BBC The Witch Farm is coming to your screens, and if you were already slightly nervous about visiting rural Wales — congratulations, you were right to be. The BBC has greenlit a four-part drama based on the genuinely, verifiably, no-seriously-people-actually-lived-through-this haunting of a remote farmhouse in the Brecon Beacons. It is called The Witch Farm. It is set in 1989. It involves a traumatic home birth, a ghost, and the slow psychological unravelling of an entire marriage. So, essentially, a perfectly normal Welsh weekend break.
A Lovely Farmhouse. Shame About the Demonic Atmosphere.
The story follows Bill and Liz Rich, a young London couple who did what all sensible Londoners eventually do — fled the capital in search of peace, quiet, and a mortgage they could theoretically afford. They fetched up at Heol Fanog, a remote farmhouse nestled in the foothills of the Brecon Beacons in South Wales. It looked lovely. It was, by all accounts, absolutely not lovely.
During a home birth — already, let’s be honest, not a situation that needs additional horror elements — Liz became convinced she saw a ghostly figure in the room. From that point on, the property reportedly subjected the couple to years of disturbing paranormal activity. Strange disturbances, overwhelming feelings of a presence, and the kind of creeping dread that estate agents traditionally list as ‘full of character.’ Heol Fanog went on to become, according to paranormal researchers, one of the most investigated and exorcised homes in Britain. Which is quite the Rightmove listing.
Danny Robins: The Man Who Makes Ghosts Feel Oddly Plausible
The drama is the creation of Danny Robins, the writer and broadcaster behind the hugely popular BBC Radio 4 podcast Uncanny, which has made a nation of previously rational adults sleep with the lights on. Robins first explored the Heol Fanog case through his podcast series The Witch Farm, weaving together eyewitness testimony, historical research, and just enough ambiguity to make you genuinely unsure whether you believe in ghosts or not. Spoiler: you will, by episode three.
Robins has described the TV adaptation as ‘a supernatural thriller that plays out as the most deliciously dark detective story.’ He also promised to, and we quote, ‘spook you out.’ Furthermore, given his track record, one suspects he will manage this with considerable and deeply inconvenient success.
Wales: Atmospheric Since Roughly Forever
It is worth noting, at this juncture, that Wales has form in this department. The Brecon Beacons are spectacularly beautiful and also look, on a grey November afternoon, precisely like the opening shot of every horror film ever made. Meanwhile, Welsh mythology has always been richly stocked with unsettling folkloric entities — the Tylwyth Teg, the Cyhyraeth, the Cwn Annwn — none of whom, one imagines, are particularly delighted about being gentrified out of the valleys by Londoners looking for a lifestyle change.
Consequently, the setting alone does a great deal of the horror’s heavy lifting before a single ghost has shown up. The BBC, to its credit, is filming on location in Wales, which either shows tremendous commitment to authenticity or suggests someone in production really enjoys a good scenic backdrop with their existential terror.
Should You Watch BBC The Witch Farm?
The four-part series will air on BBC One and iPlayer, and if the podcast is anything to go by, it will be the sort of programme you finish at 11pm and then spend forty-five minutes convincing yourself that the noise from the boiler is definitely just the boiler. However, it is also — and this is the genuinely interesting bit — rooted in first-hand accounts from real people who really lived in that house and really experienced whatever it was they experienced. That is either enormously reassuring in terms of its authenticity, or absolutely the opposite of reassuring in every other conceivable way.
Either way, BBC The Witch Farm looks set to be one of the more compelling things on British television this year. Just perhaps don’t watch it if you’re currently considering a move to rural Wales. Or do. The farmhouses are very affordable.
Read the original story at Paranormal Globe.
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