BAFTA-nominated Forest Hill actor Timothy Spall nearly turned down his latest role because the script frightened him.

The Mr Turner star plays an amateur paranormal investigator in The Enfield Haunting, which is based on the real-life events of Britain’s most-documented account of poltergeist activity.

Ripper Street’s Matthew Macfadyen and The Village’s Juliet Stevenson also star in the three-part series on Sky Living, which is directed by The Killing’s Kristoffer Nyholm.

MORE FILM AND TV:

Spall, 58, said: “When I first read the script, I actually turned it down because it frightened me.

“It was just so convincing.

“What makes it terrifying is the fact it is so normal.

“The world it’s set in is not a Gothic castle or an 11th century cathedral, but a slightly run-down council house in Enfield that’s home to an ordinary family.”

Spall’s character, 58-year-old Maurice Grosse, is called by the Society for Pyschichal Research (SPR) in 1977 to look into a case in north London that turns his world upside down.

News Shopper:

The house was home to inexplicable goings-on including incessant knocks and furniture with a life of its own, which was even captured by national newspaper journalists.

Macfadyen plays sceptical old-school investigator Guy Lyon Playfair, who went on to write a book about the haunting.

As with any claims of ghostly presence, there is doubt over the events, which is not shied away from in the programme.

Spall, who filmed in between promoting Mr Turner around the world, said: “A question mark hangs over the show, which makes it more interesting.

“I’ve never seen a poltergeist, but I do believe there is more than what we see, that there is more than just this.

“I believe that a world that doesn’t have some kind of magic in it wouldn’t be worth living in.”

The Enfield Haunting is on Sky Living and on demand from May 3.