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Is there a BBC "Ghost Story For Christmas" this year?

I don't even mind if it's not an M.R. James adaptation, the Beeb can produce some pretty good 1 or 3 part dramas and miniseries from new sources when it gets its act together - but it doesn't look as though there is any ghostly love for us this year :(
 
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Nothing last year either. This year the BBC genre drama budget seems to have gone on a three part adaptation of 'And Then There Were None'. I guess that may have some old dark house action going but presumably the only haunting will be the ghost of unmentionable nursery rhymes past.

The second part on Sunday clashes with 'Harry Price: Ghost Hunter' on ITV, based, it seems very distantly, on Neil Springs novel 'The Ghost Hunters'.

BBC Radio 4 Extra have thrown us a small bone in the form of a radio adaptation of 'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You' starring Michael Hordern which is on tonight at 6.00pm and repeated at midnight. There have been several radio adaptations and readings of this over the years but this is a 1963 version (five years before Hordern was in Jonathan Miller's TV classic) which as far as I know has never been rebroadcast before. "Special effects by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop".
 
Due to the lack of seasonal dark murmurs on the BBC, I have dug out the DVD of the 1976 BBC classic adaptation of Dicken's The Signalman to watch later, with a brilliant, fear laden performance from the late Denholm Elliot!
It is also I have noted available on YouTube. If you have not seen it give it a watch, it is only about 40 minutes but fills the huge ghost story less chasm offered by the BBC this year!

Hello, below.
 
Apart from And Then There Were None there also is the 20 part series Dickensian which is a drama made up of characters from various Dickens novels, including several from A Christmas Carol. No idea whether there will be ghosties though.

In my craving for spooky going ons I started to watch Jordskott last night, which was hidden away last summer on one of the smaller ITV channels. It starts out like your typical Scandi crime drama with a troubled lady cop and a missing child, but as the series goes on it transpires that the mystery may be of a supernatural nature based on Nordic mythology, forrest folk and the likes. I'm three episodes in and it's pretty good so far. Feels like a mixture of The Killing and The Returned.
 
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Just like last year the BBC Christmas drama budget has been blown on an Agatha Christie adaptation. This time it's 'Witness for the Prosecution'. Channel 5 are showing the Alastair Sim version of Scrooge several times. Can't see much else of even vaguely related interest apart from a new episode of the 'League of Gentlemen's' "Inside No 9" - "The Devil of Christmas". 10pm BBC2 on December 27th.
iPlayer link for when its available :

It's again left to radio to supply some ghost story action. BBC Radio 4 Extra have dragged a couple of previously unrepeated items out of the vault. On Christmas Eve from 1990, Alex McCowen reads Chekov's "A Dreadful Night" at 6.15pm and Midnight.
iPlayer link for when its available .

On Christmas Day from 1992, a dramatization of Jerome K. Jerome's "After Supper Ghost Stories" with Dinsdale Landen at 6.15pm and 12.15am.
iPlayer link for when its available.

Elsewhere :
For fans of the late Peter Vaughan in "A Warning To The Curious" his other short supernatural film "The Return" from 1973 is up on YouTube. Really not great quality but its pretty rare. YouTube link.

Also up on YouTube is Nigel Kneale's 1989 TV adaptation of Susan Hill's "The Woman in Black". This version is sadly languishing in rights hell, which is a shame because it's very good. YouTube link.
 
Pretty poor. Normally Mark Gatiss pops up with something suitably creepy but obviously too busy doing Sherlock. I consoled myself with an old recording of BBC adaptation of MR James Tractate Middoth a couple of years ago.
 
What was that one involving a painting that changes every night to show a hooded skeletal figure creeping into a mansion and out with a baby in his clutches?
 
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What was that one involving a painting that changes every night to show a hooded skeletal figure creeping into a mansion and out with a baby in his clutches?
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I cannot recall that one but I still remember one from 1979 called Schalcken the Painter with a mysterious figure in the shadows.
Charles Gray was the narrator, excellent stuff just before midnight.
 
D'wards said:
What was that one involving a painting that changes every night to show a hooded skeletal figure creeping into a mansion and out with a baby in his clutches?
Click to expand...

The Mezzotint.

There's a BBC radio version read by robin bailey (can't find), but the below version read by Michael Hordern should be good (Hordern was also in the TV adaptation of 'Oh whistle and I'll come to you my lad'):

 
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Hail Krampus

For the third year running the BBC Christmas genre-drama budget has been spent on their efforts to revive interest in the sadly neglected author Agatha Christie. Unfortunately we won't be seeing the results due to an ongoing police investigations of one of its cast members.

