We’re now half-way through the gothic thriller The Woman In The Wall, and the mystery is only getting deeper and darker.
The troubling story of Lorna Brady (played by Ruth Wilson), the murder of a priest and potentially another woman’s death in the fictional Irish town of Kilkinure is presented in parallel to the horrifying real-life scandal that surrounded Ireland’s historical use of Magdalene Laundries and “care” homes, where young single woman were put to work while their babies were put up for adoption without their consent.
In the latest episode, after a tip off from a missing woman’s husband, Detective Colman Akande (Daryl McCormack) comes close to making a link between what happened to the women in these homes and their children as he uncovers an old newspaper report in the Kilkinure Examiner linking the deceased Father Percy with something called "The House Of The Sacred Shepher".
The newspaper article reads as Catholic propaganda, branding women who have children out of wedlock as shameful and unholy; a blight on their country’s moral code.
Detective Colman draws the connection between The Convent Of The Seven Joys, where Lorna and her friend Clemence were sent as teenagers and had their babies stolen from them, and The House Of The Sacred Shepherd, an adoption agency that took these babies illegally and rehomed them, presumably aided by Father Percy, and the currently missing woman, Aoife Cassidy.
Here’s what we could make out from a screen grab of the micro-film that the Detective uncovered.
Adoption Society’s Success Continues To Grow …. However the rise in births to unwed mothers in recent years has necessitated additional intervention with several adoption societies seeking to cure the stress that illegitimate births place on religious orders who look after our country’s orphanages and mother & baby homes and industrial schools.
The House Of The Sacred Shepherd is responsible for joining the various religious orders in Ireland with Catholic couples of comfortable means to identify appropriate - new babies and children for adoption. This has led to an increased number of illegitimate children successfully reemerging back into Irish society.
To date, the majority of the adoptions they have overseen have taken place in Co. Dublin…
…operation throughout the rest of the country and allow them to seek further adoption for children up to the age of 11.
While there is still much work to be done to address the shocking rise in illegitimate births in our nation, the successful placement of these children within strong Catholic homes by The House Of The Sacred Shepherd Adoption Agency is a blessing and a much-needed step towards restoring our great nation of Ireland’s moral character.”
Alongside the document that Lorna recovered explaining what happened to her baby, it now gives us a link between Father Percy and the missing Aoife Cassidy, who was there when Lorna’s baby girl, called Agnes, was taken from her in the convent. What we still don’t know is where Aoife is, a mystery that will hopefully be revealed in the next episode of this brutal but gripping series.
The Woman In The Wall continues on Monday on BBC One at 9pm, with the episodes also available on BBC iPlayer.
