A Ghost Story for Christmas
Encyclopedia
A Ghost Story for Christmas is a strand of annual British short television films originally broadcast on BBC One
from 1971 to 1978, and later revived in 2005 on BBC Four
. With one exception, the original instalments are directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark
and the films are all shot on 16 mm colour film
. The remit behind the series was to provide a television adaptation of a classic ghost story
referencing the oral tradition
of telling supernatural tales at Christmas.
Each instalment is a separate adaptation of a short story, ranging from 30 to 50 minutes in duration and each featuring well-known British actors such as Clive Swift
, Robert Hardy
, Peter Vaughan
, Edward Petherbridge
and Denholm Elliott
in the title roles. The first five are adaptations of ghost stories by M. R. James
, the sixth is based on a short story by Charles Dickens
and the two final instalments are original screenplays by Clive Exton
and John Bowen
respectively.
An earlier black-and-white 1968 Omnibus
adaptation of M.R. James's Whistle and I'll Come to You
, directed by Jonathan Miller
, is often cited as an influence upon the production of the films, and is sometimes included in the canon
. The series was revived by BBC Four
in 2005 with a new series of annual adaptations.
of Eton College
and King's College, Cambridge
were originally narrated as Christmas entertainments for an audience of friends and selected students. The sixth film, The Signalman, is an adaptation of an 1866 story by Charles Dickens
published in his magazine All the Year Round
. In its original context, it was one of eight stories set around the fictional Mugby Junction and its branch lines. It was inspired by the Staplehurst rail crash
in June 1865, of which Dickens had been a survivor, having attended to dying fellow passengers. He subsequently suffered panic disorders and flashbacks as a result of the accident. The final two stories are original screenplays: Clive Exton was an experienced television screenwriter and John Bowen was primarily known as a novelist and playwright.
, but mainly because they want to keep faith with the notion of a ghost story in its literary rather than cinematic tradition." Helen Wheatley notes that the best adaptations maintain the stories' "sense of decorum and restraint ... withholding the full revelation of the supernatural until the very last moment, and centring on the suggestion of a ghostly presence rather than the horror of visceral excess and abjection."
After the first two adaptations by Clark, the tales were adapted by a number of playwrights and screenwriters. In most instances, the adaptations alter the original source material. For example, A Warning to the Curious frequently deviates from its literary source. The screenplay avoids the convoluted plot structure of James' original, opting for a more linear construction and reducing the number of narrators. In addition, the central character, Paxton, is changed from a young, fair-haired innocent who stumbles across the treasure, to a more menacing middle-aged character, driven to find the treasure by poverty and in full awareness of what he is doing.
In The Signalman
, adaptor Andrew Davies adds scenes of the traveller's nightmare-plagued nights at an inn, and re-affirms the ambiguity of the traveller-narrator by restructuring the ending and matching his facial features with those of the spectre. The film also makes use of visual and aural devices. For example, the appearance of the spectre is stressed by the vibrations of a bell in the signalbox and a recurring red motif connects the signalman's memories of a train crash with the danger light attended by a ghostly figure.
of the 1970s, each instalment was filmed entirely on location using 16 mm film
. As a result of this, cameraman John McGlashan (who filmed all of the original adaptations) was able to make use of night shoots and dark, shadowy interiors, which would not have been possible with the then-standard video-based studio interiors.
The filming of the separate adaptations took place at a variety of locations, although East Anglia
, where M.R. James set many of his stories, was the location for early instalments. The Stalls of Barchester was filmed on location at Norwich Cathedral
and the surrounding close. A Warning to the Curious was filmed around the North Norfolk
coastline at Waxham
, Happisburgh
and Wells-next-the-Sea
, although the original story was set in "Seaburgh" (a disguised version of Aldeburgh
, Suffolk). Later locations include the Severn Valley Railway
for The Signalman and Wells Cathedral
for The Treasure of Abbot Thomas.
in 2005 noted that "Perhaps the most surprising aspect ... is how little its adaptations ... have dated. They may boast the odd signifier of cheap 1970s telly — outlandish regional vowels, inappropriate eyeliner, a surfeit of depressed oboes — but lurking within their hushed cloisters and glum expanses of deserted coastland is a timelessness at odds with virtually everything written, or broadcast, before or since.
The production values have received particular praise. Helen Wheatley writes that, "the series was shot on film on location
, with much attention paid to the minutiae of period detail; as such it might be seen to visually prefigure the filmic stylishness and traditions of later literary adaptations such as Brideshead Revisited
and The Jewel in the Crown." However, she notes that unlike those adaptations, the sinister tone of the period pieces could lend itself the label of a "feel bad" heritage television drama.
The Signalman is perhaps the most critically acclaimed. Simon Farquhar suggests that the film is the first evidence of Andrew Davies' gift as an adaptor of literary fiction: "despite an extremely arduous shoot, Davies and Clarke's fog-wreathed, flame-crackling masterpiece manages something the production team could never have imagined: it's better than the book." Dave Rolinson notes that while "the adaptation inevitably misses Dickens' nuanced and often unsettling prose ... it achieves comparably skilful effects through visual language and sound, heightening theme and supernatural mood ... The production heightens the story's crucial features of repetition and foreshadowing."
Sergio Angelini writes about A Warning to the Curious: "Of Clark's many adaptations of James' stories, this is perhaps the most varied in its use of landscape and the most visually arresting in its attempt to create an otherworldly atmosphere ... Using long lenses to flatten the scenery and make the ghost indistinct in the background, John McGlashan's fine cinematography brilliantly conveys the ageless, ritualistic determinism of Ager's pursuit and signposts the inevitability of Paxton's demise." He is less appreciative of The Ash Tree, noting that the literal adaptation of the story's ending loses the atmosphere of earlier instalments: "While the creatures are certainly grotesque and threatening, compared with some of the other adaptations of the series, The Ash Tree does lose some power through this lack of ambiguity. The result overall remains satisfyingly unsettling, however, thanks also to Petherbridge's restrained, psychologically acute performance.