So once again it's a bunch of repeats. On Christmas Eve BBC 4 are having a Christmas Ghostathon with Mark Gattis' documentary about M.R. James and his 2013 adaptation of 'The Tractate Middoth', together with 'No 13' (2006), 'A View From A Hill' (2005), two of Christopher Lee's Ghost Stories for Christmas ('The Stalls of Barchester' and 'A Warning to the Curious') from 2000 and (best of the bunch imo) one of the original Lawrence Gordon Clark adaptations 'The Signalman' from 1976 with Denholm Elliott.

Channel Schedule - BBC Four - Sunday 24 December 2017

Slim pickings on BBC radio as far as I can see. On New Years Eve Radio 4 Extra are broadcasting an episode of Fear on Four (Denise Sims' 'Dark Feathers') and the 1963 adaptation of 'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come To You' with Michael Hordern which they first excavated last year. (Between 6 and 7pm and repeated between midnight and 1am)

(Bit more interesting as far as I'm concerned Robert Aldrich's 'Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?' (Dec 23rd) and 'Hush.. Hush Sweet Charlotte' (Dec 30th) are being shown on BBC2 in conjunction with 'Feud' the series about Joan Crawford and Bette Davis).
 
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ho ho ho

Yet another bloody BBC Agatha Christie adaptation this year (the trailer suggests John Malkovich is adopting an Inspector Clouseau accent although I suspect there will be few intentional laughs to be had). But the BBC have also come up with some ghost fare!!!

Christmas Eve on BBC4 at 10.00pm there's a new half hour drama, 'The Dead Room', written and directed by Mark Gatiss. It's set in the soon to be decommissioned BBC Maida Vale Studios and stars Simon Callow.

The iplayer link for when it's up - BBC Four - The Dead Room
There's a page about it on the BBC website - BBC Arts - Mark Gatiss: Why ghost stories are perfect for Christmas

It's followed by two of the 1970s Lawrence Gordon Clark M. R. James adaptations : at 10.30pm 'Lost Hearts' (I found it one of the creepiest of the series) and at 11.05pm 'The Ash Tree'.

BBC Four - Lost Hearts (iplayer link for when it's up)
BBC Four - The Ash Tree (iplayer link for when it's up)

Last Sunday BBC4 showed 'A Christmas Carol', again with Simon Callow, based on his one man show version of the story.

BBC Four - A Christmas Carol - (iplayer link- it's up now)

And there's a lot of stuff on radio. Yesterday on Radio 4 there was a new drama ' The Haunting of M. R. James' by Neil Brand. Mark Gatiss (it's that man again) stars. It includes brief extracts of James reading some of his stories, and over the last week Radio 4 broadcast five short adaptations of these, also written by Neil Brand. (I'd suggest listening to the main play before the adaptations).

BBC Radio 4 - Drama, The Haunting of M.R. James (iplayer link- it's up now)
BBC Radio 4 - 15 Minute Drama, The Haunting of M.R. James - (page with iplayer links to the five adaptations)

Over the coming week, starting tomorrow (24th), Radio 4 Extra are repeating nine short ghost stories, at 6.00pm daily and repeated at midnight. They include four of the 1997 set of M. R. James stories read by Benjamin Whitrow and the five episodes of the 'Haunting Women' series by Dermot Bolger from 2005.

BBC Radio 4 Extra - MR James: Ghost Stories - (page with iplayer links to the 1997 episodes when they're up - note only four are being repeated).
BBC Radio 4 Extra - Dermot Bolger - Haunting Women - (page with iplayer links to these when they're up)

The following week, starting Monday 31st, in the same time slots they are repeating five ghost stories by Walter de la Mare.

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Ghost Stories of Walter De La Mare - (page with iplayer links to these when they're up)

The BBC don't make it as easy to find out what's on as they might - I went through the printed Radio Times and initially didn't spot all of the above. You'd also think they might cross promote the TV and Radio stuff but no. I only found this page of links to other horror and supernatural stuff currently on the iplayer by chance :

BBC - Programmes categorised as Drama: Horror & Supernatural, Available on BBC iPlayer - hardly any crossover with the stuff listed above. In addition to a lot of repeated radio drama there are two BBC3 series 'The Fades' and 'In the Flesh', and four feature films - George Romero's 'Night of the Living Dead', and three 1940s films produced by Val Lewton : 'Cat People' 'I Walked With A Zombie' and 'The Curse of the Cat People'.

