Bewitching supernatural drama is Buffy for Gen-z
Remember Samantha and her twitching nose in Bewitched? Female TV sorcery has come a long way since. With a wave of the wand, all-american housewives have turned into Mancunian Gen Z-ers with snake tattoos and jangling gothic jewellery. Domino Day (BBC Three) is a deliciously dark drama about 21stcentury witchcraft. Hubble, bubble, there’s plenty of toil and trouble. Not to mention a supernatural amount of sex.
Bafta nominee Siena Kelly (Adult Material) stars as the daftly named Domino – a 25-year-old barista who is on all the dating apps. Yet she’s not your average singleton, swiping right to find romance. She’s doing it to target predatory males and literally suck the life out of them. You see, “Dom” is a new breed of witch. One wielding a smartphone rather than a broomstick and wearing a leather skirt instead of a pointy black hat.
The local coven run a chic houseplant shop – a sort of hipster potionmakers – and are worried by this rogue newcomer’s burgeoning powers. The mysterious “elders” aren’t too happy either. Viewers are flung into a magical realm of grimoires and auras, of Lamia versus Obeah witchcraft. Suspend disbelief and it soon has you under its spell.
Creator Lauren Sequeira wrote Domino Day in response to a lack of British supernatural shows. Where was the UK’S answer to True Blood or American Horror Story? Hence Dom haunts Manchester’s grungey, gritty Northern Quarter. It’s a stylishly seductive setting, all warehouse flats and neon-lit nightlife.
There are no black cats, cauldrons or evil cackles. Well, except the ones that viewers might emit when villains get their comeuppance. Flipping damsel-in-distress clichés on their head is thrillingly provocative. Like Sabrina the Teenage Witch or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, all the spooky stuff can be read as a feminist metaphor for youthful angst, outsiderness and self-discovery. Alternatively, it can simply be enjoyed as a fresh, fun take on horror tropes.
The charismatic Kelly carries off most of the sillier scenes. A modest budget means some special effects are hokey but Domino Day has enough chutzpah to get away with it. The heady brew of relationship drama and fantasy romp recalls the youth channel’s previous cult hit, Being Human. All the moody pouting becomes a tad tiresome mid-series but recovers in time for a cathartic finale. As escapist entertainment, it’s really rather bewitching.
Far be it for me to question the wisdom of the mighty Oprah Winfrey – her name is above the door of this sumptuous new series, co-produced by her company – but Black Cake (Disney+) is a much-hyped, ultimately disappointing melodrama.
Based on Charmaine Wilkerson’s bestselling novel, it’s a murdermystery wrapped up inside a family saga. In present-day California, two estranged siblings are bequeathed a batch of recordings by their late mother, telling them her life story – and are left reeling by the shocking secrets therein. We’re talking stolen identity, runaway brides, rape, adoption and fatal poisoning.
Gee, thanks, Mum.
Spanning six decades while hopping back and forth across the Atlantic, Black Cake strives to be a sweeping multi-generational epic but ends up as a supersized soap. The sort of indulgently sentimental heartstring-tugger that Americans might lap up but us cynical Britons tend to balk at.
The story is painted in broad strokes. Men are mostly monstrous. Women are saintly. Nurses are good. Nuns are evil. Throughout it all, expositional narration burbles away, telling viewers what to think. The old maxim of “show, don’t tell” clearly hasn’t made it over to Oprah-land.
Themes of mixed ancestry, racial identity and buried trauma are chewy enough. A few performances are impressive, notably from teenager Mia Isaac as the luminous young heroine. Yet this eight-parter can’t resist falling back on bland cliché. Well-meaning but weak, it views the world through a soft-focus lens. Scenes set in 1960s London make Call the Midwife look like gritty social realism.
Attempts at contemporary resonance are clumsy. Police racism is crowbarred in. Cultural appropriation and cancel culture are earnestly discussed at dinner parties. Characters use phrases like “internet discourse” with a straight face. The titular black cake, we are repeatedly informed, is a rich festive recipe which blends Caribbean ingredients with British colonial influences. The series named after it is a stodgy, sickly pudding.
Domino Day ★★★★ Black Cake ★★