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Possession (Sky Atlantic)

Rating: Five stars out of five

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again...

The first line of Daphne Du Maurier's Gothic novel, with its ominous hint of subconscious horrors to come, is irresistible.

Possession was channelling Daphne from the opening shot of a decaying mansion on the hill.

The backdrop was Jamaica, not Cornwall, but the atmosphere was unmistakable.

And this five-part drama, originally titled Inheritance, doesn't disappoint. It pulsates with disturbing imagery, some of it subtly unsettling, some of it as chilling as a bad dream come to life.

It is also a meditation on the island's violent history and the conflicting emotions stirred up for many West Indians whose mixed-race heritage descends from both African slaves and the Europeans who bought and sold them.

Usually when television tackles this subject, the characters are two-dimensional and the tone is pious. It's immediately obvious that Possession is different.

Gugu Mbatha-Raw plays Claudia, a Bristol solicitor sent to Jamaica's capital, Kingston, after one of the firm's wealthiest clients dies on his country estate there.

Guguletha Mbatha-Raw MBE plays Claudia, a solicitor from Bristol sent to Kingston, Jamaica

English actor, Jonny Lee Miller plays Oliver Connaught in the Sky Atlantic TV series

Claudia is sent to the Caribbean after one of the firm's wealthiest clients dies on his country estate

The land was once a sugar plantation, run on slave labour, and the family fortune is worth £50 million.

But when the will is opened, there's nothing for the man's son and heir, Oliver (Jonny Lee Miller).

Instead, it all goes to a mysterious figure calling himself Cudjoe East, who turned up at the old man's door six months ago.

That's a solid set-up for the sort of old-fashioned tale that Miss Du Maurier did so well, and that Hollywood used to love.

It's not hard to imagine a black-and-white movie version with Laurence Olivier as the disinherited son, and Merle Oberon or Lena Horne (who were both mixed race) as the lawyer uncovering more secrets than is safe for her.

Taking the germ from a story by Jefferson Bannis, screenwriter Karla Crome draws on classic cinema to create a feverish feeling of past and present overlapping.

As the camera gazes at the old house, a face slowly materialises at the window of a young woman in pink ribbons, and we slide back 200 years.

The daughter of the plantation owner, this is Charlotte (Bel Powley), who shares her father's affections with his illegitimate son Matthew — whose mother was a slave.

Matthew is urbane and educated, though he is treated as a servant by one half of his relatives and a traitor by the rest.

When Cudjoe East turns up to claim his £50 million inheritance, in the 21st century, he is wild-eyed, boiling with anger, almost demonic.

But he is also the living image of Matthew (with both characters played by Sheldon Shepherd).

And, to her horror, Claudia recognises him. The brisk, tightly buttoned lawyer has been tormented by blood-drenched dreams of the house, Matthew and a locked box.

Now here's her nightmare, staring her in the eyes. Daphne Du would love it.