The adaptations have been an influence on the work of writer Mark Gatiss
. Interviewed in 2008, Gatiss recalled that Lost Hearts is his favourite adaptation because it is the one that frightened him as a child. He also noted, "I absolutely love The Treasure of Abbot Thomas. The moment when Michael Bryant has found the treasure and ... is obviously losing his wits. He just says, rationally, It is a thing of slime, I think. Darkness and slime .... There's also the fantastic scene where he thinks he's got away with it by putting the treasure back. The doctor is heading up the drive, and he can't quite see him in the sunlight. Then it pauses to that amazing crane shot ... Very spooky.
The critical reception to the two later instalments, Stigma and The Ice House, is decidedly critical, with most reviewers noting that switching to original stories instead of adaptations was "misjudged". David Kerekes writes that the latter is almost "totally forgotten". Wheatley has commented that they heralded a divergence from the stage-inspired horror of the 1940s and 50s to a more modern Gothic
horror based in the present day, losing in the process the "aesthetic of restraint" evident in the original adaptations.
The 2005 BBC Four revival beginning with A View from a Hill was greeted warmly by Sarah Dempster, who noted "It is, in every respect, a vintage Ghost Story for Christmas production. There are the powdery academics hamstrung by extreme social awkwardness. There is the bumbling protagonist bemused by a particular aspect of modern life. There are stunning, panoramic shots of a specific area of the British landscape (here, a heavily autumnal Suffolk). There is the determined lack of celebrity pizzazz. There is tweed. And there is, crucially, a single moment of heart-stopping, corner-of-the-eye horror that suggests life, for one powdery academic at least, will never be the same again.
's Playhouse, first broadcast on ITV
on 24 April 1979. Adapted by Clive Exton, it re-imagined the events of James' story taking place in a contemporary television studio. Meanwhile, for Christmas 1979 the BBC produced a 70 minute-long adaptation of Sheridan Le Fanu
's gothic tale Schalcken The Painter directed and adapted by Leslie Megahey. Like the earlier Whistle and I'll Come to You, the production was listed as part of the long-running BBC arts strand Omnibus.
Repeats of the original series on BBC Four at Christmas 2007 included The Haunted Airman, a new adaptation of Dennis Wheatley
's novel The Haunting of Toby Jugg
by Chris Durlacher, although this film was originally screened on 31 October 2006. For Christmas 2008, an original three-part ghost story by Mark Gatiss
entitled Crooked House
was produced instead, with the writer citing the original 1970s adaptations as a key influence. A different James's ghost story was broadcast by the BBC for 2009; Henry James
's 1898 novella The Turn of the Screw
was adapted as a feature-length drama by Sandy Welch
and broadcast on BBC One on 30 December. BBC Two premiered a new adaptation by Neil Cross
of M.R. James' Oh, Whistle and I'll come to You, My Lad on Christmas Eve 2010.
in 2002 and 2003, along with Whistle and I'll Come to You. Neither the two final instalments, nor the 2005 revival productions, have been issued, and all of the BFI DVDs are now out of print. However, the first six adaptations are regularly repeated on BBC Four during the Christmas period. The Signalman is included as an extra on the American DVD release of the 1995 BBC production of Hard Times
.
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
from 1971 to 1978, and later revived in 2005 on BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
. With one exception, the original instalments are directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark
Lawrence Gordon Clark
Lawrence Gordon Clark is an English television director and producer, perhaps best known for his A Ghost Story for Christmas series of mostly M.R...
and the films are all shot on 16 mm colour film
16 mm film
16 mm film refers to a popular, economical gauge of film used for motion pictures and non-theatrical film making. 16 mm refers to the width of the film...
. The remit behind the series was to provide a television adaptation of a classic ghost story
Ghost story
A ghost story may be any piece of fiction, or drama, or an account of an experience, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them. Colloquially, the term can refer to any kind of scary story. In a narrower sense, the ghost story has...
referencing the oral tradition
Oral tradition
Oral tradition and oral lore is cultural material and traditions transmitted orally from one generation to another. The messages or testimony are verbally transmitted in speech or song and may take the form, for example, of folktales, sayings, ballads, songs, or chants...
of telling supernatural tales at Christmas.
Each instalment is a separate adaptation of a short story, ranging from 30 to 50 minutes in duration and each featuring well-known British actors such as Clive Swift
Clive Swift
Clive Walter Swift is an English character comedy actor and songwriter. He is best known for his role as character Richard Bucket in the British television series Keeping Up Appearances. He is less known for his role as character Roy in the British television series The Old Guys...
, Robert Hardy
Robert Hardy
Timothy Sydney Robert Hardy, CBE, FSA is an English actor with a long career in the theatre, film and television. He is also an acknowledged expert on the longbow.-Early life:...
, Peter Vaughan
Peter Vaughan
Peter Vaughan is an English character actor, known for many supporting roles in a variety of British film and television productions. He has worked extensively on the stage, becoming known for roles such as police inspectors, Soviet agents and similar parts...
, Edward Petherbridge
Edward Petherbridge
Edward Petherbridge is a British actor. Among his many roles, he portrayed Lord Peter Wimsey in several screen adaptations of Dorothy L...
and Denholm Elliott
Denholm Elliott
Denholm Mitchell Elliott, CBE was an English film, television and theatre actor with over 120 film and television credits...
in the title roles. The first five are adaptations of ghost stories by M. R. James
M. R. James
Montague Rhodes James, OM, MA, , who used the publication name M. R. James, was an English mediaeval scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge and of Eton College . He is best remembered for his ghost stories, which are regarded as among the best in the genre...
, the sixth is based on a short story by Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
and the two final instalments are original screenplays by Clive Exton
Clive Exton
Clive Exton was a British television and film screenwriter, sometime playwright, and former actor. He is best known for his scripts of Agatha Christie’s Poirot, P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster, and Rosemary & Thyme.-Early career:He was born Clive Jack Montague Brooks in Islington, London,...
and John Bowen
John Griffith Bowen
John Griffith Bowen is a British playwright and novelist. He was born in Calcutta, India, studied at the University of Oxford and worked in publishing, drama and television.-Novels:...
respectively.
