What happens when you combine ‘The Craft,’ a 1996 mystical thriller about troubled high school girls solving the complexities of adolescence through magic, with ‘Big Little Lies’? The series ‘Sanctuary: A Witch’s Tale.’ It’s an adaptation of the debut novel by W.W. James about the community of an idyllic small English town, its dark sides, and the tense, non-obvious at first confrontation between the ordinary and the special.

When the pride of the Sanctuary, quarterback Daniel Whithall, dies at a high school party in an abandoned building, some of the town’s residents begin to question whether it was an accident. Suspicion falls on his ex-girlfriend, Harper Fenn, daughter of a local certified witch who has pledged to help all residents, regardless of religion or lineage, with healing, settling quarrels, and solving other problems. The community is split in two: those who believe Harper killed an ex-boyfriend through magic, and those who are willing to defend the witches' honour to the last. There is a nuance: the suspect has no gift, and every second, if not the first in the city, owes its happiness and fulfilment of even forbidden wishes to her kind mother, Sarah Fenn, trying to please everyone.

It’s more complicated than meets the eye. It’s not even about intricate crime, revealing underworld games and family secrets in every home. The underrated series — it’s marked 5.8 on IMDB — raises the issue of minorities' rights, their relationship with each other and with society outside. All this is wrapped up in the cover of a genre series, an urban fantasy, which you can not go deep into, watch superficially for the sake of entertainment, without asking unnecessary questions. Social problems are demonstrated, organically woven into the plot, but no one pokes the viewers in the nose. No one manipulates the attention, pressing on the sore points with the same techniques, which is a significant plus against the background of a crazy desire to fit into the trend.

‘Sanctuary’ has other pluses besides the plot and its depth: the first season, with its logical conclusion, is available in its entirety. The secondary characters' stories are resolved, and even though the finale is open-ended for the witches, it feels natural. There’s no intrusive hint that watchers need to do something to make season two appear, like stirring up a fuss on social media. Viewers get all their questions answered and can move on, just like the characters.

Stories about witch hunts are not new and have been played out in many variations already, from ‘The Brothers Grimm’ to the fresh Russian series ‘Inye’. The expression and the theme encapsulated in it are shown both literally and figuratively. Up to absurd variants, where the persecution of dissenters turns into a circus with horses. In ‘Sanctuary’ this duality is played up — witches in the series are not only carriers of magical powers, others from birth, but also those who think and live differently. For example, Sarah accepts all Harper’s liberties, treating her not as a stupid child, but as another, independent adult, which is strikingly different from the nature of relationships between ordinary mothers and their ordinary children.

It also begs the question: who is special in this story? Everything is turned upside down when witches in the eyes of the public cease to be a convenient tool for keeping the town alive. The powers for which they were loved are immediately turned into objects of hatred, and goodness, eclipsed by paranoia, is instantly forgotten. In the world of Sanctuary, executing witches on a whim is no longer legal, but that doesn’t stop the people of the city from giving in to a blind impulse of rage and rushing out to burn everyone and everything in their path. In this world, magic is protected by social contract, but that same law, in the form of its hypocritical guardians, turns its back on witches in an attempt to maintain the delicate balance between those who wield magic and those who are outnumbered. Some hold on to their hatred and prejudice, others change and begin to sympathise with the rest of the group. In the end, it’s like always: it’s hard to be strong and special, the world needs such personalities, and they, in turn, have to wade through thorns to the stars to survive and achieve goals, and you can observe it forever.

We follow the investigation of an outsider to the city, DCI Maggie Knight, and choose the stance we feel closest to. In a story not written in black and white only.

Although ‘Sanctuary’ didn’t break ground, the stars involved in its creation are those you’ve probably met in one way or another. Director Justin Molotnikoff has worked on ‘Merlin’, ‘Stranger Things’, ‘Doctor Who’, ‘Da Vinci’s Demons’, and ‘Poldark’. The second director, Lisa Mulcahy, helmed the filming of ‘The Clinic’ and the mini-series ‘The Years.’ The screenplay for ‘Sanctuary’ was written by Debbie Horsfield, known for her adaptation of Winston Graham’s book series, the historical series ‘Poldark,’ which I mentioned above. Elaine Cassidy, who played the role of the witch Sarah Fenn, was in the TV series ‘Discovery of Witches’ and the 2001 retrohorror ‘The Others.’ And Amy De Bruen, mother of quarterback Dan Wheatwall, who died in the series, has starred in ‘Vikings,’ ‘Scary Tales,’ ‘The Garvey Sisters Conspiracy,’ and the detective series ‘Harry Wild.’

Waiting for the return of ‘Mayfair Witches’ or miss the old version of the adventures of Sabrina, where the heroine often started immediately with magical methods of solving problems, avoiding simple ways? Try the series ‘Sanctuary’ — it can brighten up the waiting and boredom, and at the same time give you food for thought.

P.S.

Thank you, people who have read my series review. My name is Adelisse Sayron — in a nutshell, I’m a writer, researcher and event organisator for storytellers (anyone working with narrative).

Periodically I share my opinions on books, film and beyond, writing also on my blog, ‘The Wanderer’s Grimoire’. I look forward to seeing you there!