The Witches Of Angel's Rise
- Episode aired Aug 27, 2023
- 1h 33m
When a body is found surrounded by ritual symbols on the eve of a Psychic Fayre, Barnaby must step into the spiritual world of mediums, psychics, and occult followers to find the killer.When a body is found surrounded by ritual symbols on the eve of a Psychic Fayre, Barnaby must step into the spiritual world of mediums, psychics, and occult followers to find the killer.When a body is found surrounded by ritual symbols on the eve of a Psychic Fayre, Barnaby must step into the spiritual world of mediums, psychics, and occult followers to find the killer.
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn the opening credits Mrs Barnaby is packing pamphlets for the fayre one of which is "Night of the Stag Revisited" which is a call back to the episode in season 14 "Night of the stag".
- GoofsFleur misspoke. The heart is located in the chest cavity or thorax, NOT in the abdomen.
- Quotes
Hattie Bainbridge: [Watching Peter hang a poster with her photo] Chuffed to buggery with that!
Peter Saint-Stephens: [laughs] Good, I think.
Gerard King: Saint Hattie steals the limelight again.
Hattie Bainbridge: It's not my fault I'm a teeny, tiny bit marvellous. Oh, don't sulk, Gerard. No-one likes a wet wimple on a sunny day.
- Crazy creditsJonas Wakefield, played by Cian Barry introduces himself and is referred to with his surname by other characters, but in the credits is listed as Jonas Wilson.
It thankfully managed to be an intriguing and unsettling enough episode, though a flawed one. It is nowhere near as good as "The Stitcher Society" and "Happy Families", but it is a huge improvement over "The Wolf Hunter of Little Worthy" and the previous two episodes. "The Witches of Angel's Rise" is not great, with some big issues particularly later on, but even the flaws have been executed far worse in other episodes and there are a lot of great things still.
Beginning with the good things, it's a typically good looking episode, especially the scenery which the photography clearly loves. The music is pleasant and haunting and who can resist the unforgettable theme tune. Most of the acting is fine. Annette Badland continues to be a joy as Fleur with some amusing lines, and still stand by my opinion of her being one of the most consistently great and refreshing aspects of the later episodes. Janine Duvitski and Clive Mantle do a good job in their supporting roles and are particularly good of the solid supporting cast.
Did like most of the atmosphere a lot, there is a real creepiness often and the sombre tone of some scenes didn't bother me at all. Neither did the diversity, and am quite frankly getting really annoyed seeing and hearing the increasingly overused and abused word woke being casually thrown around. The murders are some of the most eerie and most inventive in ages. There are also some relatable themes that are better fleshed out than most of the later episodes to have more serious themes to usual. The mystery is intriguing, is tighter paced than the previous two episodes and the dialogue probes thought.
Having said all that, "The Witches of Angel's Rise" could have been better. Nick Hendrix struck me as rather bland and he doesn't have much spark with Neil Dudgeon, who is increasingly looking and sounding as if he is growing tired of playing Barnaby. Holly Willoughby served absolutely no point to the episode in her short screen time and came over as out of place and annoying.
Worst of all is the final half an hour, which is very rushed and over-stuffed from trying to include far too many revelations in quick succession. The final solution is too cramped, which would have been solved if starting to be revealed earlier so that it took longer to explain and didn't feel as too last minute. It is also too complicated, has a too obvious killer and a too extreme they killed for that-like motive.
Concluding, a bit mixed here. A lot to like, but significantly flawed as well. 6/10.
- TheLittleSongbird
- Jun 19, 2023
Details
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- Filming locations
- Little Missenden, Bucks, UK(The church)
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 33 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 16:9 HD