An earlier black-and-white 1968 Omnibus
Omnibus (TV series)
Omnibus was an arts-based BBC television documentary series, broadcast on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. It ran from 1967 until 2003, usually being transmitted on Sunday evenings....
adaptation of M.R. James's Whistle and I'll Come to You
Whistle and I'll Come to You
Whistle and I'll Come to You is the name of two BBC television drama adaptations based on the ghost story "Oh, Whistle, And I'll Come To You, My Lad" by Victorian and Edwardian academic and supernatural writer M. R. James. The story tells the tale of an introverted academic who happens upon a...
, directed by Jonathan Miller
Jonathan Miller
Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE is a British theatre and opera director, author, physician, television presenter, humorist and sculptor. Trained as a physician in the late 1950s, he first came to prominence in the 1960s with his role in the comedy revue Beyond the Fringe with fellow writers and...
, is often cited as an influence upon the production of the films, and is sometimes included in the canon
Canon (fiction)
In the context of a work of fiction, the term canon denotes the material accepted as "official" in a fictional universe's fan base. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction, which are not considered canonical...
. The series was revived by BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
in 2005 with a new series of annual adaptations.
Background
The first five films are adaptations of stories from the four books by M. R. James published between 1904 and 1925. The ghost stories of James, an English mediaeval scholar and provostProvost (education)
A provost is the senior academic administrator at many institutions of higher education in the United States, Canada and Australia, the equivalent of a pro-vice-chancellor at some institutions in the United Kingdom and Ireland....
of Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
and King's College, Cambridge
King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college's full name is "The King's College of our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge", but it is usually referred to simply as "King's" within the University....
were originally narrated as Christmas entertainments for an audience of friends and selected students. The sixth film, The Signalman, is an adaptation of an 1866 story by Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
published in his magazine All the Year Round
All the Year Round
All the Year Round was a Victorian periodical, being a British weekly literary magazine founded and owned by Charles Dickens, published between 1859 and 1895 throughout the United Kingdom. Edited by Dickens, it was the direct successor to his previous publication Household Words, abandoned due to...
. In its original context, it was one of eight stories set around the fictional Mugby Junction and its branch lines. It was inspired by the Staplehurst rail crash
Staplehurst rail crash
The Staplehurst rail crash was a railway accident at Staplehurst, Kent, England, which occurred on 9 June 1865 and in which ten passengers were killed and 40 injured...
in June 1865, of which Dickens had been a survivor, having attended to dying fellow passengers. He subsequently suffered panic disorders and flashbacks as a result of the accident. The final two stories are original screenplays: Clive Exton was an experienced television screenwriter and John Bowen was primarily known as a novelist and playwright.
Adaptation
In a 1995 interview, Lawrence Gordon Clark stated that the stories "focus on suggestion. The aim, they say, is to chill rather than shock. Partly because television is not best suited to carrying off big-screen pyrotechnicsPyrotechnics
Pyrotechnics is the science of using materials capable of undergoing self-contained and self-sustained exothermic chemical reactions for the production of heat, light, gas, smoke and/or sound...
, but mainly because they want to keep faith with the notion of a ghost story in its literary rather than cinematic tradition." Helen Wheatley notes that the best adaptations maintain the stories' "sense of decorum and restraint ... withholding the full revelation of the supernatural until the very last moment, and centring on the suggestion of a ghostly presence rather than the horror of visceral excess and abjection."
After the first two adaptations by Clark, the tales were adapted by a number of playwrights and screenwriters. In most instances, the adaptations alter the original source material. For example, A Warning to the Curious frequently deviates from its literary source. The screenplay avoids the convoluted plot structure of James' original, opting for a more linear construction and reducing the number of narrators. In addition, the central character, Paxton, is changed from a young, fair-haired innocent who stumbles across the treasure, to a more menacing middle-aged character, driven to find the treasure by poverty and in full awareness of what he is doing.
In The Signalman
The Signalman (film)
The Signalman is a 1976 BBC television adaptation of The Signal-Man, an 1866 short story by Charles Dickens. The story was adapted by Andrew Davies as the BBC's sixth Ghost Story for Christmas, with Denholm Elliott starring as the signalman and Bernard Lloyd as the traveller, an un-named character...
, adaptor Andrew Davies adds scenes of the traveller's nightmare-plagued nights at an inn, and re-affirms the ambiguity of the traveller-narrator by restructuring the ending and matching his facial features with those of the spectre. The film also makes use of visual and aural devices. For example, the appearance of the spectre is stressed by the vibrations of a bell in the signalbox and a recurring red motif connects the signalman's memories of a train crash with the danger light attended by a ghostly figure.
Filming
Unusually for a BBC television dramaBBC television drama
BBC television dramas have been produced and broadcast since even before the public service company had an officially established television broadcasting network in the United Kingdom...
of the 1970s, each instalment was filmed entirely on location using 16 mm film
16 mm film
16 mm film refers to a popular, economical gauge of film used for motion pictures and non-theatrical film making. 16 mm refers to the width of the film...
. As a result of this, cameraman John McGlashan (who filmed all of the original adaptations) was able to make use of night shoots and dark, shadowy interiors, which would not have been possible with the then-standard video-based studio interiors.
The filming of the separate adaptations took place at a variety of locations, although East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
, where M.R. James set many of his stories, was the location for early instalments. The Stalls of Barchester was filmed on location at Norwich Cathedral
Norwich Cathedral
Norwich Cathedral is a cathedral located in Norwich, Norfolk, dedicated to the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Formerly a Catholic church, it has belonged to the Church of England since the English Reformation....
and the surrounding close. A Warning to the Curious was filmed around the North Norfolk
North Norfolk
North Norfolk is a local government district in Norfolk, United Kingdom. Its council is based in Cromer. The council headquarters can be found approximately out of the town of Cromer on the Holt Road.-History:...
coastline at Waxham
Waxham
Waxham is a small village in Norfolk in eastern England. It lies on the north-east coast of the county in Sea Palling parish. Buildings in the village include Waxham Hall, the 14th-century St. John's Church and the 16th-century Waxham Barn. One of the largest barns in the county, it has recently...
