The Witchfinder
Created, written and directed by Neil Gibbons, Rob Gibbons
Starring
Tim Key as Gideon Bannister
Daisy May Cooper as Thomasine Gooch
Jessica Hynes as Old Myers
Daniel Rigby as Hebble
Tuwaine Barrett as Cumberlidge
Reece Shearsmith as Matthew Hopkins
If you liked Good Omens, the brilliant series based on the Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett novel of the same name, then you’ll probably be willing to devote the three hours it takes to watch all six episodes of The Witchfinder. Now, Good Omens, with Michael Sheen and David Tennant in the main roles, was an absolutely brilliant comedy about the end times. Taking place in the 21st century, the show featured the Witchfinder-General of Great Britain (who got ten shillings, or 50p a year for his efforts) and his somewhat witless lef-tennent, who made about 50p/year less.
How good was it? It was such a good satire of the End Times that the usual gang of Christian idiots, some twenty thousand of them, petitioned Netflix to drop the series immediately as being sacrilegious and blasphemous. Yes, both. Netflix didn’t give them a satisfactory answer, in large part because a) the entire series had already aired, and b) it was on Amazon and not Netflix, so they didn’t have much say in whether it aired, or erred, or annoyed the Pope.
Witchfinder also has a Witchfinder-General, in fact a couple of them, including a large one. It also has dozens of regular witchfinders, this being the 17th century, when the post had considerably more prestige and power, it being legal to burn women at the stake for any odd occurrences that might have been happening, such as rain, lack of rain, farm animals dying, farm animals not dying, and everyone’s favorite, blasphemy, which was whatever the hell the Witchfinder said it was. It probably still paid a half-bob a year, but back then, that was half a pound of sterling, enough to at least pay for silly hats and dramatic capes.
Witchfinder isn’t as complex, and the humor is less sophisticated than what Gaiman and Pratchett came up with, but it does have its moments. The plot is that a rather shabby and down-at-the-heels Witchfinder (Tim Key as Gideon) wants to impress the Witchfinder by bringing a large witch (Daisy May Cooper as Thomasine Gooch) to trial. Gooch had the misfortune to be in the vicinity when someone’s pig died, and instead of making sausage like any sensible society might have done, they decided to hang someone. Or burn them. Or something nasty. Gideon and Gooch start out for the city where the Witchfinder-General resides, but plot complications ensue.
While the humor is a bit uneven, there are moments. For instance, a rival witchfinder, learning that Gideon has taken off to impress the boss, demands to know what town the witchfinder had located the woman in. Gideon’s assistant looked perplexed (which she does quite well) and mumbles that she thinks it was a town whose name began with a “ch” sound. The witchfinder starts, “Chelsea? Chetenham? Chancerly?” and proceeds to rattle off about thirty names in rapid succession, all starting with “Ch.” The assistant screws up her face and says, “Um, the second one.” The witchfinder, of course, has forgotten what his second choice was.
It’s light entertainment, but it is fun, and it doesn’t make the mistake of taking itself too seriously. As mentioned, it has its moments.
Now on BBC2.