Marchlands

- Season 1

(2011)

In 1968 Ruth and Paul Bowen mourn the death by drowning of their eight year old daughter Alice in the Marchlands area around their rural house. Ruth believes Paul blames her and is distant from her but both of them ally against his mother Evelyn,when she suggests that Alice's bedroom be turned into a sewing room. Nineteen years later Helen and Eddie Maynard now live in the house and are troubled when their little girl Amy tells them that a ghost called Alice is her imaginary friend,the more so when Amy's pet cat is killed,supposedly by Alice. In 2010 expectant Nisha ...

Evelyn persuades Paul and a reluctant Ruth to seek help from a priest,Father Boyle,but his main argument,that the couple should try for another child,does not comfort Ruth. Seeing Alice's crucifix on her headstone prompts Ruth to ask for a police investigation but again she gets no satisfaction. Helen and Eddie take Amy to see a psychiatrist,on whose advice they read up on mental disorders but to Amy Alice is only too real,complete with hand prints,and Amy becomes annoyed with her 'friend' for getting her into trouble. Laid up with a broken leg Nisha discovers ...

In 1968 Ruth and Paul are told that his low sperm count makes it unlikely they will have other children. Upset,Ruth leaves the village and meets some students,with whom she gets stoned at a party though she turns down the offer of sex with a lad called Brian. Eddie becomes more and more convinced as he talks to Amy that Alice is indeed a ghost and not an imaginary friend,locating news of her death in the local library archive. In 2010 Nisha gives birth to a daughter,whom she names Alice. Ruth stays on to help and hears evidence of a poltergeist. Scott tells Nisha that...

In 1968 Paul and Ruth reconcile though,after Brian has boasted of sleeping with Ruth,Paul punches him. Robert tells his son he thinks he should take Ruth out of the area to make a fresh start but she is still convinced that there was more to her daughter's drowning than the official verdict,that she wandered off whilst out walking with her grandfather. In 1987,as Scott begins to have epileptic fits,Eddie brings Father Boyle in to exorcise Amy's room,though this leads to a row between Helen and Eddie,causing Amy to run away into the woods,where she is saved from ...

Paul and Ruth leave Marchlands, Ruth vowing to return. After they have gone Evelyn tells Robert she knows all about his affair with Liz Runcie,Olive's mother and makes him reveal the true details of Alice's death,which they decide to keep secret so as not to destroy the family. In 1987 Helen sees Alice,who saves Scott after he has had a fit in his bath. She says nothing but agrees the family should move out. Eddie takes Amy to see Alice's grave before they go,to prove that he believes her. She tells him that Alice writes ASKOR on surfaces,and in 2010 Ruth sees the ...