xmas ghost story

[zofo1961]

they were good, my fav was an episode called the lost hearts, about two kids go to a country house, and keep seeing this boy and girl with realy long finger nails, managed to get a copy a while back

[The Lurker In The Shadows]

Re: xmas ghost story

The Ghost Story for Christmas films made by director Lawrence Gordon Clark for the BBC in the 1970s were wonderful. They were;
The Stalls of Barchester - Robert Hardy as an ambitious archdeacon is punished by the carvings in his cathedral stall.
A Warning to the Curious - Peter Vaughn goes looking for the last of 3 legendary crowns which are supposed to protect the coast from invaders - but the crown has a guardian.
Lost Hearts - Young orphan Stephen goes to live with his elderly cousin in the country, but soon is haunted by glimpses of pale faced children and the sound of hurdy-gurdy music.
The Treasure of Abbot Thomas - Michael Bryant's scholar seeks the hidden treasure of a medieval alchemist, but finds something much worse waiting down an old well.
The Ash Tree - Sir Richard's ancestor had given evidence that led to the execution of a local witch, but Mistress Mothersole's curse is on Sir Richard's family. (all of the above based on stories by M.R. James)
The Signalman - Taken from a Charles Dickens story. Denholm Elliot is menaced by a strange figure by the mouth of a railway tunnel which seems to warn of disaster.
Stigma - The first of two original, contemporary stories. Workmen attempt to remove a great standing stone which has been buried in the garden of an old cottage, and unleash something which causes the wife of the cottage's new owner to bleed mysteriously.
The Ice House - A strange tale of the inhabitants of a health farm for rich, elderly patients, and the weird flowers which grow round the old ice-house. (This was the only one of the original series not to be directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark, who later directed an updated version of M.R. James's "Casting the Runes" for Yorkshire Television.)

BBC4 recently revived the series with two more M.R. James adaptations, "A View From A Hill" and "Number 13", and, following a gap, Mark Gatiss's "Crooked House", which shows the influence of those earlier Ghost Stories for Christmas.

[jason h]

Re: xmas ghost story

For me, the Christmas Ghost Stories of M R James made by the Beeb and shown on BBC Two 1986 were the best - a mixture of Robert Powel fire-side readings and dramatisations. They really brought the stories to life and remain the best adaptations because of their simplicity.

The Mezzotint here...
THEY TORE IT DOWN: M.R. James At Xmas

[The Lurker In The Shadows]

Re: xmas ghost story

Ah, yes, those Robert Powell readings are something special indeed. The stories are edited down to fit the time-slot, but still work really nicely, and give you an idea of what it might have been like to be one of MRJ's friends at Cambridge when he'd originally read the stories aloud at Christmas.

There was also an earlier series similar to this, "Spine Chillers", made by the Jackanory team in 1980, with Freddie Jones, Jonathan Pryce, John Woodvine and Michael Bryant reading stories by Saki, H.G. Wells, MRJ and others in studies, libraries and victorian conservatories.

And, later, Christopher Lee read 4 M.R. James stories for Christmas in 2000.

A handy list of TV, radio and film adaptations of James's stories here;
M.R. James on TV, Radio and Film

[kazboot]

Re: xmas ghost story

'Whistle And I'll Come To You' is probably the scariest M R James adaptation I've seen, but they are all great.