In the third episode of the Irish mystery series “The Woman in the Wall,” Dublin detective Detective Colman Akande (Daryl McCormack) acts on his suspicions that Lorna Brady (Ruth Wilson) was behind the torching of a car that was key to investigating the murder of a priest.
Lorna, who we know did not kill the priest, but is indeed guilty of arson, has had fantastic luck so far by being able to interfere with video evidence. But in the episode titled “Knock Knock,” Akande has her dead to rights after finally viewing the footage.
As he presses Lorna for answers, an extraordinary thing happens: Lorna begins to cry — except she’s shedding blood, not tears, as the two policemen in the interrogation room look on in amazement.
The series is inspired by the terrible true history of Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries and Mother and Baby homes, in which young pregnant women were forced to give up their babies and endure cruel punishment under the eye of unforgiving nuns. This story and these characters are fictional, however.
Lorna, one of several women who was left traumatized by her brutal treatment years earlier, is prone to violent sleepwalking incidents, including one in which she attacked a statue of the Virgin Mary. What Lorna — and the viewers — don’t know yet is whether Lorna killed the dead woman she found in her house in the first episode, the body she has since hidden in the wall.
The six-hour limited series was written, created and executive produced by oe Murtagh, who received a BAFTA nomination for co-writing the 2019 drama “Calm With Horses.”
In addition to starring as Lorna, Ruth Wilson also serves as executive producer on the series, which originally aired on the UK’s BBC One in 2023.
The first two episodes of “The Woman in the Wall” are now streaming on Paramount+ with Showtime. New episodes premiere on Paramount+ with Showtime streaming Fridays and air on Paramount+ with Showtime Sundays.
