After watching Sarah Lancashire (‘Happy Valley’) pursue criminals as Catherine Cawood, we are about to see her on the other side of the police investigation. Netflix has commissioned ‘Witch Hunt’, a six-part thriller from writer Abi Morgan, with Lancashire playing a woman released from prison after being convicted of drowning three of her young daughters. It is quite a change of perspective for anyone still picturing her in Catherine’s police uniform.
Lancashire plays August Howell, who has spent 30 years behind bars. She is a descendant of the so-called Witch of Cambridge, a piece of family history that has hardly made her return home any easier. The community does not want August back, and it is not long before fears grow that her arrival has sparked a modern-day witch hunt.
When the police need help finding a killer, they turn to Professor Wren Howell, August’s only surviving daughter. Wren is an academic and investigative psychologist, so she has the skills to help. Whether she wants to be drawn back into her mother’s story is another matter. The case brings together the town’s folklore, old resentments and a family relationship with three decades of pain behind it.
For Morgan, this is a role she has wanted to give Lancashire for a very long time. They last worked together more than 25 years ago, and the writer says: “I have been chasing the perfect role for her ever since. This is it.” Morgan describes ‘Witch Hunt’ as a dark, emotionally charged story about August and the daughter she left behind, with the question of whether August can ever be forgiven at its heart.
Lancashire is looking forward to getting inside a character very different from the police sergeant for whom many viewers know her best. “There’s so much to explore in August, and I can’t wait to begin.” The series gives her a difficult part to play: August has served her sentence, but that does not mean Wren or anyone else in Cambridge is ready to let her back into their lives. And with a killer to find, there are now fresh reasons for the town to look at her.
Netflix has not yet announced who will play Wren or the rest of the cast. Morgan, whose credits include ‘Eric’ and ‘The Split’, created and writes the drama, and executive produces alongside Jane Featherstone. SISTER Pictures makes the series in association with Little Chick, with Holly Pullinger producing.
The show is planned for 2028. Until then, the central role reversal is an intriguing one: Lancashire once played the woman trying to get answers from people like August. This time, she is the woman everyone wants answers from.
‘Witch Hunt’ premieres on Netflix in 2028. An exact date has yet to be announced.
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