Based on the first-hand accounts of one of the ghost hunters, The Enfield Haunting is the true story of what happened when a dedicated single mother tries to protect her three children from something that is incomprehensible, deeply disturbing and is hurtling to a terrifying conclusion.

Catherine Tate and David Threlfall star in the world premiere of this major new play by Paul Unwin (co-creator of the world’s longest running medical drama Casualty).

The Hodgsons had no idea what a poltergeist was when, in the summer of 1977, furniture and toys started moving of their own accord. They were an ordinary, working-class family, who lived in a North London council house at 284 Green Street, Enfield, but for the next eighteen months became the centre of one of the most famous poltergeist events in the world.

Janet, the possessed 16 year old, was nearly pulled out of a window. The local lollipop lady saw her floating six feet in the air in an upstairs room and Janet was found fast asleep in a neighbour’s bed. There are tapes of Janet growling for hours in a voice that doctors said would destroy a 16 year old’s vocal cords after a few minutes.

Paul Unwin’s new play is the story of one night in the spring of 1978 when events were approaching a climax. Based on the first-hand accounts of one the one the ghost hunters, The Enfield Haunting is the true story of what happened when Peggy Hodgson tries to protect her three children from something that is incomprehensible, deeply disturbing and is hurtling to a terrifying conclusion.

Maurice Grosse was one of the ghost hunters. A kind and protective man, he was determined to help the Hodgsons but as the night unfolds it slowly becomes clear that he is searching for something that he is convinced that only Janet can help him find.

Catherine Tate, who is renowned for her TV, film and theatre work, including her current BBC series Queen of Oz, The Catherine Tate Show and Donna Noble in Doctor Who alongside David Tennant, will play Peggy Hodgson, a single mother who tries to protect her three children from something that is incomprehensible and deeply disturbing.

David Threlfall, who played Frank Gallagher in the highly acclaimed TV series Shameless, is an Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company (he played Don Quixote in the RSC’s production of and last year was nominated for a Tony Award for his role in Martin McDonagh’s The Hangman, plays Maurice Grosse, a ghost hunter.