We are halfway through October and the inundation of Halloween-related programmes has begun. Most of it is the televisual equivalent of the worthless tat that fills the supermarkets. The first plastic pumpkin/piece of polyester fancy dress to grace the schedules is Witches of Essex, a three-part documentary about real-life witch trials presented by X Factor star and Essex boy Rylan Clark and anthropologist and professor of public engagement in science Alice Roberts. The dynamic is awkward, with Rylan – a quick, witty man and effortlessly engaging presenter – essentially forced into the role of a thick everyman, there to listen to Roberts and other experts and ask questions on behalf of the dumbo audience.
On the plus side, Witches of Essex is not one of those tiresome programmes about supernatural forces, sending celebrities into haunted houses to investigate whether ghosts or goblins are real. (That drivel tends to come closer to Halloween – I would avoid anything H-focused from now on.) It looks at matters of historical record – Essex being witch-hunting central in the 16th and 17th centuries – and focuses on three of the most famous trials of the time.
