Review: The Witchfinder

OK, in a Venn diagram with people who love comedy, are fixated on the 17th Century, and think that the Gibbons brothers are geniuses ( genii?), I am slap bang in the middle dunking hobnobs into my evening Ovaltine. I am basically the target audience for their new comedy The Witchfinder, but I can also be a pedantic pillock about history which I hope balances out my natural tendency to gush over anything related to said Venn diagram.

Tim Key stars as the eponymous Witchfinder transporting the suspected witch (Daisy May Cooper) to a trial that could rescue his fortunes. The premise is an odd couple road trip with Daisy taking the Oscar Madison role (google it if your under 50) puncturing the pomposity of Key’s character.

Key does menacing incompetence so brilliantly, and the grifting nature of witchfinding and the Salemesque insanity that took over a large part of the eastern counties of England during the Civil War is well portrayed. There was only one leaping anachronism that is possibly a plot point so I won’t reveal it here. I hope it is a plot point because otherwise the research was generally good – yes I know witches weren’t burned at the stake but the genpop think they were so... The chemistry between Cooper and Key is a real selling point, and the dialogue really sparkles when they get going, but there is a bigger plot being hinted at.

The first episode really sets everything up for the road trip that presumably explores more of England in conflict. Did it make me laugh? Yes, it’s clever if not gag a minute, and I am expecting it to really develop as the two leads take to the road. I’m probably going to end up binging it on Iplayer before the weekend is out.

“…becunts with the letter c.” Just has to be the line of the week for me.

Highly recommended by me, even with my history geek head on. You can catch The Witchfinder on BBC2 at 10pm on Tuesdays or binge the lot on Iplayer