And if that wasn't enough there is also the original 1958 'Quatermass and the Pit' serial, scripted by Nigel Kneale, and produced and directed by Rudolph Cartier. One of the most influential sci-fi/supernatural fusions. The first episode was originally broadcast sixty years ago this week.

BBC - Quatermass and the Pit - (iplayer links to the six episodes).

The week after it concluded the Goons did a parody of it


(So did Tony Hancock in an episode of his TV series - only a dreadful recording of the soundtrack survives but that is also on YouTube.)
 
I am very much looking forward to settling down with a hot chocolate (which may or may not have a sneaky shot of either amaretto or brandy in it!) and some mince pies for the 3 back to back ghostlies on Xmas eve - thank you Beeb :)
 
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Gahan Wilson 1930-2019

Yet again the BBC are tossing aside Xmas tradition. But happily the tradition dropped this year is the recent one of making miserabilist 'grown up' adaptations of Agatha Christie. Instead we have a new ghost story for Christmas.

On Christmas Eve at 10pm BBC Four is showing 'Martin's Close', written and directed by Mark Gatiss. It's based on an MR James story and stars Peter Capaldi.

That's followed at 10.30pm by the 2009 BBC adaptation of 'The Turn of the Screw' and at midnight Mark Gatiss' 2013 documentary about MR James 'The Lost Ghost Story'.

(I've added iplayer and BBC Sounds links for when these programmes are available online).

Is Dracula a ghost ? Hmmm, well as it's Christmas let's stretch a point because Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat's three part adaptation is being shown on BBC1 over three nights

New Years Day - BBC1 9.00pm part one - The Rules of the Beast
2nd January - BBC1 9.00pm part two - Blood Vessel
3rd January - BBC1 9.00pm part three - The Dark Compass

It will be interesting to see what Gatiss and Moffat make of it. The trailer has been up for a while and has already generated some concern on social media that a mini-series about a blood-sucking vampire might possibly be 'scary' or even 'gory'. :eek:

On January 3rd over on BBC2, immediately after the last episode of Dracula, there's a documentary about him. You'll never guess who is presenting it.

Not a lot on BBC Radio this year. Radio Four has produced some new stuff leveraging their long running Archers franchise.

Obviously they could have got say, Mark Gatiss, to write a special in which a seance in The Bull results in the avenging ghosts of Walter Gabriel and Grace Archer biting out the throats of everyone present, setting off a zombie plague which rapidly infects the whole of Radio 4. The shocking twist being that none of the listeners can tell it's happened.

Instead they've been a little more conservative. Archers character Jim Lloyd "enthrals Ambridge residents" by telling three classic Ghost stories

30th December 6.15pm - EF Benson's 'The Room in the Tower'
31st December 6.15pm - MR James' 'Lost Hearts'
1st January 6.15pm - WW Jacobs' 'The Monkey’s Paw'

On Radio 4 Extra just a few repeats - nothing that hasn't been broadcast in recent years.

Sunday 22nd December at 6.40pm Alec McCowen reads Anton Chekov's 'A Dreadful Night' (from 1990).
Friday 27th at 6.40pm Bertie Carvel reads Bram Stoker's 'Dracula's Guest' (from 2012)
And on Sunday 29th at 6.00pm Gregory Evans radio play 'The Hex' based on MR James' 'Casting the Runes ' (from 1981).

A link to some other radio, TV and film dramas categorised as Horror & Supernatural some of which are currently live on the iplayer and BBC Sounds. And a reminder that 'Quatermass & the Pit' which has been doing its 60th anniversary lap of honour this year is still on the iplayer for another few weeks.

Needless to say, none of the above is going to be much use to anyone boycotting the BBC in solidarity with the Ghost of Political Impartiality Past. However all is not lost. Channel Five also has a tradition of buying in something supernatural for Christmas.

This year it's the premiere of 'Susan Hill's Ghost Story - The Small Hand' showing at 9.00pm on Boxing Day. They're following it with a showing of the 2011 cinema adaption of Hill's 'The Woman in Black'.

(Anyone boycotting the BBC because of anti-left wing bias might want to
avoid googling Susan Hill's political sympathies).

Elsewhere on Freeview: on Sundays at 9.00pm Talking Pictures TV are showing the surviving 1968/1970 episodes of the Thames TV series 'Mystery and Imagination'.

