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Young Virgil Kaylock heads to the Yorkshire Moors to take up a job as a bookkeeper, little realising the family dynamic he is about to encounter…

The first story in John Ramm’s tales of Virgil Kaylock is very much an origin story, in that we hear Kaylock’s realisation that there are more things in Heaven and Earth than were previously thought of in his philosophy. Like the young bookkeeper, we are horrified by Rufus Elwood’s attitude towards all around him (there were at least two occasions where I was hoping he would meet a sticky end quite quickly – they’re uncomfortable scenes to listen to from a 2021 perspective, but all too accurate to the way in which people were treated a century ago).

Nick Boulton and Dan Fraser share the lead part – the former as the narrating, older Virgil, the latter as his naïve younger self – and while this does to an extent mean that you don’t really fear for Kaylock’s life at any point, it does provide a dual perspective that works. Emma Pallant’s Elsa and Sam Dale’s Rufus seem horribly mismatched  and you do wonder if the story is going to take a more amorous tone at times.

It’s a good start to the series (although I wonder if the first episode might have been better ended a few moments into episode 2 to give more of a flavour), and it’ll be interesting to  see where Ramm and his team take Kaylock next. 8/10

Paul Simpson