Come Back Lucy

This BAFTA-nominated adaptation of Pamela Sykes novel was released by ATV in 1978 and revolves around little Lucy who, after the death of her beloved aunt, encounters more than loss and alienation when she is welcomed into the lively household of relatives.

Starting with an unusual sombre tone for a children’s drama, the camera pans across a graveyard where little Lucy (Emma Bakhle) stands in front of a fresh grave, holding a bunch of flowers in her hands. It is the grave of Lucy’s much-loved old Aunt Olive with whom the girl has been living in a Victorian house – we don’t quite learn about Lucy’s backstory and why there don’t seem to be any parents around anymore, we just know she has been raised as an orphan by her aunt. Now that her aunt has passed away, a not particularly sympathetic representative informs the sensitive girl that she is to live together with her Aunt Gwen (Phyllida Law – Emma Thompson’s mum!) and her family in an old house in another town. Despite Gwen, her husband Peter (Royce Mills) and their three children Rachel (Oona Kirsch), Patrick (Russell Lewis) and Bill (Francois Evans) being more than welcoming and trying their best to make Lucy feel at home things get off to a wonky start… Not just because Lucy spotted a strange looking girl dressed in Victorian garb looking at her from an upper window upon her upon her arrival but because Lucy is somewhat old-fashioned and doesn’t seem to fit in with her new surroundings… nor is she interested in befriending the three kids who are too modern and too noisy for her liking. Which is somewhat unfair because even the kids try hard to befriend Lucy.

Soon, the ‘guest’ feels increasingly alienated and misunderstood, not helped by the fact that she dresses in a rather old-fashioned way and doesn’t seem to be remotely interested in the things other teenagers of her age are: pop music, the latest fashion trends and a bit of political anarchy. As for Gwen and Peter, they too seem to have a rather liberal approach to parenthood and there never seems to be a dull moment in the household, much to Lucy’s chagrin who prefers to stay in a ramshackle room as opposed to sharing a bed in Rachel’s cosy room. Via numerous flashbacks we get a glimpse into Lucy’s former quaint and sheltered life living with her much missed Aunt Olive. Things unexpectedly change when one day, while rummaging through old stuff in the attic, she looks in a mirror stacked away behind some painting and the strange girl in Victorian attire re-appears and introduces herself as Alice (Bernadette Windsor) who… yes, you already guessed it, is the ghost of a girl who used to live in the house some one-hundred years ago and is now looking for a companion. That said, her idea of companionship doesn’t involve playing in the modern version of the house but through supernatural forces Alice travels back into the building’s Victorian incarnation… and takes Lucy with her. As the visits in the past become more frequent, so does Lucy’s increasingly confused and anxious state of mind. What’s more, the ghostly Alice holds a certain power over Lucy and doesn’t take too kindly whenever Lucy seems about to tell Aunt Gwen and Uncle Peter as to why she is behaving so strangely. This prompts Gwen to call for Dr. Brown (Blake Butler) who equally seems at a loss and puts Lucy’s increased paranoid behaviour down to the fact that she has yet to get accustomed to her new life and her new surroundings.

One incident in particular sees the family on tenterhooks, namely when Lucy is lured away by Alice on Christmas Eve and is invited to spend a Victorian Christmas complete with nauseating Carol-singing and other ghosts. Although Lucy initially enjoys the odd get-together she makes it clear she needs to get back to the modern world and tensions between Alice and Lucy intensify after the girl manages to escape back to Gwen and family – leaving an angry Alice behind in the netherworld who schemes a plan to keep Lucy in her clutches for all eternity – but will she succeed?

It sounds eerier than it actually is and some viewers (including this reviewer) may find themselves a little hard-pushed finding much sympathy for the squeaky-voiced Lucy who constantly complains about being misunderstood and about not fitting in with her new ‘family’ but is, in fact, a little pain in the butt herself. Compared with other supernatural dramas aimed at adolescents such as ‘The Owl Service’ it has to be pointed out that ‘Come Back Lucy’ comes across as surprisingly tame and twee in comparison.

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