BBC to explore Magdalene Laundries in new series starring Ruth Wilson, Daryl McCormack

English actress Ruth Wilson has been cast alongside Irish actor Daryl McCormack in the BBC's gothic thriller series The Woman in the Wall, which will "examine the legacy of one of Ireland's most shocking scandals - the inhumane institutions known as 'The Magdalene Laundries'".

Having climbed up the ranks as a result of acclaimed roles in Luther, The Affair and Mrs Wilson; Ruth Wilson is teaming up with London-born Irish writer Joe Murtagh (Gangs of London, Calm with Horses) to star in the show.

Meanwhile, Daryl McCormack has appeared in Good Luck to You, Leo Grande and fellow BBC series Peaky Blinders.

The Woman in the Wall is a BBC One co-production with US network Showtime.

Announcing the series, the BBC said: "Lorna Brady (Wilson) is a woman from the small, fictional town of Kilkinure, who wakes one morning to find a corpse in her house. Chillingly, Lorna has no idea who the dead woman is or if she herself might be responsible for the apparent murder...

"That's because Lorna has long suffered from extreme bouts of sleepwalking, understood to have manifested around the time she was ripped from her life at the age of 15 and incarcerated in the Kilkinure Convent."

"Unluckily for Lorna, the extremely ambitious, albeit elusive Detective Colman Akande (McCormack) is now also on her tail for a crime that is seemingly unrelated to the dead woman she's discovered in her house," the BBC continues.

"Colman quickly rose through the ranks of the Garda Síochána thanks to his natural aptitude for the job. He possesses a dark and sometimes scathing wit, but there is a quiet sadness to him that even he doesn't understand, and he's hiding his own secrets from the world..."

Writer-creator Murtagh said of his series: "My family is from Mayo, the county in which the fictional Kilkinure is set, and it deeply frustrates and saddens me that it feels so few people have heard of the Laundries that existed across Ireland.

"I hope that by making something that has the familiarity of a genre piece we are able to shed some light on the awful things that occurred within these kind of institutions and introduce this history to the wider public, so that nothing like it may ever happen again."

Murtagh will also join The Woman in The Wall co-lead Wilson as one of the executive producers of the series.

"Lorna Brady is a complex and fascinating character, and I'm thrilled to help bring her to life," said His Dark Materials actress Wilson.

"In The Woman in the Wall, Joe has created both an enthralling gothic thriller and a moving examination of the legacy of The Magdalene Laundries. It's a privilege to bring this story to screens."

The Laundries operated in Ireland up until the mid-1990s, housing people who were deemed "fallen women" by society in cruel, inhumane conditions.

On 19 February 2013, Taoiseach Enda Kenny issued a formal state apology, describing the laundries as "the nation's shame":

"Therefore, I, as Taoiseach, on behalf of the State, the government and our citizens deeply regret and apologise unreservedly to all those women for the hurt that was done to them, and for any stigma they suffered, as a result of the time they spent in a Magdalene Laundry."

"That's why the Government has today asked the President of the Law Reform Commission Judge John Quirke to undertake a three month review and to make recommendations as to the criteria that should be applied in assessing the help that the government can provide in the areas of payments and other supports, including medical card, psychological and counselling services and other welfare needs."