Afterlife (TV series)
| Afterlife | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre |
Mystery Supernatural drama |
| Created by | Stephen Volk |
| Starring |
Lesley Sharp Andrew Lincoln Kate Duchêne Anna Wilson-Jones |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) |
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| No. of series | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 14 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Tammy Chopling Murray Ferguson |
| Producer(s) | Don Bell |
| Location(s) |
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| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Clerkenwell Films |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV, STV, UTV |
| Picture format | 16:9 |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Original release | 24 September 2005 – 11 November 2006 |
Afterlife (stylised as afterlife) is a British television drama series, produced by independent production company Clerkenwell Films for the ITV network. The series follows the activities of a psychic medium who appears to have the ability to communicate with the spirits of the dead. First broadcast in 2005, the show ran for two series, and after the end of the second series ITV decided not to renew it.
The main characters of the series are the psychic, Alison Mundy (played by Lesley Sharp) and the academic who becomes involved with her due to his skeptical interest in the paranormal, Dr Robert Bridge (Andrew Lincoln). Set in Bristol, each of the six one-hour episodes of the first series sees Alison become involved in the appearance of a spirit and attempting to discover why it has come back to haunt the living. Robert becomes involved in the first episode, when Alison first moves to Bristol and her activities inadvertently result in the suicide of one of his students.
Following this, Robert decides to study Alison for a book. Alison's interest in Robert stems from her ability to see the spirit of his young son, whom Robert cannot see. Throughout the series a recurring theme is Alison's attempt to have Robert fully come to terms with the death of his son so that the boy's spirit can be eased and he can fully move on. In the first series it is learnt that Alison was seriously injured in a train crash several years before. The other survivors of the train crash seek her out to contact their own lost loved ones in the final episode of the first series, almost causing Alison's own death. Later, in the second series, it is established that Alison had these powers since she was little, the first 'ghost' she saw was her grandfather. During the second series, Robert is diagnosed with cancer. He dies in the series finale, after having spent much of the series helping Alison to overcome mental problems brought about by the ghost of her mother. He also reconciles her with her father.
The programme was created by experienced television scriptwriter Stephen Volk, much of whose previous work had involved the paranormal, most famously the 1992 Screen One play Ghostwatch for BBC One. Volk also wrote five of the six episodes of the first series, the exception being the fifth episode which was scripted by Charlie Fletcher. The producer was Murray Ferguson, and the directors were Maurice Phillips (episodes 1 & 2), Charles Beeson (episodes 3 & 6) and Martyn Friend (episodes 4 & 5). The second series was directed by Charles Beeson, Martyn Friend and Ashley Pearce. The episodes were written by Stephen Volk, Mark Greig, Guy Burt and Mike Cullen. The music for both series was composed by Edmund Butt.
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