Hulu Summary:
Welcome to Bedlam Heights, a hip newly converted apartment building whose high-quality apartments offer stylish 21st century living. But behind the facade lie unimaginable horrors, haunted by ghosts of its dark and violent past. Kate lives and works at Bedlam Heights, and is soon surprised by the unexpected arrival of her cousin, Jed, who is convinced Kate is in danger from the spooks of Bedlam.
FYA Summary:
A former English insane asylum where infamous abuse of patients occurred is being reopened as a posh apartment development. What could possibly go wrong? Jed sees dead people (and even receives texts from them), and as a result, has been in-and-out of mental facilities for most of his life. Newly sprung, he receives urgent messages that his cousin, Kate, is in danger at the new apartment building she manages with her awful father. Bedlam Heights has more than enough spooky shenanigans to keep Jed busy and he may just uncover secrets that tie him to the place in ways he never guessed.
Familiar Faces:
Theo James as Jed Harper
Recently seen in Sanditon, and forever immortalized as one of the most tolerable aspects of the Divergent movies. His burgeoning film career is probably to blame for this series being so short-lived. As Jed, Theo manages plenty of time shirtless, performing manual labor and having sympathetic interactions with old women and children, while getting to use his real accent and that excellent bone structure. It’s a true gift.
Charlotte Salt as Kate Bettany
Salt has previously been in BBC’s The Musketeers (which is great, seriously, you may want to just go watch that instead) and The Tudors, but here is playing the thankless stuck-up bitch role, and not even in a secretly sympathetic way. She’s supposed to have some sexual tension with Jed, but seeing as they’re cousins (though not by blood), it’s a tough sell.
Hugo Speer as Warren Bettany
Kate’s father’s family has owned the building for generations, which means his ancestors were responsible for some of the horrors perpetrated on former patients and his answer to making up for all that is to turn this creepy place into overpriced millennial housing. Speer was also in The Musketeers, along with possibly every other British series ever.
Will Young as Ryan McAllister
Ryan is one of Kate’s flatmates, who is also a tech wiz and quickly takes to Jed and helps him figure out more about their ghostly neighbors. Young has far more soundtrack credits than acting credits, so I’m not even sure what he’s doing here.
Ashley Madekwe as Molly Lucas
Madekwe has been in lots of fun recent shows, including Tell Me a Story, season one of The Umbrella Academy, and the Four Weddings and a Funeral series. As Molly, she’s Kate’s other flatmate and best friend and by far, the most sympathetic person on the show. But Molly, you in danger, girl.
Couch-Sharing Capability: Mysterious Loner
You could just live-text this show to a friend, which is how mine got me to watch it. However, on one hand, it would definitely be helpful to have someone nearby to turn to and frequently ask “wait, what just happened?” but then if it’s someone who would make fun of you for watching this silly show, you may want to just keep Theo James to yourself. No judgement.
Recommended Level of Inebriation: Liquid Courage
One Rotten Tomatoes reviewer described Bedlam as “Melrose Place meets Ghost Whisperer”, so yeah, you’re gonna need some drinks. Between the atrocities committed at a mental asylum for generations, and the somewhat nonsensical storytelling style, it’ll all just go down easier with libations. I recommend that you drink anything but whatever terrifying neon concoctions the characters on this show seem to favor.
Use of Your Streaming Subscription: But Like Really, What Else Are You Doing?
(Although, if you live in one of those countries that’s managed this pandemic much better than the U.S. go to a bar instead, and tell us all about it in the comments.)
Given the huge luxury apartments in this series, complete with super aggressive paint and wallpaper schemes, Bedlam is almost like watching HGTV. You know, if House Hunters real estate was also sinister and super haunted. Then there’s the surprising twist where no one in this show thinks anything of the fact that the building is still in the midst of being renovated and is a liability nightmare waiting to happen. And that’s if the malevolent spirits don’t kill them first. But really, what apartment complex is perfect?
The amount of time you will spend asking aloud “Why does anyone even live here?” almost makes up for all that actual living you’ve been missing out on during quarantine. And I don’t know about you, but judging fictional characters’ life choices is my favorite hobby. Plus, I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this, but Theo James is extremely hot.
