Television series

The Woman in White

Name: The Woman in White
Genre: Drama, Thriller, Mystery
Released: 2018
Cast: Jessie Buckley, Olivia Vinall, Dougray Scott, Art Malik, Ben Hardy

Other titles called The Woman in White: the 1948 film, the 1997 film.

Mystery

A tight, clever adaptation of Collins's Victorian thriller about a chance meeting that unravels a web of identity theft, institutional abuse, and dangerous secrets. Jessie Buckley is electric as the scheming Marian Halcombe, the real engine of the story. Smart, propulsive, genuinely unsettling—it respects the source material while never letting the pace flag.

TVMaze rating

3.3

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy Victorian mysteries where the menace lives in country houses and in what people refuse to say, the slow-burn gothic kind where atmosphere carries the story.

Skip it if you want a brisk, twisty thriller with fast cuts, since this moves at a measured, dialogue-heavy pace and needs patience with its exposition.

What it asks of you: Five one-hour episodes, so a few evenings rather than a binge; the pace is unhurried and the mood stays dark and clammy, with little comic relief.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Bodyguard2018

Taut British thriller that builds impossible tension from ordinary people trapped by circumstance and secrets. Like The Woman in White, it treats plotting as an art form and never wastes a scene.

But Relies on convenient coincidences in the final act. The resolution asks you to accept some leaps in logic.

The Miniaturist2017

BBC period mystery with the same slow-reveal architecture: a young woman drawn into a household's dark secrets, Gothic atmosphere without camp, and Jessie Buckley doing brilliant, quiet work.

But Shorter than you'd want and deliberately ambiguous about what's real. Some viewers find the dreamlike quality frustrating.

Fingersmith2005

Sally Potter's adaptation of Sarah Waters is the gold standard for Victorian intrigue with twists. Like Woman in White, it's about women plotting and outwitting each other, with a twist that remakes everything.

But The pace is deliberate, sometimes glacial. You have to commit to the atmosphere rather than speed.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Woman in White

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Dangerous Liaisons1988

Both hinge on a conspiracy between a man and woman to exploit someone's identity. Both understand that charm and manipulation are interchangeable.

Frears's film is about scheming aristocrats weaponizing secrets and identity just like The Woman in White, but registers as ruthless seduction rather than Gothic mystery. Glenn Close and John Malkovich do Marian and Percival's dangerous games in 18th-century France instead of Victorian England.

But Glacially paced and morally repellent—all the characters are contemptible. Some find elegance no substitute for warmth.

Broadchurch2013

Modern mystery with period-drama precision: a puzzle that genuinely holds together, superb ensemble acting, and the understanding that secrets destroy communities from within. Immersive and bitter.

But Bleak to the point of despair. Some plot mechanics in season two frustrate viewers who loved season one's logic.

The Essex Serpent2022

Period drama about obsession and belief, gorgeously shot, with Clemence Poesy and Tom Hiddleston at odds. Thoughtful and strange in a way that lingers.

But Plotwise it drifts. Character and mood matter more than narrative momentum, which can feel self-indulgent.

Penny Dreadful2014

Victorian horror that treats its Gothic machinery seriously. Dark, strange, beautifully acted ensemble drama with real stakes and moral complexity. Eva Green is mesmerizing.

But Shifts from literature to literature, so coherence fractures. Some episodes prioritize atmosphere over sense.

The Knick2014

Period thriller about medicine, ambition, and corruption in 1900s New York. Propulsive, savage, visually inventive. Clive Owen is magnetic; the ensemble is razor-sharp.

But Extremely graphic about surgery and addiction. Stylish but sometimes style overwhelms substance.

Jamaica Inn2014

Daphne du Maurier adaptation with Mary-Louise Parker and Chris Eccleston. Excellent mystery plotting, romantic tension, and a sense of place. Underrated and genuinely gripping.

But The tone swerves between serious and pulpy. Some find it uneven; others love the inconsistency.

The Little Stranger2018

Sarah Waters's novel adapted with restraint and dread. Post-war Gothic that's more about class anxiety and reality unraveling than ghosts. Precisely calibrated and haunting.

But Slow and oblique. If you want answers and catharsis, this film denies you both. Requires patience.

Stalker1979

Both are about obsession drawing you deeper into a world where the rules aren't what you thought. Both trust mystery more than revelation.

Tarkovsky's sci-fi meditation about secrets, desire, and the unknowable. Slow cinema that trusts you to sit with dread. Visually immense and philosophically disturbing in ways that linger far longer than jump scares.

But Three hours of deliberate pacing. Shot in muted colours, dialogue-sparse. If you want plot, you will be bored senseless.

Le Samouraï1967

Both are about identity as performance and deception. Both ask: what remains when you strip away the lie?

Melville's masterpiece: austere, precise, hypnotic. Alain Delon moves through a Paris underworld with absolute control. Visual storytelling at its most elegant—barely a word of dialogue, everything is gesture and geometry.

But Completely opposite energy to Woman in White: cool where that's hot, minimal where that's ornate. A film about a man with no interior life watching a woman with secrets.