In light of Women’s History month, I thought I would look into ‘The Witchfinder’ alongside the rich but tragic history that doomed the women of the Western world. Throughout the centuries from 1400s all the way to the 1800s, women were put on trial by men in power. These women had no chance to live once they were suspected of being a witch and were punished in countless cruel ways. I’ve read ‘The Manningtree Witches’ by A.K. Blakemore, so I was bound to enjoy the BBC 2 programme, ‘The Witchfinder’.
The narrative follows the simple village lady, Thomasine Gooch, as she is falsely accused of being a witch by a struggling witch finder, Gideon Bannister (Tim Key). The story takes place in Essex, which was rife for witch trials and conspiracy in 1674 – the era this was set. This six-part television series encounters many problems in my eyes. Although Thomasine is supposed to be an Essex lady, she has a trifling Cornish accent, which does not suit the narrative logically. But most of all, the show depicts women in an outdated light. The women are repeatedly put down by the men, as they are not seen to be admirable or role-model worthy. I was hoping ‘The Witchfinder’ would paint the women in a different light and uplift these powerful women who went through such terrible times in a community ruled by men fearing what women can achieve…but we can’t all get what we want.
On first impressions, I saw many recognisable faces from programmes I have watched and loved before. The most recognisable face for me being Daisy May Cooper, who plays the female protagonist Thomasine Gooch. Other notable faces include Kiell Smith-Bynoe and Katy Wix from one of my guilty pleasure shows, Ghosts (BBC One). I enjoyed the camera work as the unsteady handheld feature felt humane and not like a camera simply on a tripod amongst other pieces of technology. Although I rated the unserious style of narrative and the colloquial acting, it is quite hard to ignore what they are trying to dumb down…the killing of innocent women.
According to Historic UK, an estimated 200,000 witches were tortured, burnt, or hanged in Western Europe for numerous centuries until the mid-1800s. For the show to be centred around this tragic time for women, and especially being released on International Women’s Day, we can only count this as insensitive, no? After all, what is funny about the history of women in the 17th century being hanged on false or weak prosecutions?
Additionally, the only reason that Thomasine is being put to trial is because Gideon is failing at his job and needs a scapegoat – do I hear any sympathy for Gideon? Again, no! The premise of the narrative shows the superiority complex that the men had over women at the time, which personally I do not think needed to be satirised and made into light comedic entertainment.
One feature of the show I did enjoy, were the fleeting moments when Thomasine digs at Gideon’s masculine ego. Moments like this, such as when she downplays his pompous remarks or catches a rabbit easier than him, allows momentary happiness for us women. A turning point for me in this programme is when Gideon begins to realise his wrong-doings and toxic masculinity, and begins to want to save Thomasine from being accused of a witch. This revelation makes up for the narrative slightly.
The show was released on the 8th March 2022 and is available on iPlayer to watch to binge (like I did), or you can watch week by week every Tuesday on BBC2 at 10pm if you want to tune in conventionally!I rate this a 6/10