TV & Movies

The Trailer For BBC's Black Narcissus Is Here & It's Very Dark Indeed

The series is based on Rumer Godden’s best-selling novel about sexual repression and forbidden love.

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GEMMA ARTERTON as Sister Cloddagh in a nun's habit with a staff against a dark spooky-looking sky
FX / Pari Dukovic

BBC One just dropped the trailer for gothic new series Black Narcissus, an adaptation of Rumer Godden’s best-selling novel about sexual repression and forbidden love. And, from the looks of the trailer, it's set to be a creepy watch.

Lead by Bafta award-winning writer Amanda Cole, the three-part series will be heading to BBC ONE this December. With its portrayal of "dark secrets" and "haunting mysteries", Black Narcissus has all the makings of a good winter watch.

The series is set in 1934, during the British rule of India, and follows an ambitious nun to a rooftop palace in the Himalayas.

Former Bond Girl Gemma Arteton stars as Sister Clodagh, one of the young nuns of St. Faith who end up at the remote clifftop palace once known as the ‘House of Women’. As you probably would expect, the House of Women holds many dark secrets. It belongs to General Toda Rai (Kulvinder Ghir), who hopes the Sisters of St. Faith will rid the ‘House of Women’ of unhappy memories connected to his late sister, Srimati.

Arteton is almost unrecogniseable as Clodagh, who finds herself battling desires at odds with what she believes to be her calling as a nun. As Sister Clodagh whispers hauntingly in the trailer, "This is an unusual place and we should expect unusual things." Meanwhile BBC One teases that "the haunting atmosphere of the palace" eventually takes its toll on the nuns.

In a statement, series writer Amanda Coe said: “I’m thrilled to be adapting Black Narcissus for BBC One. It’s a truly extraordinary love story, as well as a brilliantly unsettling piece of 20th century gothic about the power of a place to get under your skin and the dangers of refusing to learn from history.”

Black Narcissus will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer this December. In the U.S it will air on FX on 23rd November and the next day on FX on Hulu.

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