Possession sees the viewer having to take the leap into the pretence that hauntings exist.
Lawyer Claudia McKenzie (Gugu Mbatha-Raw – Fuze) is tasked with looking into the estate of Alfred Connaught, who’s passed away, and given his entire estate to a man named Cudjoe East (Sheldon Shepherd – Yardie), far away in Jamaica. Hence, his son, Oliver (Jonny Lee Miller – The Crown Season 6), is non-plussed to say the least, so it’s time for a trip over there to get to the bottom of it.
Unfortunately, I’m not even sure it’ll ever get there, since in addition to some deeply unpleasant scenes, it’s not easy to get into, given its strong Jamaican accents and patois, especially when there’s no subtitles on the previews.
In fact, I had a feeling there’d be a load of weird nonsense thrown into this, and I was right, as it suddenly goes back to the times of slavery, while those that own the house wear terrible wigs around the dinner table. Except for Bel Powley. She’s lovely.
I’m not sure what the writers of this were thinking of when they created this. There’s a stack of voodoo bizarreness, and overall, for a racial tensions-driven drama, Possession is one of the most tedious things I’ve seen since Black Earth Rising.
Ep.1 also includes at the end, “Coming up in Possession”. Just cements my thoughts of: What absolute dross.
Possession is on Sky Atlantic from Thursday August 6th.
It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but when it is, it will be listed on the New DVD, Blu-ray, 3D and 4K releases UK page.
However, you can buy the novel in paperback.
Cert: 
Running time: 45-50 minutes (5 episodes)
Release date: August 6th 2026
Studio: Sky
Format: 2.39:1
Director: Storm Saulter
Writers: Jefferson Bannis, Karla Crome
Music: Vince Pope, Ayanna Witter-Johnson
Cast:
Claudia McKenzie: Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Oliver Connaught: Jonny Lee Miller
Cudjoe East: Sheldon Shepherd
Charlotte: Bel Powley
Mercy: Nadean Rawlins
Tom McKenzie: Sean Gilder
Sarah: Shantol Jackson
Patsy Dawkins: Oluniké Adeliyi
Eugene Desfrienes: Richard Dillane
Flora: Diveen Henry
Kenneth Connaught: Jack Bandeira
Sarah: Shantol Jackson
Angelo: Jeff Crossley
Betina: Safina Simpson
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.