Stills photography © Nidd Films 2025. Photographer: Angus Chau. All rights reserved
Sweetheart: Angel of the Moor
Based on true events
In Development
“A strong woman. A man who would not let her go.”
Mary-Jane Skaife was no victim of frailty or foolishness. She was a determined, capable young woman navigating the rigid expectations of 19th-century rural England, a world where a woman’s reputation could be undone by rumour, and her future dictated by class, propriety, and the men around her.
Mary-Jane dared to trust, to hope, and to love in a society that afforded her little room to choose her own path. That courage was not her downfall; the betrayal of it was. Her murder became the final act in a story others tried to control, and history allowed her voice to be lost in the silence that followed.
In Sweetheart: Angel of the Moor, we reimagine Mary-Jane not as a passive tragic figure, but as a fully realised woman: resilient, affectionate, and fiercely human. Her strength is the anchor of the film, and the reason her story still resonates.
As the film develops, this page will offer a closer look at how we are bringing Mary-Jane to life on screen: behind-the-scenes insights, costume and makeup details, and reflections from the cast and creative team. Through these, we remember not just her death, but her life: the part history overlooked, and the part we refuse to let disappear.
Photo; Mary-Jane's Grave. Hartwith.
Sweetheart: Angel of the Moor
Mary-Jane Skaife, 21, walks home from chapel through the lanes she has known all her life. She is bright, devout and free, a young woman who finds heaven in the heather and the open moor. But James Atkinson, the troubled young man who calls her his sweetheart, will not let her go.
The story
Sweetheart is a period drama about love, possession and a community’s memory. It follows Mary-Jane through the last days of a summer that the valley has never forgotten, told in the landscape where it happened: Hartwith Moor, the chapel lanes, and the village of Darley.
From The Valley: A Keeping to Sweetheart: Angel of the Moor
Sweetheart grew out of our research film The Valley: A Keeping, which traced Mary-Jane’s footsteps through the land she knew and was filmed at her family home. The Valley asked what the land remembers. Sweetheart tells her story.
Where we are
Sweetheart is in early development, with production planned for 2028/29.
Our next production, Dead Funny, is the first step towards bringing it to the screen.
Get involved
We’re building Sweetheart with the Nidderdale community. If you have local knowledge, family history, or would like to support the film, we’d love to hear from you.
Support our films · Contact us
Join us for an evening with Nidd Films
Saturday 28 November, 5.45 - 8.00
Darley Memorial Hall
A screening of The Valley: A Keeping and a first look at Sweetheart in the making.