, Happisburgh
Happisburgh
Happisburgh is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is situated off the B1159 coast road from Ingham to Bacton.The civil parish has an area of , although this is declining due to cliff erosion. In the 2001 census, before the creation of Walcott parish, it had a...
and Wells-next-the-Sea
Wells-next-the-Sea
Wells-next-the-Sea, known locally simply as Wells, is a town, civil parish and seaport situated on the North Norfolk coast in England.The civil parish has an area of and in the 2001 census had a population of 2,451 in 1,205 households...
, although the original story was set in "Seaburgh" (a disguised version of Aldeburgh
Aldeburgh
Aldeburgh is a coastal town in Suffolk, East Anglia, England. Located on the River Alde, the town is notable for its Blue Flag shingle beach and fisherman huts where freshly caught fish are sold daily, and the Aldeburgh Yacht Club...
, Suffolk). Later locations include the Severn Valley Railway
Severn Valley Railway
The Severn Valley Railway is a heritage railway in Shropshire and Worcestershire, England. The line runs along the Severn Valley from Bridgnorth to Kidderminster, following the course of the River Severn for much of its route...
for The Signalman and Wells Cathedral
Wells Cathedral
Wells Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England. It is the seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, who lives at the adjacent Bishop's Palace....
for The Treasure of Abbot Thomas.
Episode list
With the exception of the final film, the tales were directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark and produced by Rosemary Hill. The final 1978 episode was directed by Derek Lister, after which the series was discontinued.| Title | Author | UK broadcast date | Description | Main cast |
| The Stalls of Barchester The Stalls of Barchester The Stalls of Barchester is the first of the BBC's Ghost Story for Christmas strand, first broadcast on BBC 1 at 11pm on 24 December 1971. Based on the story "The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral" from the 1911 collection More Ghost Stories by M.R... |
M. R. James M. R. James Montague Rhodes James, OM, MA, , who used the publication name M. R. James, was an English mediaeval scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge and of Eton College . He is best remembered for his ghost stories, which are regarded as among the best in the genre... , adapted by Lawrence Gordon Clark Lawrence Gordon Clark Lawrence Gordon Clark is an English television director and producer, perhaps best known for his A Ghost Story for Christmas series of mostly M.R... |
24 December 1971 | An ambitious cleric murders an aged Archdeacon at Barchester Cathedral. However, he is soon being stalked by a sinister black cat Black cat A black cat is a feline with black fur. It is not a particular breed of cat and may be mixed or of a specific breed. The Bombay, known for its sleek black fur, is an example of a black cat. The all-black pigmentation is equally prevalent in both male and female cats... and by a hooded figure both of whom seem to be embodiments of carvings on the cathedral's choir stalls Misericord A misericord is a small wooden shelf on the underside of a folding seat in a church, installed to provide a degree of comfort for a person who has to stand during long periods of prayer.-Origins:... . |
Robert Hardy Robert Hardy Timothy Sydney Robert Hardy, CBE, FSA is an English actor with a long career in the theatre, film and television. He is also an acknowledged expert on the longbow.-Early life:... , Clive Swift Clive Swift Clive Walter Swift is an English character comedy actor and songwriter. He is best known for his role as character Richard Bucket in the British television series Keeping Up Appearances. He is less known for his role as character Roy in the British television series The Old Guys... , Thelma Barlow Thelma Barlow Thelma Barlow is an English television actress and writer, most famous for her roles as Mavis Wilton in the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street and as Dolly Bellfield in the sitcom Dinnerladies.... |
| A Warning to the Curious A Warning to the Curious "A Warning to the Curious" is a ghost story by M.R. James, found in his book A Warning to the Curious and Other Ghost Stories first published in 1925. The tale tells the story of Paxton, an amateur archeologist who travels to "Seaburgh" and inadvertently stumbles across one of the lost crowns of... |
M. R. James, adapted by Lawrence Gordon Clark | 24 December 1972 | An amateur archaeologist travels to a remote seaside town in Norfolk to search for the lost crown of Anglia East Anglia East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of... , but after unearthing it is haunted by a mysterious black figure. |
Peter Vaughan Peter Vaughan Peter Vaughan is an English character actor, known for many supporting roles in a variety of British film and television productions. He has worked extensively on the stage, becoming known for roles such as police inspectors, Soviet agents and similar parts... , Clive Swift Clive Swift Clive Walter Swift is an English character comedy actor and songwriter. He is best known for his role as character Richard Bucket in the British television series Keeping Up Appearances. He is less known for his role as character Roy in the British television series The Old Guys... |
| Lost Hearts Lost Hearts "Lost Hearts" is a ghost story by M.R. James, found in his 1904 book Ghost Stories of an Antiquary. The tale tells the story of Stephen, a young boy who is sent to stay with his uncle at a remote country mansion. His uncle is a reclusive alchemist obsessed with making himself immortal... |
M. R. James, adapted by Robin Chapman Robin Chapman -Biography:Chapman began his career as an actor at Cambridge before holding a spear at Stratford-Upon-Avon, working in repertory and then joining Joan Littlewood’s revolutionary Theatre Workshop where he turned to writing. Among his stage plays are High Street China, Guests and One of Us... |
25 December 1973 | An orphan moves into the house of his uncle, but is disturbed by visions of a pair of ghostly children. Is their message a warning to be fearful of his uncle's obsession with immortality? | Simon Gipps-Kent Simon Gipps-Kent Simon Gipps-Kent was a British actor, particularly noted as a prolific child actor in the 1970s.His television credits include: the 1973 BBC television adaptation of M.R... , Joseph O'Conor Joseph O'Conor Joseph O'Conor was an Anglo-Irish actor and playwright.- Early years :O'Conor was born in Dublin on 14 February 1916, the son of Frances and Daniel O'Conor. His family moved to London, where he attended the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School, the University of London and RADA... |
| The Treasure of Abbot Thomas The Treasure of Abbot Thomas "The Treasure of Abbot Thomas" is a ghost story by M.R. James, found in his book Ghost Stories of an Antiquary. The original tale tells the story of Rev... |
