The Secret of Crickley Hall: episode 2, BBC One, review No one wants the fear of God put into them on a Sunday evening, least of all when watching prime time BBC One. Fortunately, there's little chance of that in the second episode of Joe Ahearne's television adaptation of James Herbert's best-selling ghost story. The Secret of Crickley Hall is certainly not for those who revel in being truly terrified, but if, like this writer, you favour an engrossing plotline which occasionally raises the heart-rate, to the sort of true horror which leaves you sweat-drenched and sleepless, Ahearne's offering will appeal. The first episode of this three-part drama saw Gabe Caleigh, played by Tom Ellis (of Miranda fame), move himself and his family to a large old house in a remote part of the northern countryside in an attempt to take his wife, Eve's, mind off the one year anniversary of the disappearance of their six year old son. However, this quiet getaway wasn't to last, and soon the family were beset by paranormal activity, or to be more specific, a maniacal poltergeist with a penchant for corporal punishment. It transpired that during World War Two the house had served as an orphanage run by an unhinged man by the name of Augustus Cribben, played to devilish perfection by Douglas Henshall, who has succeeded in creating a character both skin crawlingly repugnant and thoroughly frightening (a sort of cross between Lucius Malfoy and the self-flagellating monk from The Da Vinci Code). Cribben savagely caned the children in his care for the smallest of infractions, supported wholeheartedly by his equally unpleasant sister. In this second episode Ahearne's series continues to move seamlessly between the present-day and 1943. Eve, played with characteristic sincerity by Suranne Jones, serves as the lynchpin of the drama; her belief that the ghosts of the children in the house will lead her to her missing son is what drives the plot and ensures that the family remain in the house despite the two hospitalisations which occur thanks to Mr Cribben and his cane. Olivia Cooke burns with righteous indignation as Nancy Linnett, the orphans" teacher and the other strong female protagonist in the drama. She continues her quest to expose the abuse being perpetrated by the Cribbens but is dismissed by the clergyman and doctor she approaches with her concerns as a young girl with a fanciful imagination. In light of the recent revelations regarding child abuse the reactions of these two institutional figures seem particularly poignant.. Episode two of The Secret of Crickley Hall certainly encompasses all of the clichés one would associate with a television adaptation of a ghost story: an old haunted house, an elderly gentleman with a story to tell, and even a medium, not to mention a somewhat overly dramatic orchestral score. However, it also offers a rich storyline which juxtaposes a sensitive contemporary portrayal of the loss of a child with a disturbing exploration of child abuse before it was formally recognised. It may not be as terrifying as Kubrick's The Shining, to which one of its characters comically alludes, but it is gripping from start to finish.