The Woman in the Wall is the upcoming gothic BBC series that is set to shed light on Ireland's most horrific institution, the Magdalene Laundries.
Viewers will see Luther actress Ruth Wilson take on the lead role of Lorna Brady, whose life continues to spiral after her incarceration at fifteen in Ireland and the Catholic Church's scandalous Magdalene Laundries, where "fallen women" were sent to answer for their "sins" such as adultery and teenage pregnancy.
BBC's official synopsis explains: "The convent was home to one of Ireland's infamous Magdalene Laundries," adding it was "a place where women were taken when they fell afoul of the social mores of their times."
"Very few women were able to go on and lead relatively normal lives, and others, such as Lorna, were even less fortunate in their fate. One thing all survivors had in common is that none of them would ever forget," it's said.
Lorna, who has suffered from sleepwalking since her time experiencing the horrors of the institution, wakes up one morning to find a woman's corpse at her home in the small, fictional Irish town of Kilkinure without any recollection of how it got there.
That's when Detective Colman Akande (played by Peaky Blinders' Daryl McCormack) comes along to investigate Lorna for a crime that appears to be unrelated to the dead woman in her home. However, he also harbours a few dark secrets of his own...
Dubbing the series "distinct, stirring and revelatory", BBC has also teased that the show will be a mix of dark humour and psychological horror.
The dark psychological drama examines the scandalous relationship between an older woman and a much younger man.
Most importantly, the show will highlight the brutalities of the Magdalene Laundries, which operated in Ireland for more than 200 years, with the last one officially closing as recently as 1996.
Tens of thousands of "fallen women" were sent to the institutions to serve a life of servitude for the likes of prostitution, getting pregnant out of wedlock or as a result of sexual abuse, or generally not conforming to societal standards.
Ruth has executive produced the project alongside BAFTA Award-nominated Joe Murtagh. The latter said of the project: "My family is from Mayo, the county in which the fictional Kilkinure is set, and it deeply frustrates and saddens me that it feels so few people have heard of the Laundries that existed across Ireland.
"I hope that by making something that has the familiarity of a genre piece, we are able to shed some light on the awful things that occurred within these kind of institutions and introduce this history to the wider public, so that nothing like it may ever happen again."
Meanwhile, Ruth added of her character: "Lorna Brady is a complex and fascinating character, and I'm thrilled to help bring her to life. In The Woman in the Wall, Joe has created both an enthralling gothic thriller and a moving examination of the legacy of The Magdalene Laundries. It's a privilege to bring this story to screens."
The series has been directed by Harry Wootliff and Rachna Suri.
As of yet, there is no trailer, and a release date has yet to be confirmed by the BBC.
