I haven't read the novel, but this series was less chilling than Wolf Rilla's 1960 version "The Village of the Damned." The children in that version, with their blond(e) hair, were eerily like the Nazis' ideal German youths. That look was out this time round, because London-centric casting directors nowadays insist on populating dramas and adverts with mixed-race couples and children. That may well be what they'd like to see and also the best way forward, since if in future everyone was coffee-coloured there would be no racism, but it's a totally dishonest picture of where we are now. Black people constitute only 3 to 3.5% of the UK's population. That proportion is much higher in London, but we saw Keeley Hawes going to Marylebone station to get a Chiltern Line train, and the announcer mentioned Amersham and Chorleywood: I seriously doubt there are many black people in the Chilterns' towns and villages. The funny thing is we still get black actors saying they're under-rather than over-represented in the UK, and have to go to the US for work. Keeley played a role filled by George Sanders in the original (another sign of the times, I suppose.) She was excellent as ever, while Max Beesley scowled a lot. Aisling Loftus made the biggest impression, and I certainly want to see more of her work.

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