M. R. James, adapted by John Bowen John Griffith Bowen John Griffith Bowen is a British playwright and novelist. He was born in Calcutta, India, studied at the University of Oxford and worked in publishing, drama and television.-Novels:... |
23 December 1974 | A respected theologian and his protégé unearth clues to find the hidden treasure of a disgraced monk in an abbey library. Should he have heeded his own advice not to go treasure hunting? | Michael Bryant Michael Bryant (actor) Michael Dennis Bryant was a British stage and television actor.-Biography:Bryant attended Battersea Grammar School and after service in the Merchant Navy and Army, he attended drama school and appeared in many productions on the London stage. He made his film debut in 1955... , Paul Lavers |
| The Ash Tree The Ash Tree "The Ash-tree" is a ghost story by M.R. James, found in his 1904 collection Ghost Stories of an Antiquary. The tale documents the tale of Sir Richard Castringham, who has just inherited a country seat with an unfortunate history. The house has been cursed since the day his ancestor, Sir Matthew,... |
M. R. James, adapted by David Rudkin David Rudkin James David Rudkin is an English playwright of Northern Irish descent. Coming from a family of strict evangelical Christians, Rudkin was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham and read Mods and Greats at St Catherine's College, Oxford... |
23 December 1975 | An aristocrat inherits his family estate and is haunted by visions of his ancestor's role in a witchcraft Witchcraft Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft... trial. |
Edward Petherbridge Edward Petherbridge Edward Petherbridge is a British actor. Among his many roles, he portrayed Lord Peter Wimsey in several screen adaptations of Dorothy L... , Preston Lockwood Preston Lockwood Preston Lockwood was an English actor.He is best known for his television credits, including the role of Butterfield the butler in several episodes of Jeeves and Wooster... |
| The Signal-Man The Signalman (film) The Signalman is a 1976 BBC television adaptation of The Signal-Man, an 1866 short story by Charles Dickens. The story was adapted by Andrew Davies as the BBC's sixth Ghost Story for Christmas, with Denholm Elliott starring as the signalman and Bernard Lloyd as the traveller, an un-named character... |
Charles Dickens Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic... , adapted by Andrew Davies Andrew Davies (writer) Andrew Wynford Davies is a British author and screenwriter. He was made a Fellow of BAFTA in 2002.-Education and early career:... |
22 December 1976 | A railway signalman Signalman (rail) A signalman or signaller is an employee of a railway transport network who operates the points and signals from a signal box in order to control the movement of trains.- History :... tells a curious traveller how he is being troubled by a ghostly spectre that seems to predict calamity. |
Denholm Elliott Denholm Elliott Denholm Mitchell Elliott, CBE was an English film, television and theatre actor with over 120 film and television credits... , Bernard Lloyd Bernard Lloyd Bernard Lloyd is a Welsh actor noted for his television roles. Perhaps his most famous role is as The Traveller, the man who tries to unravel signalman Denholm Elliot's predicament in the 1976 Ghost Story for Christmas "The Signalman"... |
| Stigma | Clive Exton Clive Exton Clive Exton was a British television and film screenwriter, sometime playwright, and former actor. He is best known for his scripts of Agatha Christie’s Poirot, P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster, and Rosemary & Thyme.-Early career:He was born Clive Jack Montague Brooks in Islington, London,... |
28 December 1977 | After a young couple move into a remote country house in the middle of a stone circle Stone circle A stone circle is a monument of standing stones arranged in a circle. Such monuments have been constructed across the world throughout history for many different reasons.... , workmen disturb an ancient menhir Menhir A menhir is a large upright standing stone. Menhirs may be found singly as monoliths, or as part of a group of similar stones. Their size can vary considerably; but their shape is generally uneven and squared, often tapering towards the top... , unleashing a supernatural force. |
Kate Binchy, Peter Bowles Peter Bowles -Early life:Bowles was born in London, England, the son of Sarah Jane and Herbert Reginald Bowles. His father was a chauffeur and butler at a stately home in Warwickshire; but, upon the outbreak of World War II, he was seconded to work as an engineer at Rolls-Royce and moved the family to Nottingham... |
| The Ice House | John Bowen John Griffith Bowen John Griffith Bowen is a British playwright and novelist. He was born in Calcutta, India, studied at the University of Oxford and worked in publishing, drama and television.-Novels:... |
25 December 1978 | Residents at a health spa Spa The term spa is associated with water treatment which is also known as balneotherapy. Spa towns or spa resorts typically offer various health treatments. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters goes back to prehistoric times. Such practices have been popular worldwide, but are... begin to suspect a strange flower growing in an old ice house in the grounds may be the cause of a series of misfortunes. |
John Stride John Stride John Stride is an English actor best known for his television work during the 1970s. Stride was born in London, the son of Margaret and Alfred Teneriffe Stride... , Geoffrey Burridge Geoffrey Burridge Geoffrey Burridge was an English actor noted for his performances in theatre and television.On television, he appeared as Mark Proctor in early episodes of Emmerdale Farm and is also remembered for his guest appearance in Blake's 7 .His extensive theatre credits included many musicals, notably the... |
2005 revival
BBC Four revisited the series at Christmas 2004, and in 2005 began to produce new adaptations of M. R. James stories, broadcast along with repeats of episodes from the original 1970s series.| Title | Author | UK broadcast date | Description | Main cast |
| A View from a Hill A View from a Hill A View From a Hill is a ghost story by M. R. James from his 1925 collection A Warning to the Curious and Other Ghost Stories. The story tells the tale of a historian who goes on holiday to visit his friend and has a disturbing experience after venturing up a notorious local landmark.-BBC... |
M. R. James, adapted by Peter Harness Peter Harness Peter Harness is an English playwright, screenwriter and actor. He grew up in Hornsea, East Yorkshire and attended Oriel College, Oxford where he studied English and graduated with a first. He is a former president of the Oxford Revue. He was one of Screen International's Stars of Tomorrow, 2007... |
