'Midwich Cuckoos': Acorn TV Brings Back A Sci-Fi Classic Right On Time

AMC Networks has acquired Acorn TV, bringing more cozy, British mysteries to US televisions. Amidst all of the David Tenant and Tenant-adjacent shows, the title that immediately caught my eye was Midwich Cuckoos.

You might not recognize the name of John Wyndham’s 1957 novel, but you probably know the movie that was based on it. The book was first adapted to film in 1960 as Village Of The Damned, starring George Sanders and Barbara Shelley. The frightening, tow-headed children looked like this:

In 1995, John Carpenter directed a remake with Kirstie Alley, Mark Hamill, and Christopher Reeve in the starring roles. The kids were just as blond and just as creepy in this version.

Acorn TV’s adaptation was originally produced in 2022. The children are a much more diverse group this time around, but they’re still creepy.

The series stars Max Beesley (The Outsider), Keeley Hawes (Orphan Black: Echoes), Ukweli Roach (Blindspot), Aisling Loftus (A Discovery of Witches), and Lara Rossi (2018’s Robin Hood). It’s another series that probably could have been a two-hour movie, but it’s an interesting juncture for this story to come back around. The seven episodes give us time to examine its cultural relevance.

Cuckoos are sneaky birds. Instead of building their own nests, they lay their eggs in nests built by other birds. The owners of the nest incubate the eggs and raise the babies as their own, unaware they are cuckoos. The small English town of Midwich has a cuckoo problem. After a freak, overnight blackout cuts all power and leaves the residents temporarily comatose, the women of Midwich discover they are all pregnant.

The government immediately steps in — not out of concern for what these unexplained, likely extraterrestrial pregnancies might do to the women’s bodies but to ensure the pregnancies are brought to term. They promise to provide physical, financial, and emotional support, as long as the women agree to participate in the program. However, there’s a catch: they can never leave Midwich or discuss their pregnancies or children with anyone outside the town.

Of course, the women are technically free to terminate their pregnancies. But in a chilling scene, the mysterious fetuses exert control over three women attempting abortions, compelling them to leave the clinic. Every fetus is eventually born.

A significant portion of the story centers on Zoë Moran (Aisling Loftus) and her partner, Sam Clyde (Ukweli Roach), who recently moved to Midwich for a fresh start after a miscarriage. The blackout raises Zoë’s suspicions. DNA tests reveal the children share genetic material with their mothers but none with the men presumed to be their fathers. Zoë struggles to connect emotionally with the baby she was forced to carry, recognizing it as alien—both literally and figuratively. Her attempts to escape are thwarted, leaving her trapped in Midwich and forced to raise a child she neither wanted nor considers her own.

The children develop at an accelerated rate under close government supervision and constant surveillance by the town’s residents. A special school is created for them, and regular tests measure their abilities. They are unnervingly intelligent, capable of reading minds, manipulating others’ actions, controlling the weather, and functioning as an insular, hive-minded group. They are dangerous to anyone they perceive as a threat.

On the surface, Midwich Cuckoos is about an alien species invading Earth in the most insidious way. But beneath that, the series explores themes of distrust and the strain of living under circumstances beyond one’s control. Neighbors turn against each other, families are torn apart, and parents argue over the safety of living among these powerful, enigmatic children. Some mothers fully embrace their children and pay dearly for their loyalty, while others grow suspicious of the government’s involvement or fear the children’s powers.

As those of us in the United States confront the possibility of federal abortion bans with travel restrictions and bounties on women, doctors, and anyone assisting with abortion access, Midwich Cuckoos feels eerily prescient.

All episodes of Midwich Cuckoos are available to stream on Acorn TV/AMC+.