Series Round Up: Lightfields.

I've just finished watching ITV's compelling supernatural drama Lightfields, and wow I am impressed.

I enjoyed the prequel - Marchlands - but felt that it dragged on a bit too long and the 'big twist' wasn't worth the wait. The grandad was being a saucy buggar, who cares.

But ITV managed these ailments by packing much more action and drama into their episodes; not once did I feel bored or even the slightest desire to fast-forward the show. And, the ending is considerably better than Marchlands!

I am, of course, not going to ruin the twist for you, as if you haven't seen the show already it would be pretty pointless! But it did shock even me, and I pride myself on my ability to second guess TV shows and films!

What's so captivating about the Marchlands and Lightfields set-up is the disjointed chronology which, for a first-time viewer, really adds to the tension of the supernatural. Let me explain briefly: both these shows depict three different families' experience in the same house over a period of time. What links these three families is, of course, the house they have all lived in, but also the supernatural phenomena they are faced with during their stay. Each episode flicks from one time period to another without warning or any kind of transition, so you really need to be fully conscious of  what is happening to keep up! 

Lightfields begins amidst the chaos of World War Two; we are introduced to a family in a small village and an evacuee from London who is 'adopted' into the family while she helps around the farm. Cue a budding friendship between the two teenage girls, Lucy (Antonia Clarke) and Eve (Dakota Blue Richards, who you may recognise from the last series of Skins). Trouble arises as they both fall for the same American officer however, leading to a slight falling out. Tragically, Lucy dies shortly after. The rest of the series, in this time period, investigates how she died and whether it was an accident or something more sinister.

The second time period in Lightfields is the mid-70s, so of course we have at least one character in a brown and orange suit with an afro! This family consists of mother Vivien (Lucy Cohu) and daughter Clare (Karla Crome); we soon discover that Vivien was in the village during World War Two, as she is Eve's little sister, but strangely that whole summer seems a blank to her. Did she have something to do with Lucy's death?
Vivien is in the process of writing a book, yet is distracted by strange occurrences at Lightfields: supernatural messages from Lucy, who seems to be agitated and thirsting for revenge. Mother and daughter rely on local Tom, who was also in the village during that summer, and was actually a former love interest of Lucy. From the offset he does seem a bit standoffish with Vivien, like he resents her for some reason. But why?
Our final time period is present day. Lightfields has been converted into a picturesque B&B owned by the son of Pip, Lucy's younger brother. Talk about a coincidence!
Pip's great-grandson, Luke, has a familiar looking 'tooth-fairy' who encourages him to set fire to things. Does the ghost of Lucy want to hurt him? Or is she simply trying to convey a message?
What makes it even more confusing is the fact that Pip denies Lucy's existence until the final episode; even when he is confronted with her grave, which shows she shares his surname and they both lived in the village in 1944 (the year she died), he doesn't acknowledge her as his sister to his own son. Why would he have to hide her, unless he had something to hide himself?
I am aware that this post is full of rhetorical questions, which might be slightly annoying, but I'm trying my hardest not to give any spoilers and so instead am posing the kind of questions I considered whilst watching the series.
Lightfields truly is a gripping watch; the acting is superb and the producers dot the twists about throughout the series rather than having them all in the last 5 minutes, which means you are constantly on the edge of your seat with anticipation over what happened to Lucy. And yes, I do realise how cliche that is, but it is true!

All 5 episodes are still available on catch-up, but be quick as the first episode is only online for another 46 hours! Click here to watch them all.

What did you think of Lightfields? Did you guess the twist? Comment below!