Just how do you do a serious-minded drama about exorcism in an age of populist fundamentalism, from the sort that gets the headlines for all the worst reasons to dogmatic atheists getting onto the bestseller lists? It’s a tough brief, and it’s to the credit of writer and director Joe Ahearne that the first episode of BBC1’s new series Apparitions is as good as it is.

There’s a lot of information to get across to set the scene for the inevitable exorcism. It’s a particularly and peculiarly Catholic business, and the show’s protagonist is a potential successor to the Church’s number one exorcist. Father Jacob, sonorously played by Martin Shaw, is approached by a young girl concerned that her father is possessed. He takes her claim seriously, if only because exorcism work must be thin on the ground, and her pocket money could make all the difference between carrying on and signing on.

Is the girl’s dad possessed, or merely an especially zealous fan of Richard Dawkins? Well, given the show’s premise you won’t be surprised to hear that supernatural forces are at work. And the situation is depicted very effectively, a whole bunch of exposition squeezed in pretty much effortlessly to bring the audience up to speed on exorcism and the Bible. I was particularly taken by Father Jacob’s claim that “when the church first started, every Christian was an exorcist”. Room there for a computer game, I reckon, and a trashy tie-in B-movie with disciples hurling lightning bolts at demonic dinosaurs.

Should you mistake all this for Jesuit propaganda, another strand of the story features a gay priest who won’t be getting Vatican approval any time soon. Nor will the programme’s backstory, setting up Mother Teresa as a target of demonic forces, and whose death spookily coincides with the young girl’s conception. All interesting stuff, and the BBC is to be commended for bringing it to our screens — better this than another tiresomely eccentric detective with a signature sandwich pursuing pretentious serial killers.

The original idea for the show came from Nick Collins. No idea who he is, or what the circumstances of that origination are…let’s hope Collins has been better treated than some people who’ve come up with concepts that others have gone on to develop. The fact that his name is there on the screen is encouraging, anyway. And I hope he’s pleased with what Joe Ahearne has done with the idea.

Apparitions is a very welcome outbreak of the fantastic in BBC1’s post-watershed lineup. I thoroughly enjoyed the first episode, and look forward to seeing what’s coming up. It’s very much an adult show in terms of its themes, its imagery, its intellectual heritage, and that’s to be applauded. Here’s to the success of the series, and fingers crossed for future seasons.