Tonight (15th) it's 'Frankenstein', on Sunday 22nd 'Dracula' with Denholm Elliott, Sunday 29th 'The Suicide Club' and on Sunday 5th January 'Sweeney Todd' with Freddie Jones. The schedule for the following week isn't up yet but I'm guessing it will be the final episode 'The Curse of the Mummy', based on Bram Stoker's 'The Jewel of Seven Stars'.
 
Wow thanks Lurdan thats saved me some hunting around. I had heard about Martin Close and have high hopes for this. its great that Gatiss is part of the establishment now and there is someone of that status pushing this stuff.

another christmas tradition I have now is wandering country lanes in the weak winter light, listening to various episodes 'Podcast to the Curious'.
 
Quite liked Martin's close... Could perhaps have done with dwelling on/building the haunting a bit more. But I forget how it's structured in the original. It does help when the hauntee is a horrible bastard.
 
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Richard Sala 1955-2020

Only repeats again. The BBC may be thinking that a nation concerned about the possibility of spending Christmas re-enacting the 'decrease the surplus population' part of 'A Christmas Carol' might not be in the mood for tales of vengeful ghosts. The fools.

Anyhow the only new thing is that this year's Christmas Eve repeats are on BBC 2 not BBC 4.

At 10.15pm last year's M.R.James adaptation 'Martin's Close'
(This is already on the iplayer although the page for it says it is due to expire 15 minutes after the rebroadcast starts).

At 10.45 Mark Gatiss' 2018 'The Dead Room'. This was set in the BBC's soon-to-be decommissionesd 'legendary' Maida Vale Studios to mark the Corporation's respect for it's heritage.
In May 2020, Historic England designated it as a Grade II Listed Building. As of September 2020, the BBC is appealing against the decision.
Click to expand...

At 11.15pm there is Gatiss' 2013 documentary about M.R.James 'The Lost Ghost Story'. Again.

Finally at 12.15am another showing this year for the 2017 film 'Ghost Stories'. Written by Andy Nyman and ex-League of Gentleman Jeremy Dyson based on their stage play.
Professor Philip Goodman, famous for debunking hoaxes and ghost sightings, is given a dossier of three terrifying, unsolvable cases by his hero and role model Charles Cameron, who has been missing, presumed dead, for years. Can Goodman explain what even Cameron could not?
Click to expand...

Not a lot elsewhere. In recent years the BBC has spent it's big Xmas drama budget on exhuming a 'classic', and generally driving a stake through it's heart. This year it's the turn of 'Black Narcissus'. Three episodes on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week at 9.00pm on BBC1. By rights it ought to have some imperial gothic atmosphere. Might 'wait for the reviews' myself.

At 8.30pm tonight (23rd) there's a Christmas edition of the sitcom 'Ghosts'.
BBC One - Ghosts, The Ghost of Christmas

If the BBC aren't trying very hard, the good news is that Channel 5 have outdone themselves with an offering of exceptional seasonal ghastliness.
The bad news is that it's a one and a half hour tribute to Sir Cliff's Christmas hits. 10.00pm Christmas Eve.

On BBC radio:
At 8.30pm Christmas Eve on Radio 4 a repeat of 'Iceland's Dark Lullabies"
Andri Snær Magnason explores the dark side of Christmas in Iceland.
Click to expand...
Is it as bad as this Christmas in Tesco?

On Radio 4 Extra there's a bunch of repeats in their regular 6.00pm 'chiller' slot. (Repeated at midnight)

Some of those already on the BBC Sounds player:
Eric Pringle - Dancing With Jaques (1993)
Dracula - The 2012 adaptation (part 1) (part 2)
Colin Finbow - Emily's Ghost (2015)
and the first two episodes of the 1993 serialisation of Susan Hill's The Woman in Black
(The other two episodes are broadcast today and tomorrow.)

Other forthcoming broadcasts:
25th 6.00pm - RLS Stevenson's Markheim (1971)
26th 6.00pm - Dickens' The Story of the Goblin Who Stole a Sexton (1962)
26th 6.30pm - Michael Dobson's The Spirit of the House (1988)
27th 6.00pm - Jonathan Holloway's No Conferring (2003)
27th 6.30pm - JB Priestley's The Demon King (1962)
28th to 31st - A four part adaptation of J Meade Falkner's The Lost Stradivarius (2008)
1st Jan - Wilkie Collin's Mad Monkton (1976)

A list of other Horror & Supernatural stuff currently on the BBC iplayer and Sounds player can be found here.
 
Thank you for the details of this years' ghostly schedule Lurdan - I wasn't expecting anything new this year tbh, I know production has been greatly impacted by COVID - good to know what repeats are on when though.
 
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