23 December 2005 | A historian has a disturbing experience after borrowing a pair of binoculars belonging to a missing outcast and venturing up a notorious landmark. | Mark Letheren Mark Letheren Mark Letheren is an English actor possibly best known for his roles as journalist Simon Kitson in ITV1s drama The Bill, as Ben Harding in the BBC1 drama Casualty and for his recurring role as DS Kevin Geoffries in Wire in the Blood.- Career :His large screen debut was in Restoration, with Robert... , Pip Torrens Pip Torrens Pip Torrens is an English actor.He was born in Bromley, Kent, England. He studied English Literature at Trinity College, Cambridge... , David Burke |
| Number 13 Number 13 (short film) Number 13 is the second of three recent adaptations of ghost stories by M.R. James broadcast by the BBC in a loose revival of the A Ghost Story for Christmas tradition of the 1970s. Following A View from a Hill the previous year and preceding Whistle and I'll Come to You in 2010, the forty minute... |
M. R. James, adapted by Justin Hopper | 22 December 2006 | An academic researcher repudiates local superstitions surrounding a devilish house. However, repeated visions and noises during the night suggest he may be proved wrong. | Greg Wise Greg Wise Greg Wise is an English actor and producer. He has appeared in many British television works, as well as several feature films .- Early life :... , Paul Freeman, David Burke |
Critical reception
Critical reception differs between the films, but several, such as The Signalman are regarded as classic television ghost stories. Sarah Dempster, writing in The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
in 2005 noted that "Perhaps the most surprising aspect ... is how little its adaptations ... have dated. They may boast the odd signifier of cheap 1970s telly — outlandish regional vowels, inappropriate eyeliner, a surfeit of depressed oboes — but lurking within their hushed cloisters and glum expanses of deserted coastland is a timelessness at odds with virtually everything written, or broadcast, before or since.
The production values have received particular praise. Helen Wheatley writes that, "the series was shot on film on location
Filming location
A filming location is a place where some or all of a film or television series is produced, in addition to or instead of using sets constructed on a movie studio backlot or soundstage...
, with much attention paid to the minutiae of period detail; as such it might be seen to visually prefigure the filmic stylishness and traditions of later literary adaptations such as Brideshead Revisited
Brideshead Revisited (TV serial)
Brideshead Revisited is a 1981 British television serial produced by Granada Television for broadcast by the ITV network. The teleplay is based on Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited...
and The Jewel in the Crown." However, she notes that unlike those adaptations, the sinister tone of the period pieces could lend itself the label of a "feel bad" heritage television drama.
The Signalman is perhaps the most critically acclaimed. Simon Farquhar suggests that the film is the first evidence of Andrew Davies' gift as an adaptor of literary fiction: "despite an extremely arduous shoot, Davies and Clarke's fog-wreathed, flame-crackling masterpiece manages something the production team could never have imagined: it's better than the book." Dave Rolinson notes that while "the adaptation inevitably misses Dickens' nuanced and often unsettling prose ... it achieves comparably skilful effects through visual language and sound, heightening theme and supernatural mood ... The production heightens the story's crucial features of repetition and foreshadowing."
Sergio Angelini writes about A Warning to the Curious: "Of Clark's many adaptations of James' stories, this is perhaps the most varied in its use of landscape and the most visually arresting in its attempt to create an otherworldly atmosphere ... Using long lenses to flatten the scenery and make the ghost indistinct in the background, John McGlashan's fine cinematography brilliantly conveys the ageless, ritualistic determinism of Ager's pursuit and signposts the inevitability of Paxton's demise." He is less appreciative of The Ash Tree, noting that the literal adaptation of the story's ending loses the atmosphere of earlier instalments: "While the creatures are certainly grotesque and threatening, compared with some of the other adaptations of the series, The Ash Tree does lose some power through this lack of ambiguity. The result overall remains satisfyingly unsettling, however, thanks also to Petherbridge's restrained, psychologically acute performance.
The adaptations have been an influence on the work of writer Mark Gatiss
Mark Gatiss
Mark Gatiss is an English actor, screenwriter and novelist. He is best known as a member of the comedy team The League of Gentlemen, and has both written for and acted in the TV series Doctor Who and Sherlock....
. Interviewed in 2008, Gatiss recalled that Lost Hearts is his favourite adaptation because it is the one that frightened him as a child. He also noted, "I absolutely love The Treasure of Abbot Thomas. The moment when Michael Bryant has found the treasure and ... is obviously losing his wits. He just says, rationally, It is a thing of slime, I think. Darkness and slime .... There's also the fantastic scene where he thinks he's got away with it by putting the treasure back. The doctor is heading up the drive, and he can't quite see him in the sunlight. Then it pauses to that amazing crane shot ... Very spooky.
The critical reception to the two later instalments, Stigma and The Ice House, is decidedly critical, with most reviewers noting that switching to original stories instead of adaptations was "misjudged". David Kerekes writes that the latter is almost "totally forgotten". Wheatley has commented that they heralded a divergence from the stage-inspired horror of the 1940s and 50s to a more modern Gothic
Gothic fiction
Gothic fiction, sometimes referred to as Gothic horror, is a genre or mode of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. Gothicism's origin is attributed to English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto, subtitled "A Gothic Story"...
horror based in the present day, losing in the process the "aesthetic of restraint" evident in the original adaptations.
The 2005 BBC Four revival beginning with A View from a Hill was greeted warmly by Sarah Dempster, who noted "It is, in every respect, a vintage Ghost Story for Christmas production. There are the powdery academics hamstrung by extreme social awkwardness. There is the bumbling protagonist bemused by a particular aspect of modern life. There are stunning, panoramic shots of a specific area of the British landscape (here, a heavily autumnal Suffolk). There is the determined lack of celebrity pizzazz. There is tweed. And there is, crucially, a single moment of heart-stopping, corner-of-the-eye horror that suggests life, for one powdery academic at least, will never be the same again.
Related works
Clark directed another M. R. James story Casting The Runes for Yorkshire TelevisionYorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network...
