The Light in the Hall: Recap of series 1, how it sets up series 2 Still Waters, and Caryl's role in both
The crime drama also airs in its native Welsh language on the S4C network under the title Y Golau
The Light in the Hall returns to our screens after the success of series 1 in 2022, so you might need a recap of what happened in the moody thriller four years ago.
Series 2, entitled The Light in the Hall: Still Waters, could be considered an anthology as it deals with a new crime, and largely a new cast. But it’s set in the same location, and stars Sian Reese-Williams who is back as Caryl Huws.
You’ll need to be familiar with her story and what happened to her in series 1 in order to understand what drives her in the new episodes.
So here’s a recap of The Light in the Hall series 1, an explainer of how it sets up series 2, and what role Caryl played in it all.
***Warning: this recap contains spoilers from The Light in the Hall series 1***
The Light in the Hall series 1 recap
In series 1 of the Welsh crime drama, viewers encountered recently released convict Joe Pritchard (Iwan Rheon). He was out on parole after an 18-year prison sentence for the murder of 15-year-old Ela. The crime shocked the small (fictional) village of Llanemlyn, because Joe had never explained the reason for the crime or revealed the location of Ela’s body. But there was a good reason for that. He didn’t kill her.
Cat Donato (Alexandra Roach), a reporter who grew up in the same town, returned to the village to cover the story. Over the course of her investigation, she discovered a shocking truth – Joe was innocent.
In the finale of The Light in the Hall series 1, viewers learnt that gardener Joe Pritchard was not responsible for Ela’s death. In fact, Ela’s secret girlfriend Izzy Vaughan had killed her during a heated argument. Amid a furious row, Ela stabbed Izzy in a moment of blind rage, causing Izzy to retaliate by pushing Ela from behind. Tragically, Ela fell down a hill and hit her head on a rock, which killed her instantly.
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Izzy’s mum Nina, a local councillor, agreed to conceal the body and pin the crime on Joe. He was subsequently manipulated into confessing and taking the blame. Joe’s father even joined the pile-on to frame his own son. He planted the knife and Ela’s necklace on him, before burying Ela’s body on the land surrounding Nina’s house. Nice.
At the end of The Light of the Hall, Joe was exonerated when the truth about Izzy and the cover-up was finally brought to light. Ela’s mother Sharon (Joanna Scanlan), who had been desperate for answers about what happened to her daughter, finally had some closure.
The Light in the Hall series 1 recap: What happened to Caryl?
Caryl was a friend of teenagers Ela and Izzy. And Ela’s diary, which her sister Greta had kept hidden for all those years, played a key part in unearthing what had happened.
The journal revealed that now journalist Cat Donato and school friend Caryl had been frankly horrid to Ela. They had bullied her, and excluding her from their friendship group.
In the present day, Caryl was also responsible for harassing Cat. Caryl, now working in her dad’s butchers, hadn’t forgiven Cat for leaving her to deal with the fallout from Ela’s murder. When Cat returned, Caryl began tormenting her old friend, including painting obscenities on her wall.
Viewers also learnt that, on the day of Ela’s death, Caryl was planning to meet with her. However, at the last minute, she decided to stand her up – something which Caryl had regretted ever since.
Caryl’s unkind and cruel behaviour towards Ela contributed to the teenager’s isolation. In turn, the village partly blamed Caryl for Ela’s death.
What happens in The Light in the Hall series 2?
This time, Caryl is back, but she’s a changed woman. In series 1, she was working in her dad’s butchers shop. Now, several years on, she’s a journalism student dreaming of a job at local newspaper The Western Herald.
When she bumps into Rhys Owen on a night out, she learns he was imprisoned for his cousin’s murder 30 years before. Save to say, he’s a pariah in the village, and only returned to care for his ailing dad. But he has always claimed he was innocent, and rumours swirl that he was set up.
Caryl can relate to Rhys’ story, as it bears some similarity to her own. Although Caryl was not responsible for Ela’s death, she played a small part in some way and carries that guilt. She begins to investigate the 1995 reservoir explosion that claimed the life of Rhys’ cousin Llŷr.
Initially deemed terrorism, it led to Rhys Owen’s imprisonment for murder. But Caryl is intent on helping Rhys prove his innocence…
She tells him: “A friend of mine was murdered when we were young. And the wrong bloke went to prison. I spent most of my life feeling like I was blame. I felt like the town blamed me for not being dead, for not saving her. It sent me a bit crazy in the end.”
How can I watch The Light in the Hall?
Series 1 of The Light in the Hall is currently available to stream on Channel 4 catch up. It first aired on May 15, 2022, in its native Welsh language on the S4C network under the title Y Golau.
Following its Welsh debut, the English-language version premiered UK-wide on Channel 4 on January 4, 2023.
The second series starts on Channel 4 on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 at 9pm.
