as the blackout began, it lifts, with residents of childbearing age awakening to a very new reality.
It’s a bleak yet intriguing framework that sees Keeley’s character become an expectant grandmother when Cassie is among the women affected.
“She’s on the backfoot for a bit
there,” smiles Keeley, raising her eyebrows. “Susannah becoming a grandmother is, well, a sort of spanner in the works.”
Pointing out that her character was a male doctor in both the book and film adaptation, the star says a male-led project about the female body instantly left the source material “feeling quite dated”.
“It’s a story about women and their bodies and their bodies being taken over,” says Keeley. “So, it was quite sort of odd that a male was at the centre of all that.”
Writer and creator David Farr has
It’s a story about women and their bodies and their bodies being taken over. So, it was quite sort of odd that a male was at the centre of all that... Keeley Hawes on her character in The Midwich Cuckoos, which in both the book and film adaptation was a male role
previously spoken about his inspiration for adapting Wyndham’s work, saying: “I first read The Midwich Cuckoos when I was 12. I was living in a small town in 1980s Britain. Everything about the book rang true to me and terrified me.
“An invasion of a small commuand nity by a hostile and ruthless force. Apparently innocent children as a force of huge malevolent power. It got under my skin.”
He also notes: “Cuckoos hijack other birds’ nests. They enter a bird’s nest, and they take it over; they actually remove, rather violently, the eggs of the original mother. The mother doesn’t seem to notice, until it’s too late.”
The miniature on-screen army was whittled down from an initial group of 2,000 children, among them actress Indica Watson (Sherlock, Radioactive), who plays Keeley’s on-screen miracle grandchild.
The casting sees the 12-yearold’s career come full circle, as it is nearly eight years since she played Keeley’s granddaughter – her first major television role – in the second series of The Missing.
The successful child auditionees donned wigs and false teeth in a bid to “unify their look”.
It’s a terrifying sight, with oversized, perfectly symmetrical teeth crammed into the tiny mouths of primary school children.
“It adds this sort of oddly heightened aspect to it,” says Keeley. “Children of that age generally look quite scrappy and they’ve always got missing teeth.”
Describing how the gaggle of children were constantly distracted by their new sets of dentures, the actress says the scare factor was quickly dispelled courtesy of the group’s “hilarious” onset antics.
“They sing a lot,” says Keeley. “They’re not actually terrifying at all. They do Tiktok dances all the time. The combination of the script and the children, no one could have predicted just how brilliantly creepy they were going to be.”
The Midwich Cuckoos starts on Thursday on Sky Max at 9pm, with all episodes available to stream on NOW