Handmaids In Hell

Can the handmaids escape their wretched existence, as Elisabeth Moss and Joseph Fiennes return in c4’s award-winning drama?

- Jane Mulkerrins, Richard Mcclure

NEW DRAMA

The Handmaid’s Tale Sunday, C4 HD, 9pm

When The Handmaid’s Tale debuted last year, the dark dystopian drama was universally acclaimed by viewers and critics alike, all but sweeping the Emmys with eight awards, including best drama, best actress for Elisabeth Moss, and best supporting actress for Ann Dowd (see panel opposite).

Based on the near-future novel of the same name by Margaret Atwood, the show introduced us to the terrifying Republic of Gilead – created in what was New England by religious fanatics after an American civil war – where women have been stripped of their money, property and human rights.

After a series of ecological disasters has led to most couples becoming infertile, those women who are still able to have children have been forced into becoming handmaids – enslaved ‘breeders’ for the government leaders whose wives are not able to reproduce themselves.