Father Jacob(Martin Shaw) is an English priest whose job entails him to investigate claims of miracles worldwide. Using the evidence gained he has an important role to play in saying who gets canonised as a Saint. Its while investigating the claims of a budding novice priest Vimal, who as a boy in India had suffered from Leprosy and then been cured by Mother Teresa of Calcutta after a brief meeting, that he becomes aware of some strange events surrounding the death of Mother Teresa, she was seemingly possessed by a demon before she died, so with Vimal showing the signs of this himself, Jacob believes the demon may have taken up residence inside Vimal too. He seeks out the help of an old friend Monsignor Vincenzo, who happens to be the Vatican's chief Exorcist in Rome, he tells Jacob that demons have already been in touch with him and that they have warned Jacob off being the next Chief Exorcist, slightly sceptical Jacob laughs it off and says he has no intentions of becoming an Exorcist, Vincenzo explains that the demons fear this most of all as it will slow their final push for world domination. However some startling turns of events and some personal tragedy soon hurl Jacob towards his fate.
I stumbled on this recent series completely by accident, so I had no preconceived ideas on its merits other than I liked Martin Shaw and the religious aspects greatly appealed to me. Written and directed by Joe Ahearne, Apparitions was a pet project of Shaw's for some time before the BBC decided to take up the option. Consisting of six 1 hour episodes, it follows Father Jacob's plight as he becomes embroiled in a series of possessions that drags him against his will into being an Exorcist. His immediate superior is Cardinal Bukovak is none too pleased either especially as the cases become very public, Jacob is warned his position may become untellable and he risks excommunication. After some gruesome deaths, Jacob finds a spy in his midst that brings that possibility forward. The episodes have separate stories, but there is an ongoing plot that threads them all together. Plot lines include, a child in danger who pleads for Jacob's help as she believes her father to be possessed, an abortion clinic where the anti Christ is due to be born, a Muslim boy who sees Christian visions, which could cause a religious war and the imminent arrival of a demon army hell-bent on world domination, a busy time for a priest not particularly enamoured by a role forced on him.
Some mighty big ideas for a TV production, you might think, but to my surprise its all superbly done, Ahearne's scripts are taut and crammed with intriguing ideas that cleverly link in recent world events political social and religious, so as to give the whole thing a credibility and also propose the idea that the theories that all we know of these events may not in fact be true. Appartions is a very credible attempt at bringing ideas from such films as The Exorcist, The Omen and Stigmata into one plot and it has to be said it all works incredibly well, there's even time to include more topical issues like sexuality of priests. The special effects of possession are superbly realised, certainly better than most cinematic outings, the acting is also top notch, there's not a bad or hammy performance to be found, in fact if there's one thing that makes this intelligent production stand out, its that it made this Atheist fear the fires of hell and almost want to take up religion again, lest my soul be eternally damned and all this despite the fact it doesn't ram religion down your throat. It really is very well directed and the pacing is spot on, in fact after the first hour I thought I'd watched twice that as there had been that much crammed in. Its also a damn good thriller with more than a air of religious mystery and the ending has the double whammy of being both wrapped up nicely and yet still left quite open ended, I hope...no, pray that there is another series.
I stumbled on this recent series completely by accident, so I had no preconceived ideas on its merits other than I liked Martin Shaw and the religious aspects greatly appealed to me. Written and directed by Joe Ahearne, Apparitions was a pet project of Shaw's for some time before the BBC decided to take up the option. Consisting of six 1 hour episodes, it follows Father Jacob's plight as he becomes embroiled in a series of possessions that drags him against his will into being an Exorcist. His immediate superior is Cardinal Bukovak is none too pleased either especially as the cases become very public, Jacob is warned his position may become untellable and he risks excommunication. After some gruesome deaths, Jacob finds a spy in his midst that brings that possibility forward. The episodes have separate stories, but there is an ongoing plot that threads them all together. Plot lines include, a child in danger who pleads for Jacob's help as she believes her father to be possessed, an abortion clinic where the anti Christ is due to be born, a Muslim boy who sees Christian visions, which could cause a religious war and the imminent arrival of a demon army hell-bent on world domination, a busy time for a priest not particularly enamoured by a role forced on him.
Some mighty big ideas for a TV production, you might think, but to my surprise its all superbly done, Ahearne's scripts are taut and crammed with intriguing ideas that cleverly link in recent world events political social and religious, so as to give the whole thing a credibility and also propose the idea that the theories that all we know of these events may not in fact be true. Appartions is a very credible attempt at bringing ideas from such films as The Exorcist, The Omen and Stigmata into one plot and it has to be said it all works incredibly well, there's even time to include more topical issues like sexuality of priests. The special effects of possession are superbly realised, certainly better than most cinematic outings, the acting is also top notch, there's not a bad or hammy performance to be found, in fact if there's one thing that makes this intelligent production stand out, its that it made this Atheist fear the fires of hell and almost want to take up religion again, lest my soul be eternally damned and all this despite the fact it doesn't ram religion down your throat. It really is very well directed and the pacing is spot on, in fact after the first hour I thought I'd watched twice that as there had been that much crammed in. Its also a damn good thriller with more than a air of religious mystery and the ending has the double whammy of being both wrapped up nicely and yet still left quite open ended, I hope...no, pray that there is another series.