Lot No. 249 | |
---|---|
Genre | Drama Supernatural horror |
Written by | Mark Gatiss |
Directed by | Mark Gatiss |
Starring | Kit Harington Freddie Fox |
Music by | Blair Mowat |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Producer | Isibeal Ballance |
Cinematography | Kieran McGuigan |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Production company | Adorable Media |
Original release | |
Network | BBC Two |
Release | 24 December 2023 |
Lot No. 249 is a supernatural television drama produced by the BBC based on the story "Lot No. 249" by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle, first published in Harper's Magazine in 1892. Adapted and directed by Mark Gatiss, it stars Kit Harington and Freddie Fox and was first broadcast on 24 December 2023 on BBC Two as part of the long-running A Ghost Story for Christmas series.
An Oxford student, Abercrombie Smith, recounts to his friend that his neighbour, Edward Bellingham, is using a revived Egyptian mummy to murder his social and romantic rivals. Following this meeting, Smith returns to his college, confronts Bellingham at gunpoint about his "perversions", and forces him to destroy the mummy and the associated artefacts. However, in the closing moments it is revealed that Bellingham has a second mummy – "Lot No. 250" – which he uses to continue his killing spree.
The film was produced by Adorable Media for BBC Arts, with Mark Gatiss continuing the tradition of adapting a classic ghost story for the BBC for transmission at Christmas. Gatiss's previous contributions to the series between 2013 and 2022 have included The Tractate Middoth , The Dead Room, Martin's Close, The Mezzotint and Count Magnus . [1]
Kit Harington and Freddie Fox were announced as having the lead roles in October 2023. [2] [3] Later that month the cast list was expanded by Colin Ryan, John Heffernan, James Swanton, Jonathan Rigby and Andrew Horton. [4] Filming took place in Hertfordshire in 2023. [5]
Its first broadcast was in the UK on BBC Two on 24 December 2023. [6]
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