BBC Reveals First Look at The Witch Farm, a New Welsh Ghost Story Inspired by the Heol Fanog Mystery

The BBC has released the first images from The Witch Farm, offering an atmospheric glimpse at a new four-part supernatural mystery inspired by first-hand accounts, theories and real events surrounding an isolated farmhouse in Wales.

But one important detail separates the forthcoming television drama from the earlier BBC Radio 4 production: Joseph Fiennes and Alexandra Roach are not leading the new screen adaptation. They portrayed Bill and Liz Rich in the original 2022 audio series. For the television version, those roles are played by Michael Socha and Gabrielle Creevy.

Coming to BBC One and BBC iPlayer, the 4×60-minute drama is written and created by Danny Robins, whose previous paranormal projects include Uncanny, The Battersea Poltergeist and 2:22 – A Ghost Story.

A Fresh Start in Wales Begins to Unravel

The story takes viewers to South Wales in 1989.

Bill Rich, played by Michael Socha, and Liz Rich, played by Gabrielle Creevy, leave London with their teenage son Jonathan, portrayed by Lewin Lloyd. Their destination is Heol Fanog, a remote farmhouse in the foothills of the Brecon Beacons.

The family hopes the move will provide an opportunity to begin again. Initially, the property’s isolation feels liberating. Before long, however, unexplained disturbances begin occurring around the farmhouse, accompanied by sightings of a mysterious figure.

As the incidents accumulate, Bill and Liz start searching for answers. Their investigation gradually pulls them into the history of the house and surrounding land, while pressures within their own relationship also begin coming to the surface.

Rather than presenting the mystery simply as a conventional haunted-house tale, the premise places questions of trust and belief at the center of the family’s ordeal. The deeper Bill and Liz investigate, the more difficult it becomes to separate what might be happening around them from what is happening between them.

The Real Mystery Behind The Witch Farm

The television series grew out of Danny Robins’ BBC Radio 4 podcast The Witch Farm, which explored accounts connected to Heol Fanog and investigated competing explanations for what allegedly occurred there.

That eight-part audio production debuted in October 2022 and combined dramatized sequences with a modern investigation of the case. Joseph Fiennes voiced Bill Rich, while Alexandra Roach played Liz.

The new television drama takes that material in a different direction. According to the production announcement, it is inspired by the first-hand accounts, theories and real events explored in Robins’ podcast. Some characters, chronology and dramatic elements have been adapted for television rather than presented as a literal reconstruction of every reported event.

That distinction is especially important given the nature of the story. The supernatural claims associated with Heol Fanog remain claims and interpretations rather than established proof of paranormal activity.

Indeed, uncertainty was already fundamental to the podcast: its central question was whether the family’s experience represented something genuinely inexplicable or something that could be understood in other ways.

First Images Reveal the New Cast

Alongside Michael Socha and Gabrielle Creevy, the BBC has confirmed Lewin Lloyd as Jonathan.

The supporting cast includes Sian Gibson and Jeremy Swift as neighbours, Robert Pugh as a local farmer and Edward Holcroft as a sceptical investigator brought in to challenge the family’s claims. Roger Evans has also joined the cast in a role that has not yet been disclosed.

The newly released photographs emphasize the rural Welsh environment surrounding the story. Rather than revealing the drama’s biggest mysteries, the images establish the isolation of the farmhouse and introduce the characters who will become drawn into the events around it.

For viewers familiar with the podcast, the television adaptation therefore offers a chance to revisit Heol Fanog through an entirely new cast and a more cinematic interpretation of the mystery.

Danny Robins Brings Another Paranormal Story to Television

The Witch Farm continues Danny Robins’ long-running exploration of stories in which supernatural explanations collide with scepticism.

Robins created and wrote all four episodes, while Stacey Gregg directs the series. Megan Ott serves as producer.

Executive producers include Simon Barnard, Stacey Gregg and Danny Robins, along with James Gandhi and Damien Timmer for Mammoth Screen and Nawfal Faizullah and Rebecca Ferguson for the BBC. Mammoth Screen is producing the drama in association with ITV Studios, with additional support provided by the Welsh Government through Creative Wales.

The original podcast was produced by Bafflegab and Uncanny Media for BBC Radio 4.

A Haunted-House Mystery With a Human Story at Its Center

What may distinguish The Witch Farm from a straightforward supernatural thriller is the way the mystery becomes intertwined with the Rich family’s relationships.

The disturbances lead Bill and Liz to investigate the property, but uncovering its history also forces them to confront secrets and tensions closer to home. Their ability to trust one another becomes increasingly important as they struggle to understand what is happening around them.

That leaves the drama deliberately positioned between several possibilities: a ghost story, a psychological mystery and an examination of what fear can do to a family living in extreme isolation.

And behind all of those possibilities remains the question that made the original investigation so compelling: what really happened at Heol Fanog?

The Witch Farm is coming to BBC One and BBC iPlayer. The BBC has not yet announced a specific premiere date.