The Haunting Of Bly Manor: 5 Ups & 4 Downs Review

Drama should initially have one main purpose - to pose mystery and have the audience asking questions. Bly Manor has that in spades, with the first three episodes throwing up all manner of riddles for us to slowly unpick.

Dani, the traumatised au pair, comes with limited literal luggage but a full carousel of metaphorical baggage that weighs as heavily on the audience as it does on her. She displays a nervous disposition and a wide eyed enthusiasm that changes quickly to wide eyed terror, as the plot stakes its claim on multiple mystery boxes - who, or what, is the bespectacled spectre that haunts every reflective surface she glances at?

Why does the seemingly rich, successful Uncle Henry, Dani's employer, want nothing to do with his niece and nephew? In James' source novel, his disinterest is a product of the period setting but here you just know that Flanagan wouldn't throw it up if he was not going to bat it it back eventually.

Equally, the mystery of the children's behaviour goes significantly deeper than simply the manifestations of grief from the loss of their parents that extends to almost all the characters, whose bizarre habits pose enough questions to keep us glued to the screen; Why doesn't the housekeeper Mrs. Grose ever eat? Why did Dani's predecessor drown in the lake?

Flanagan handles the set up deftly and knows precisely how to keep us hooked, initially at least.