Crooked House (TV series)

Last updated

Crooked House
Crooked-house-bbc.jpg
Mark Gatiss and Lee Ingleby in Crooked House
GenreHorror mystery
Written by Mark Gatiss
Directed byDamon Thomas
Starring Lee Ingleby
Mark Gatiss
Philip Jackson
Ian Hallard
Jennifer Higham
Theme music composer David Arnold
Michael Price
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes3
Production
ProducerPaul Frift
Production locations Windsor, Berkshire, England, UK
Running time90 min (3x30 min)
Production company Tiger Aspect Productions
Original release
Network BBC Four
Release22 December (2008-12-22) 
24 December 2008 (2008-12-24)

Crooked House is a British supernatural drama TV series which aired on BBC Four in December 2008.

Contents

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, [1] who found fame in the BBC series The League of Gentlemen . The three linked episodes form an anthology story, influenced by the writings of M. R. James and Amicus horror movies, [2] and a Māori death-mask belonging to Gatiss. They concern the ghostly secrets of the fictional Geap Manor, a recently demolished Tudor mansion. [3]

Synopsis

Ben Morris, a young teacher, finds an antique door-knocker in his garden and takes it to the local museum, where the curator tells him it belonged to Geap Manor and tells him tales about the manor and its former inhabitants.

The first story, "The Wainscoting", is set in the late 18th century. Gatiss plays a museum curator who is given a strange door-knocker, which inspires him to share his dark research into the Manor. The first tale relates the story of Joseph Bloxham, who buys and improves the Manor after capitalizing on an investment that ruined his fellow speculators. Strange noises are heard behind the newly installed wainscoting, the wood of which came from the gallows known as 'Tyburn Tree'. [3]

The second story, "Something Old", takes place in the 1920s, where, at the Manor, a lavish costume ball is being held. During the ball, young Felix de Momery announces his engagement to Ruth, much to the surprise and annoyance of his grandmother and his friends, Billy and Katherine. The young couple's future seems inextricably linked with another tragic wedding day and a ghostly bride who haunts the corridors. [3]

In the third episode, "The Knocker", Ben himself discovers that, even though demolished, Geap Manor continues to cast a long shadow. Recently split from his girlfriend, he finds the cosy blandness of his modern house suddenly altered by events from the distant past, and by the sinister figure of Sir Roger Widdowson. [3]

The cast included Mark Gatiss, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Ian Hallard, Philip Jackson, Lee Ingleby, Jean Marsh, Samuel Barnett, Daniela Denby-Ashe, Anna Madeley, Andy Nyman, Jennifer Higham, and illusionist Derren Brown. [1] The series was directed by Damon Thomas. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ramsey Campbell</span> English author (born1946)

Ramsey Campbell is an English horror fiction writer, editor and critic who has been writing for well over fifty years. He is the author of over 30 novels and hundreds of short stories, many of them winners of literary awards. Three of his novels have been adapted into films.


Inner Sanctum Mystery, also known as Inner Sanctum, is a popular old-time radio program that aired from January 7, 1941, to October 5, 1952. It was created by producer Himan Brown and was based on the imprint given to the mystery novels of Simon & Schuster. In all, 526 episodes were broadcast.

"The Monkey's Paw" is a horror short story by English author W. W. Jacobs. It first appeared in Harper's Monthly in 1902, and was reprinted in his third collection of short stories, The Lady of the Barge, later that year. In the story, three wishes are granted to the owner of The Monkey's Paw, but the wishes come with an enormous price for interfering with fate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Gatiss</span> British actor, screenwriter and novelist (born 1966)

Mark Gatiss is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, director, producer and novelist. He is best known for his work in television acting in and co-creating shows with Steven Moffat. Gatiss has received several awards including a BAFTA TV Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Peabody Award, and two Laurence Olivier Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Unquiet Dead</span> 2005 Doctor Who episode

"The Unquiet Dead" is the third episode of the first series of the British science-fiction television programme Doctor Who, first broadcast on 9 April 2005 on BBC One. It was written by Mark Gatiss and directed by Euros Lyn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carnacki</span> Fictional detective created by William Hope Hodgson

Thomas Carnacki is a fictional occult detective created by English fantasy writer William Hope Hodgson. Carnacki was the protagonist of a series of six short stories published between 1910 and 1912 in The Idler magazine and The New Magazine.

<i>Sherlock</i> (TV series) British mystery crime drama television series (2010–2017)

Sherlock is a British mystery crime drama television series based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes detective stories. Created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, the show stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as Doctor John Watson. Thirteen episodes have been produced, with four three-part series airing from 2010 to 2017. and a special episode that aired on 1 January 2016. The series is set in the present day in which it aired. The one-off special features a Victorian-period fantasy resembling the original Holmes stories.

