CABOT COVE, AMITY Island, Derry (not the city in the North). TV and film are full of strange little towns where things are askew, and where odd happenings reveal a dark underbelly to a seemingly benign place.

The latest to add to this list is Widow’s Bay, the eponymous New England island town in this latest AppleTV+ series.

Created by screenwriter Katie Dippold, who has written for shows like Parks & Recreation and co-wrote the scripts for The Heat and the reboot of Ghostbusters, Widow’s Bay is billed as a horror-comedy. It does indeed take its cues from both the likes of Parks & Rec and the stories of Stephen King, bringing weirdness and dread into an eccentric town with a murky history. 

Suitably, the series opens on a night when an earthquake hits the town, knocking off the electricity and giving people a bit of a fright.

Among those woken up in the sudden darkness is Mayor of Widow’s Bay, Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys). The next day, he’s driven up the walls by the reaction to the quake from quirky townspeople like Wyck (Stephen Root, a fine character actor who you’ll have seen pop up in lots of shows and films). Wyck, as do many other locals, believes that Widow’s Bay is cursed and that the quake is going to set off a chain of events resulting in very bad things for the town. 

What lies beneath

Matthew Rhys in Widow's Bay AppleTV+ AppleTV+

Widow’s Bay has an offputting name, but it is picture perfect in its own way thanks to its dinky houses and woodlands. Yet it’s not attracting tourists, thanks to the aforementioned superstitions, and Mayor Tom wants to open a “new chapter” for the town. So in the first episode, he invites a New York Times travel writer to visit. But – of course – it doesn’t go as planned, due to the aforementioned quake and the rising suspicions that something bad is about to happen.

More and more strange incidents begin to occur. In the following episode, Tom tries to prove that the town’s inn isn’t haunted… and finds out he’s wrong on that front. As much as Mayor Tom wants Widow’s Bay to stay pretty and hospitable, he has to face up to the fact as the series progresses that it has some very unusual things going on. The question is whether he can do anything about it.

Widow’s Bay is more of an ensemble show than you might presume given Rhys’s billing, with characters like Wyck coming more to the fore as the series goes on. There are episodes dedicated to the back stories of certain characters as well as an overarching narrative around what Mayor Tom is going to do about the weird things happening around him.

There are some jump scares, a bit of gore, and some very strange happenings, but this isn’t just a Stephen King knockoff (it is set in New England though, King’s typical stomping grounds).  This is achieved in large part by Dippold ensuring that the characters aren’t just concerned with the supernatural.

Instead, they all have their own personal issues. Mayor Tom, for example, is a widower who lost his wife tragically. He’s bringing up his teenage son Evan (Kingston Rumi Southwick), who’s doing all the things a teen on a lonely island should be doing, ie getting into trouble with his friends. On top of this, Mayor Tom is a bit of a blow-in of sorts, which means some locals are suspicious of him. 

Meanwhile, some of his staff members at the Mayor’s office are endearingly awkward, like the quirky Patricia (Kate O’Flynn). We initially might write her off as a bit one-note (though the funniest person in the series), but in episode four we realise she has experienced some serious trauma. We also get Wyck’s back story, showing why he is so obsessed with the island’s past.

Horror meets comedy

Jeff Hilliard in Widow's Bay AppleTV+ AppleTV+

That the seafaring town has no working wifi or phone reception adds to the feeling of it being an enclosed place, and means that Widow’s Bay seems totally disconnected from real life.

At times, it feels out of time – like a scene where the local doctor is seen late at night on the phone, smoking a cigarette. Characters don’t use mobile phones, and a disposable camera is used at one point, making it feel like it’s set in the 1990s though it’s clearly not. 

Behind the camera on the series are directors like Hiro Murai (Atlanta, Mr & Mrs Smith) and Ti West (Pearl), who know how to make a horror-based show that still feels grounded in reality. Huge attention to detail means that the set design and props are wonderfully lived in. Keep an eye out for the board games that Mayor Tom encounters when he stays in the local inn overnight, which are hilariously dark.

The comedy is scattered throughout, and when it’s employed it’s very funny. Early on, a local describes the Widow’s Bay witch trial as “a great source of pride – we caught ‘em, we burned ‘em”, while standing in front of a blood-stained woman’s dress… and in front of the New York Times journalist whom Mayor Tom is trying to impress.

Reveals are teed up nicely, like Patricia’s mention of the ‘boogeyman’ in episode one, which has a dark and unexpected payoff in episode four. It’s an example of how the show plays with audience perceptions, as we start off thinking that some characters are one-note, only to find out they’re multifaceted. 

Each episode (they typically run around 40 minutes long) offers very entertaining horror/mystery vibes. If you’re a fan of the likes of Murder She Wrote, Jaws, and Stephen King’s oeuvre, this is a series to savour. It might be a tad on the long side, and it isn’t quite straightforward when it comes to pinning down a genre. But it’s fun to watch a show that’s doing something very different.

It feels a bit like an anthology series thanks to its structure, which means that it’s easy to dip in and out of. If you want to play ‘spot the film reference’, you’ve plenty to play around with here too. Overall, an original, quirky and very enjoyable entry to the AppleTV+ stable. 

Widow’s Bay is streaming on AppleTV+ now.