's Playhouse, first broadcast on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
on 24 April 1979. Adapted by Clive Exton, it re-imagined the events of James' story taking place in a contemporary television studio. Meanwhile, for Christmas 1979 the BBC produced a 70 minute-long adaptation of Sheridan Le Fanu
Sheridan Le Fanu
Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the leading ghost-story writer of the nineteenth century and was central to the development of the genre in the Victorian era....
's gothic tale Schalcken The Painter directed and adapted by Leslie Megahey. Like the earlier Whistle and I'll Come to You, the production was listed as part of the long-running BBC arts strand Omnibus.
Repeats of the original series on BBC Four at Christmas 2007 included The Haunted Airman, a new adaptation of Dennis Wheatley
Dennis Wheatley
Dennis Yates Wheatley was an English author. His prolific output of stylish thrillers and occult novels made him one of the world's best-selling authors from the 1930s through the 1960s.-Early life:...
's novel The Haunting of Toby Jugg
The Haunting of Toby Jugg
The Haunting of Toby Jugg is a 1948 psychological thriller novel on an occult theme by Dennis Wheatley, incorporating Wheatley's usual themes of satanic possession and madness, in what was at that time a fresh situation: a disabled British airman recovering from his experiences in the last stages...
by Chris Durlacher, although this film was originally screened on 31 October 2006. For Christmas 2008, an original three-part ghost story by Mark Gatiss
Mark Gatiss
Mark Gatiss is an English actor, screenwriter and novelist. He is best known as a member of the comedy team The League of Gentlemen, and has both written for and acted in the TV series Doctor Who and Sherlock....
entitled Crooked House
Crooked House (TV series)
Crooked House is a supernatural drama mini-series which aired on BBC Four in December 2008.The three-part series was broadcast on consecutive nights from 22 to 24 December 2008. It was written and co-produced by actor and writer Mark Gatiss, who found fame in the BBC series The League of Gentlemen...
was produced instead, with the writer citing the original 1970s adaptations as a key influence. A different James's ghost story was broadcast by the BBC for 2009; Henry James
Henry James
Henry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
's 1898 novella The Turn of the Screw
The Turn of the Screw (TV 2009)
The Turn of the Screw is a 2009 British television film directed by Tim Fywell, and loosely based on the 1898 novel of the same name by Henry James.-Plot:...
was adapted as a feature-length drama by Sandy Welch
Sandy Welch
Sandy Welch is a British television writer and screenwriter.Sandy Welch's works for the BBC have included The Magnificent 7, adaptations of Charles Dickens' novel Our Mutual Friend and Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South, and most recently the BBC's well-received 2006 interpretation of Charlotte...
and broadcast on BBC One on 30 December. BBC Two premiered a new adaptation by Neil Cross
Neil Cross
Neil Cross is a Booker Prize nominated novelist, crime writer and television scriptwriter born and raised in the United Kingdom, and now living in Wellington, New Zealand.-Life:...
of M.R. James' Oh, Whistle and I'll come to You, My Lad on Christmas Eve 2010.
| Title | Author | UK broadcast date | Description | Main cast |
| Whistle and I'll Come to You Whistle and I'll Come to You Whistle and I'll Come to You is the name of two BBC television drama adaptations based on the ghost story "Oh, Whistle, And I'll Come To You, My Lad" by Victorian and Edwardian academic and supernatural writer M. R. James. The story tells the tale of an introverted academic who happens upon a... |
M. R. James, adapted by Jonathan Miller Jonathan Miller Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE is a British theatre and opera director, author, physician, television presenter, humorist and sculptor. Trained as a physician in the late 1950s, he first came to prominence in the 1960s with his role in the comedy revue Beyond the Fringe with fellow writers and... |
7 May 1968 | An eccentric professor finds a whistle carved from bone in a graveyard while on holiday in Norfolk. After blowing the whistle, he is troubled by terrible visions. | Michael Hordern Michael Hordern Sir Michael Murray Hordern was an English actor, knighted in 1983 for his services to the theatre, which stretched back to before the Second World War.-Personal life:... |
| Casting the Runes | M. R. James, adapted by Clive Exton | 24 April 1979 (on ITV) | After a television series lampoons a famous demonologist, its producer and cast soon find themselves threatened by mysterious, malevolent forces. | Jan Francis Jan Francis Jan Francis is an English actress, best known for playing Penny Warrender in the 1980s romantic comedy Just Good Friends.-Early life:Francis was born at the former Charing Cross Hospital near Trafalgar Square, London... , Bernard Gallagher Bernard Gallagher Bernard Gallagher is a British actor known for appearances in television soap operas and dramas. He was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire.Gallagher has appeared in many television series including Crown Court, Heartbeat, The thin blue line and Casualty.- External links :... , Joanna Dunham Joanna Dunham Joanna Dunham is an English actress, best noted for her work on stage and television. She has also appeared in several major motion pictures.-Career:Dunham was born in Luton, Bedfordshire, England... |
| Schalcken The Painter | J. Sheridan Le Fanu, adapted by Leslie Magahey | 23 December 1979 | Schalcken the painter sees his one true love, Rose, wedded by contract for a sum of money to a man who may or may not be a demon. When she escapes and returns home, she is pursued by her demon lover. | Jeremy Clyde Jeremy Clyde Michael Thomas Jeremy Clyde is an English actor and musician. The son of Lady Elizabeth Wellesley, he made his first public appearance as a pageboy at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom in 1953... , Maurice Denham Maurice Denham Maurice Denham OBE was an English character actor who appeared in over 100 television programmes and films throughout his long career.-Life and career:... , Cheryl Kennedy Cheryl Kennedy Cheryl Kennedy is an English actress.She was born in Enfield, Middlesex, educated at a convent, and first appeared at the age of 15 at Stratford East Theatre Workshop in What a Crazy World. She enjoyed success as a stage actress, notably in West End musicals such as the 1967 revival of The Boy... |
| The Haunted Airman | Dennis Wheatley Dennis Wheatley Dennis Yates Wheatley was an English author. His prolific output of stylish thrillers and occult novels made him one of the world's best-selling authors from the 1930s through the 1960s.-Early life:... , adapted by Chris Durlacher |