<i>A Ghost Story for Christmas</i> British television series

A Ghost Story for Christmas is a British supernatural anthology television series created by Lawrence Gordon Clark. Episodes take the form of short television films which air around Christmas, initially running annually on BBC1 from 1971–1978, with revivals airing sporadically between 2005–2013 and regularly since 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horror comics</span> Horror comics book

Horror comics are comic books, graphic novels, black-and-white comics magazines, and manga focusing on horror fiction. In the US market, horror comic books reached a peak in the late 1940s through the mid-1950s, when concern over content and the imposition of the self-censorship Comics Code Authority contributed to the demise of many titles and the toning down of others. Black-and-white horror-comics magazines, which did not fall under the Code, flourished from the mid-1960s through the early 1980s from a variety of publishers. Mainstream American color comic books experienced a horror resurgence in the 1970s, following a loosening of the Code. While the genre has had greater and lesser periods of popularity, it occupies a firm niche in comics as of the 2010s.

"Night Terrors" is the ninth episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and was first broadcast on BBC One and BBC America on 3 September 2011. It was written by Mark Gatiss and directed by Richard Clark.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Crimson Horror</span> 2013 Doctor Who episode

"The Crimson Horror" is the eleventh episode of the seventh series of the British science-fiction drama Doctor Who. It was written by Mark Gatiss and directed by Saul Metzstein, and was first broadcast on BBC One on 4 May 2013. It marks the 100th episode, including specials, since the return of Doctor Who on 26 March 2005.

<i>Schalcken the Painter</i> 1979 British film

Schalcken the Painter is a 1979 British television horror film based on the 1839 story Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter by Sheridan Le Fanu, and stars Jeremy Clyde as Godfried Schalcken and Maurice Denham as Gerrit Dou. It aired on the BBC as an episode of Omnibus on 23 December 1979, following in the tradition of A Ghost Story for Christmas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Count Magnus</span> Short story by M.R. James

"Count Magnus" is a ghost story by British writer M. R. James, first published in 1904. It was included in his first collection Ghost Stories of an Antiquary.

<i>Dracula</i> (2020 TV series) 2020 British horror television series

Dracula is a horror drama television serial developed by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat, based on the 1897 novel of the same name by Bram Stoker. The series, consisting of three episodes, premiered on 1 January 2020 and was broadcast over three consecutive days on BBC One before releasing on Netflix. Claes Bang stars as the title character.

"The Dead Room" is a short film which serves as the thirteenth episode of the British supernatural anthology television series A Ghost Story for Christmas. Produced by Isibeal Ballance and written and directed by Mark Gatiss, it is the first instalment of the series to be an original story since "The Ice House" (1978) and first aired on BBC Four on 24 December 2018.

Folk horror is a subgenre of horror film and horror fiction that uses elements of folklore to invoke fear and foreboding. Typical elements include a rural setting, isolation, and themes of superstition, folk religion, paganism, sacrifice and the dark aspects of nature. Although related to supernatural horror film, folk horror usually focuses on the beliefs and actions of people rather than the supernatural, and often deals with naïve outsiders coming up against these. The British films Blood on Satan's Claw (1971), The Wicker Man (1973) and Witchfinder General (1968) are regarded as pioneers of the genre, while The Witch (2015) and Midsommar (2019) sparked renewed interest in folk horror. Southeast Asian cinema also commonly features folk horror.

Count Magnus (<i>A Ghost Story for Christmas</i>) 2022 British television film

"Count Magnus" is a short film which serves as the sixteenth episode of the British supernatural anthology television series A Ghost Story for Christmas. Produced by Isibeal Ballance and written and directed by Mark Gatiss, it is based on the ghost story of the same name by M. R. James, first published in the collection Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904), and first aired on BBC Two on 23 December 2022.

The Tractate Middoth (<i>A Ghost Story for Christmas</i>) Episode of A Ghost Story for Christmas

"The Tractate Middoth" is a short film which serves as the twelfth episode of the British supernatural anthology television series A Ghost Story for Christmas. Produced by Susie Liggat, it is the first instalment to be written and directed by Mark Gatiss, who has helmed every subsequent episode as of 2023. It is based on the ghost story of the same name by M. R. James, first published in the collection More Ghost Stories (1911), and first aired on BBC Two on 25 December 2013.

The Mezzotint (<i>A Ghost Story for Christmas</i>) 2021 British television drama

"The Mezzotint" is a short film which serves as the fifteenth episode of the British supernatural anthology television series A Ghost Story for Christmas. Produced by Isibeal Ballance and written and directed by Mark Gatiss, it is based on the ghost story of the same name by M. R. James, first published in the collection Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904), and first aired on BBC Two on 24 December 2021.

"Lot No. 249" is a short film which serves as the seventeenth episode of the British supernatural anthology television series A Ghost Story for Christmas. Produced by Isibeal Ballance and written and directed by Mark Gatiss, it is based on the gothic horror story of the same name by Arthur Conan Doyle, first published in Harper's Magazine in 1892, and first aired on BBC Two on 24 December 2023.

References

  1. 1 2 BBC Press Release
  2. Hussey, Bill (18 December 2008). "Interview with Mark Gatiss: Part One". Horror Reanimated. Retrieved 30 December 2008.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Radio Times December 2008
  4. Crooked House on the Internet Movie Database