For 50 years, ghosts have prowled the streets at night, keeping the people of the world trapped in their homes, terrified of their lethal touch. No one knows how the Problem started, or why, and it’s rocked the very foundations of society across the globe. Adults are particularly vulnerable to this plague of Visitors, as only children can see, hear or sense them. In light of their peculiar uselessness, it’s up to the kids to fight this new threat and keep the world safe from ghost-touch. Enter the agencies, elite organisations that train talented children into fearless agents, and send them into the streets to destroy marauding spirits. One such psychic investigations agency is Lockwood & Co., a ragtag little outfit run by the dashing Anthony Lockwood, staffed by his loyal associates Lucy and George. They may be small, and a little rough around the edges, but they’re the finest agency in all of London – there’s no one you’d rather have by your side when the clock chimes midnight and the wraiths are looming.

Netflix’s Lockwood & Co. is based on Jonathan Stroud’s YA book series of the same name and is a genuinely excellent adaptation. The casting is inspired: not only are Ruby Stokes (Lucy), Cameron Chapman (Lockwood) and Ali Hadji-Heshmati (George) perfect as their characters, but there’s something about way they interact with each other that’s straight out of my childhood imagination. Like in the novels, the world-building is excellent – Lockwood & Co.’s vision of ghost-wracked London is both fresh and intensely believable, based on a rich alternate history. Viewers will be lost in the haunting (pun-intended) atmosphere of tragedy and confusion, and inspired by the spunk of those fighting back.

The first three episodes of the series are based on the first Lockwood & Co. novel, The Screaming Staircase, and all-in-all are a very faithful retelling. Though dedicating half of the first episode to Lucy’s backstory is slightly jarring, it is necessary to the plot, and (more importantly) still very entertaining. The series begins with Lucy and Lockwood narrowly escaping an encounter with a vengeful ghost, and burning down their client’s house in the process. Faced with a £60,000 fine, and government meddling in the form of DEPRAC (the Department of Psychical Research and Control), Lockwood & Co. are forced to take on an impossible job in order to save their agency. However, as Lucy’s psychic powers grow, and enable her to connect with a Visitor in an unheard-of manner, our heroes begin their journey down the formidable rabbit-hole of the Problem. This investigation will set the stage for the rest of the series to come, and will (if the books are any indication) blow the minds of the audience.

Verdict: A brilliant adaptation of a brilliant book, Lockwood & Co. will thrill and chill viewers of all ages, and make them wish, deep down, that they had had the chance to spend their youth fighting ghosts with rapiers and grenades. 9/10

Sophie Simpson