SWEETHEART
Angel of the moor
🎬 Project Status: In Development
🎬 Logline
In 1858 Yorkshire, 21-year-old Mary-Jane Skaife is murdered on Stumps Lane, Darley. Her restless spirit lingers on the moor — haunting not only her killer, but the justice system that excused him.
🎬 Synopsis:
Set in 1858, Sweetheart: Angel of the Moor is inspired by the true story of Mary-Jane Skaife, a young woman murdered in rural Nidderdale by her lover, James Atkinson. Declared insane under the M’Naghten Rules, he escaped justice.
The film reimagines Mary-Jane’s final hours with stark realism and haunting folkloric imagery — restoring voice to a young woman history tried to silence. Both intimate and universal, Sweetheart is a meditation on control, silence, and the echoes of injustice that continue to resonate today.
Why It Matters
At its heart, Sweetheart: Angel of the Moor restores a young woman’s life — that of Mary-Jane Skaife, silenced in 1858. More than a film, it is a way of reclaiming her story and sparking conversations about justice, memory, and women’s voices. By blending poetic storytelling with history, the project honours the past while creating a legacy that still resonates today.
Colour Symbolism
Although the film itself will be in black and white, the web and marketing palette draws on Nidderdale’s earth tones and symbolism: black for Gothic silence, white for purity, crimson for Mary-Jane’s blood and ancestral ties, and greens for the moorland that holds her story. These colours complement the film’s Gothic feel while binding it to the land and memory of Nidderdale.
“Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you:
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through…”
— Christina Rossetti (1872)
Rossetti (1830–1894) was one of the most celebrated poets of the Victorian age. Her deceptively simple verses carry deep undercurrents of faith, loss, and longing. Who Has Seen the Wind? evokes unseen forces moving through the world — much like the silences, erasures, and voices at the heart of Sweetheart: Angel of the Moor.
Rossetti also wrote powerfully about women’s inner lives, their hopes and struggles within Victorian society. Her words echo through Mary-Jane Skaife’s story, giving poetic voice to what history tried to silence.
Bloodlines and Inheritance
The French Romantic Gothic style of Sweetheart: Angel of the Moor is more than an artistic choice — it arises from the layered bloodlines that shaped Nidderdale itself. The people of this valley carried deep-rooted inheritances: Brigante Celts, Saxons, Norse, and Normans — a lineage written into the stone, soil, and silence of the land.
Sweetheart honours that layered history as much as it tells the story of Mary-Jane Skaife. Through its tone, texture, and tragic beauty, the film reflects a region where ancestry and emotion are inseparable — where every story, like every field and chapel, is built upon another.
Stills photography © Nidd Films 2025. Photographer: Angus Chau. All rights reserved
Sweetheart: Angel of the Moor is currently in development with Nidd Films in collaboration with Teesside University.
A short historical drama inspired by true events from 1858 Yorkshire, the film explores the life and death of Mary-Jane Skaife — a story of love, loss, and justice set against the haunting beauty of Nidderdale.