SEE NO EVIL (C4, Wednesday and Thursday) tells the harrowing story of the biggest scandal in Church of England history: the awful crimes committed by the serial abuser John Smyth (News, 12 December).
After reading Bleeding for Jesus by Andrew Graystone, which exposes Smyth’s abuse and the attempts of the Church to cover it up (Books, 1 October 2021), I thought that I knew the story well. But hearing the terrible details of what he did from the mouths of Smyth’s victims throws the horror of it all into even sharper relief.
The critical elements of Smyth’s character are revealed as charm and magnetism, dominance and power, narcissism and sadism. These enabled him to exercise complete psychological control over his victims, and over his wife and children. It’s damning that he was able to flourish within a tradition of conservative Evangelicalism — one that prized an ultra-masculine expression of Christianity which was also “grossly misogynistic”. This crucial fact must not be forgotten, particularly at a time when similarly harmful expressions of the faith are on the rise.
Evil shrivels when it is exposed to the cold light of day. That light was first shone on this terrible story by the tireless activism of Mr Graystone, whose steadfast calling to remain a thorn in the side of church leadership, while advocating for victims and survivors, continues to be a vital ministry. He brought the story to Channel 4’s Cathy Newman, who, in collaboration with others, utilised first-rate investigative journalism to uncover the full story.
The Church owes the victims of John Smyth, including his children, a great debt, not just for the abuse that they suffered, but for their willingness to re-traumatise themselves by reliving it to tell their stories. That they freely offered this so that we might better understand the nature of such abuse, and therefore hope to prevent its repetition, must be received as pure gift. I, for one, am humbly grateful.
On a lighter note, Castle Howard: A very British Christmas (Channel 4, 9 December) is fun to watch. A top design company takes a full year to plan and put together the Christmas decorations at this Yorkshire stately home.
This year, the theme is The Wizard of Oz, and you will be agog at the scale of it all: 57 real trees (one 28 feet tall), tens of thousands of (mostly green) baubles, and a team of florists, carpenters, model-makers, and builders. It is also worth watching for the look on the concerned curator’s face when the designer asks whether he can perch a flying monkey on a priceless 18th-century piano.
What’s it all got to do with Christmas? Absolutely nothing, but if you grit your teeth you’ll find this enjoyable, none the less.