The Light in the Hall review – Joanna Scanlan shines in a wintry thriller to curl up with

The Light in the Hall review – Joanna Scanlan shines in a wintry thriller to curl up with

Scanlan plays a grieving mother hoping for answers as the man accused of her daughter’s murder is released from prison – before her body has been found

‘I’m genuinely surprised I haven’t got cancer from hating him so much.’ Sharon (Joanna Hall) is eaten up by the disappearance of her daughter in The Light in the Hall.
‘I’m genuinely surprised I haven’t got cancer from hating him so much.’ Sharon (Joanna Hall) is eaten up by the disappearance of her daughter in The Light in the Hall. Photograph: Alistair Heap/Channel 4

Back to work after Christmas, New Year and the extra days off that have accumulated along the way. A slow reacclimatisation – the sleepy morning commute by a body unused to being heaved out of bed before nature would require it, a slow pad through defamiliarised corridors to a dusty desk, the computer switched on with a weary sigh. And so the grind begins.

Perhaps it is a good thing that the first episode of The Light in the Hall/Y Golau (Channel 4 and S4C) mirrors this process and state of mind so well. A plunge into tense, unforgiving drama might be a shock to the system right now. Anyway, if that is what you want, there’s Happy Valley.

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