Ghost Stories For Christmas with Christopher Lee (2000, 60 mins total): BBC Scotland's ‘talking-head horror' series starring the iconic actor as an MR James-like raconteur of fireside Christmas ghost stories. Included on this release are The Stalls of Barchester and A Warning to the Curious The adaptations, although remaining true to the spirit of M.R. James, make alterations to suit the small screen - for example, A Warning to the Curious avoids the convoluted plot structure of M. R. James's 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 middle-aged character driven by poverty to seek the treasure and acting in full awareness of what he is doing. [9] After the first two adaptations, both by Clark, the tales were adapted by a number of playwrights and screenwriters. For The Treasure of Abbot Thomas, Clark recalls John Bowen's script "took some liberties with the story—which made it for the better I think...It's really quite a funny story until it gets nasty, although the threat is always there. James has a mordant sense of humour, and it's good to translate that into cinematic terms when you can. I'd always wanted to do a medium scene, and John came up with a beauty." [17] Wheatley, Helen (2006). Gothic Television. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0-7190-7149-2. Introduction to Lost Hearts, The Treasure of Abbot Thomas and The Ash Tree by Lawrence Gordon Clark (2012, 11 mins, 11 mins, 8 mins) A Ghost Story for Christmas is a strand of annual British short television films originally broadcast on BBC One between 1971 and 1978, and revived sporadically by the BBC since 2005. [1] [2] With one exception, the original instalments were directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark and the films were all shot on 16mm colour film. [3] The remit behind the series was to provide a television adaptation of a classic ghost story, in line with the oral tradition of telling supernatural tales at Christmas. [4]

If like me you loved watching Ghost Stories for Christmas over the years then you’re in for a treat this Christmas.

Out of the Unknown: ‘To Lay a Ghost’ (1971)

Lawrence Gordon Clark introductions (2012, 33 mins): introductions to The Stalls of Barchester, A Warning to the Curious and Lost Hearts previously recorded for the BFI’s DVD release Newly recorded audio commentaries for Whistle and I'll Come to You (1968) and A Warning to the Curious by TV historian Jon Dear a b c d e f g h D'Amico, John (12 February 2014). "An Interview with Lawrence Gordon Clark, Master of Ghostly Horror". Smug Horror. Newman and Hogan return to talk about the last of the official run of the BBC’s Ghost Stories for Christmas, a film that Newman admits to having warmed to over several viewings and now regards as a fine piece of work. There is some discussion about the film and the actors, but the lion’s share of this commentary is devoted to screenwriter John Bowen and his canon of work as a screenwriter and novelist. Newman does identify the story here as a subtly developed vampire tale, and reveals that the lead character in Bowen’s 1984 novel The McGuffin was based directly on him when he was working as a film critic for the London listings magazine, City Limits (which I used to buy slavishly every week, I should note). After an infamous demonologist is ridiculed on a television programme, its producer soon finds herself targeted by malevolent supernatural forces. [22]

Simon Callow, Anjli Mohindra, Susan Penhaligon, Joshua Oakes-Rogers, Christopher Allen, Mark Gatiss I have compared by BFI BD of Penda's Fen with the Severin release, and there's literally no way to detect the difference. I also compared my UK DVD of Robin Redbreast with the Severin BD. no difference in pitch. Essentially a two-hander, both of the lead actors here are both first-rate. As the unnamed Traveller, Bernard Lloyd is solidly convincing in his self-assured rationalism, but the real prize is a beautifully nuanced performance from Denholm Elliott as the Signalman of the title. From the moment we first see him in face-revealing close-up, his inner fear and torment are clearly evident, and subtly underscore every subsequent verbal exchange. This is particularly effective when the Traveller assures the Signalman that he will return for a third visit, prompting a response in which gratitude is laced with quiet desperation. An electronics company looking for a new recording medium discover that ghosts in their research building could inspire the new format they were after. [52]Kit Harington to star in BBC Christmas ghost story from Mark Gatiss". Radio Times. 19 October 2023. For Christmas 2008 an original three-part ghost story by Mark Gatiss, Crooked House, was produced instead, though Gatiss has cited the original adaptations as a key influence. [50]

A young librarian receives a request for an obscure Hebrew book from a sinister gentleman, unaware of its contents. [40] It begins with 11-year-old Stephen (Simon Gipps-Kent), dressed in respectable clothing and a Brunelian top hat, being transported through the Lincolnshire countryside to the stately home of his elderly cousin, Mr. Abney (Joseph O'Conor). As his carriage approaches the hall, Stephen briefly sees two wan-looking children (Christopher Davis and Michelle Foster) standing in a field, their arms slowly arching in a synchronised wave. Seconds later they are gone. After a young couple move into a remote country house in the middle of a stone circle workmen disturb an ancient menhir, unleashing a supernatural force. [5] Recently separated Paul (John Stride) has come to what appears to be an upmarket health spa, where he hopes to relax and come to terms with the pain of his recent marital breakup. The spa is run by the über-polite (and possibly incestual) brother and sister duo of Clovis (Geoffrey Burridge) and Jessica (Elizabeth Romilly), who devote a disproportionate amount of their time to ensuring Paul's wellbeing. Deep in the spacious grounds grow two unusual flowers that are impervious to hardship and have an intoxicating scent, behind which sits the spa's famed ice house, which Clovis and Jessica encourage an initially apprehensive Paul to investigate. Over the following nights, Paul's sleep is disturbed by a small hole in the window of his room, one that grows and shifts in shape to resemble that of the strongly scented flowers, and when he investigates the ice house one evening, he makes a deeply disturbing discovery.a b Rigby, Jonathan, "Traces of Uneasiness: Lawrence Gordon Clark and The Stalls of Barchester" in The M. R. James Collection, BFI 2012 (BFIVD965) Writer and broadcaster Simon Farquhar takes an enthralling look at what he regards as one of the most interesting films in the Ghost Stories for Christmas series, delivering a commentary that is a blend of the factual, the observational, and the analytical. He’s clearly interviewed some of the personnel involved, and thus has stories related to the shoot that I’ve not heard elsewhere, and while he praises many aspects of the film, he’s also not above criticising elements that he feels don’t quite work. There is specific detail on writer John Bowen, director Lawrence Gordon Clark and score composer Geoffrey Burgon, and he shares a persuasive theory over what makes the first two entries in the series feel different from the films that followed. There’s also an interesting discussion on why Christmas should be a time to tell ghost stories, a question that rears its head in one of the later commentaries. The final film in the original Ghost Storiesstrand was the first after Whistle and I’ll Come to You not to be directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark. It remains the oddest and most narratively oblique of the series, never openly explaining the nature of its horror, in the process leaving itself open to multiple interpretations. The only other ways of doing it introduces motion artefacts. You could use a form of pulldown to put it in a 60i container, but that would leave judder almost identical to traditional 3:2 pulldown. Or upsample the actual framerate, but that would smooth out motion. The latter is would be fine for interlaced content (and has been used on stuff like classic Doctor Who and Monty Python), since it has smoother motion anyway and preserves the look in a US compatible format. Ghost Stories for Christmas: Volume 2. The three-disc set release is scheduled to arrive on the market on November 20.