15 December 2007 (originally premiered 31 October 2006) | An injured RAF Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world... Flight Lieutenant Flight Lieutenant Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many Commonwealth countries. It ranks above flying officer and immediately below squadron leader. The name of the rank is the complete phrase; it is never shortened to "lieutenant"... suffers from repeated horrific nightmares while recuperating at a remote mansion in Wales. However, he begins to suspect his psychiatrist or aunt may be responsible. |
Robert Pattinson Robert Pattinson Robert Douglas Thomas Pattinson is an English actor, model, musician, and producer. Born and raised in London, Pattinson started out his career by playing the role of Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire... , Julian Sands Julian Sands Julian M. Sands is an English actor, known for his roles in the Best Picture nominee The Killing Fields, the cult film Warlock, A Room with a View, Arachnophobia, Vatel, the television series 24 and as Jor-El in the television series Smallville.-Career:Sands began his film career appearing in... , Rachael Stirling Rachael Stirling Rachael Atlanta Stirling is an English stage, film and television actress. She is a two-time Olivier nominee for her stage work, but is best known for her performance as Nancy Astley in the BBC drama Tipping the Velvet.-Personal life:... |
| Crooked House Crooked House (TV series) Crooked House is a supernatural drama mini-series which aired on BBC Four in December 2008.The three-part series was broadcast on consecutive nights from 22 to 24 December 2008. It was written and co-produced by actor and writer Mark Gatiss, who found fame in the BBC series The League of Gentlemen... |
Mark Gatiss Mark Gatiss Mark Gatiss is an English actor, screenwriter and novelist. He is best known as a member of the comedy team The League of Gentlemen, and has both written for and acted in the TV series Doctor Who and Sherlock.... |
22 December 2008 – 24 December 2008 | Three linked episodes tell the story of the ghostly secrets of Geap Manor, a recently demolished Tudor Tudor style architecture The Tudor architectural style is the final development of medieval architecture during the Tudor period and even beyond, for conservative college patrons... mansion in both the past and present. |
Lee Ingleby Lee Ingleby Lee Ingleby is a British film, television, and stage actor.He is perhaps best known for his roles as Detective Sergeant John Bacchus in the BBC Drama George Gently and as Stan Shunpike in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban... , Mark Gatiss Mark Gatiss Mark Gatiss is an English actor, screenwriter and novelist. He is best known as a member of the comedy team The League of Gentlemen, and has both written for and acted in the TV series Doctor Who and Sherlock.... , Philip Jackson Philip Jackson (actor) Philip Jackson is an English actor, known for his many television and film roles, most notably as Chief Inspector Japp in the television series Poirot and as Abbot Hugo, one of the recurring adversaries in the cult 1980s series Robin of Sherwood. Jackson was born in Retford, Nottinghamshire... |
| The Turn of the Screw The Turn of the Screw (TV 2009) The Turn of the Screw is a 2009 British television film directed by Tim Fywell, and loosely based on the 1898 novel of the same name by Henry James.-Plot:... |
Henry James Henry James Henry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James.... , adapted by Sandy Welch Sandy Welch Sandy Welch is a British television writer and screenwriter.Sandy Welch's works for the BBC have included The Magnificent 7, adaptations of Charles Dickens' novel Our Mutual Friend and Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South, and most recently the BBC's well-received 2006 interpretation of Charlotte... |
30 December 2009 | A governess, incarcerated in a mental asylum, tells a doctor of the possession of her two pupils by a former governess and her lover. | Michelle Dockery Michelle Dockery Michelle Dockery is an English actress of stage and screen. She has become best known for her role as Lady Mary Crawley in the ITV drama series Downton Abbey... , Sue Johnston Sue Johnston Susan "Sue" Johnston, OBE is a BAFTA nominated English actress best known for playing Sheila Grant in the long-running soap opera Brookside , Grace Foley in Waking the Dead from 2000 to 2011 and Barbara Royle in the BBC comedy The Royle Family between 1998 and 2000, and again in 2006, 2008, 2009,... , Dan Stevens Dan Stevens Daniel Jonathan Stevens is a British actor.-Education:Stevens was educated at Tonbridge School, an independent school in the market town of Tonbridge in Kent, in South East England, followed by Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he read English... |
| Whistle and I'll Come to You Whistle and I'll Come to You Whistle and I'll Come to You is the name of two BBC television drama adaptations based on the ghost story "Oh, Whistle, And I'll Come To You, My Lad" by Victorian and Edwardian academic and supernatural writer M. R. James. The story tells the tale of an introverted academic who happens upon a... |
M.R. James, adapted by Neil Cross Neil Cross Neil Cross is a Booker Prize nominated novelist, crime writer and television scriptwriter born and raised in the United Kingdom, and now living in Wellington, New Zealand.-Life:... |
24 December 2010 | Leaving his ill and ageing wife in a care home, a retired astronomer revisits one of their old coastal haunts, but after discovering a ring on the beach is soon haunted himself. | John Hurt John Hurt John Vincent Hurt, CBE is an English actor, known for his leading roles as John Merrick in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York... , Gemma Jones Gemma Jones Gemma Jones is an English character actress on both stage and screen.-Early life:Jones was born in London, England, the daughter of Irene and Griffith Jones, an actor. Her brother, Nicholas Jones, is also an actor... , Leslie Sharp |
Release
Several of the 1970s series were released on individual limited-edition Region 2 DVDs by the British Film InstituteBritish Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
in 2002 and 2003, along with Whistle and I'll Come to You. Neither the two final instalments, nor the 2005 revival productions, have been issued, and all of the BFI DVDs are now out of print. However, the first six adaptations are regularly repeated on BBC Four during the Christmas period. The Signalman is included as an extra on the American DVD release of the 1995 BBC production of Hard Times
Hard Times
Hard Times - For These Times is the tenth novel by Charles Dickens, first published in 1854. The book appraises English society and is aimed at highlighting the social and economic pressures of the times....
.