The Third Day
A star turn from Jude Law in Sky’s new chilling collaboration with Punchdrunk
TV REVIEW
The Third Day
Sky Atlantic/ Now TV, 9pm
★★★★✩
ISLAND people do things differently. Cut off from the mainland, society has to become self-sufficient, developing its own rhythm and particular traditions. All of this is fertile ground for horror stories. Osea Island in Essex, where The Third Day is set, is no exception. We see its pagan rituals and fiercely loyal community through the eyes of an outsider, Sam (Jude Law). He rescues a young girl trying to hang herself in the woods in Essex and drives her home to the island, only to find that he can’t get back that night — the tide is in, covering the Roman causeway connecting Osea to the mainland. The only option is to stay over at the pub, with its creepy landlord, watching people prepare for a festival and feeling increasingly uneasy about what he sees. Sound familiar? It’s The Wicker Man meets Midsommar — summer festival noir.
But this is not just a TV show. The Third Day is an ambitious project from pioneering immersive theatre company Punchdrunk and writer Dennis Kelly (who wrote Pulling). Brad Pitt is an executive producer. After the first three episodes, which form a story called
Summer, there will be a 12-hour theatrical event telling an interconnected narrative set on the island shown live on Sky Arts on October 3 (the real-life horror of a second wave of Covid permitting).
The finale is Winter, which stars Naomie Harris giving a brilliantly tense performance as a single mother who has brought her daughters to Osea as a surprise birthday treat, thinking they will be interested in its archaeological past. Osea has an interesting history. In 1903 philanthropist Frederick Charrington bought it and started a temperance society there. Now it’s Essex’s answer to Cape Cod, where Kate Moss goes on holiday.
Punchdrunk have a knack for taking familiar settings and distorting them in a David Lynch style. To bring this to television, they have shot The Third Day as if through an Instagram filter: the colours look brighter and shadows longer. The camera is constantly darting around with few static shots, which makes you feel like your eyes are scanning the island with Sam’s, trying to get the measure of the place, as ominous music plays, hinting that the quaint traditions we see verge on something more untoward.
The whispering voices we hear are the only dud note, making it feel more like a children’s spooky story than genuine psychological thriller. But the compelling plot makes up for this. Sam isn’t a hero. When we meet him he is already having a bad day — the £40,000 he and his wife were using to bribe a developer to waive planning permission on their house renovations has been stolen.
He thinks he has found an ally in Mr Martin the pub landlord (Paddy Considine) until he sees pictures of Jack the Ripper’s victims at the bar. Mrs Martin (Emily Watson) doesn’t want Sam to leave. Fair enough, it’s not every day Jude Law comes to your bar. The weakest character is Jess (Katherine Waterston), an American academic studying folklore who seems to think swearing is a substitute for a personality.
The first episode asks a lot of questions. Prepare to be unnerved and intrigued in equal measure, there’s a sense that something wicked is coming, and you won’t be able to look away.