Sir Michael Murray Hordern, CBE was an English actor. He is best known for his Shakespearean roles, especially King Lear. He often appeared in film, rising from a bit part actor to leading roles; by the time of his death he had appeared in nearly 140 films. His later work was predominantly in television and radio.
Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE was an English theatre and opera director, actor, author, television presenter, humourist and physician. After training in medicine and specialising in neurology in the late 1950s, he came to prominence in the early 1960s in the comedy revue Beyond the Fringe with Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Alan Bennett.
Thomas Nigel Kneale was a Manx screenwriter who wrote professionally for more than 50 years, was a winner of the Somerset Maugham Award, and was twice nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay.
Quatermass and the Pit is a British television science-fiction serial transmitted live by BBC Television in December 1958 and January 1959. It was the third and last of the BBC's Quatermass serials, although the chief character, Professor Bernard Quatermass, reappeared in a 1979 ITV production called Quatermass. Like its predecessors, Quatermass and the Pit was written by Nigel Kneale.
The Wednesday Play is an anthology series of British television plays which ran on BBC1 for six seasons from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually original works written for television, although dramatic adaptations of fiction also featured. The series gained a reputation for presenting contemporary social dramas, and for bringing issues to the attention of a mass audience that would not otherwise have been discussed on screen.
"Cathy Come Home" is a 1966 BBC television play about homelessness. It was written by Jeremy Sandford, produced by Tony Garnett and directed by Ken Loach. A 1998 Radio Times readers' poll voted it the "best single television drama" and a 2000 industry poll rated it as the second-best British television programme ever made. Filmed in a gritty, realistic drama documentary style, it was first broadcast on 16 November 1966 on BBC1. The play was shown in the BBC's The Wednesday Play anthology strand, which often tackled social issues.
John Richard Hopkins was an English film, stage, and television writer.
Ghost Stories of an Antiquary is a horror short story collection by British writer M. R. James, published in 1904. Some later editions under this title contain both the original collection and its successor, More Ghost Stories (1911), combined in one volume.
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. With one exception, the original instalments were directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark and the films were all shot on 16 mm colour film. 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.
The Stalls of Barchester is the first of the BBC's A Ghost Story for Christmas strand, first broadcast on BBC 1 at 11.00pm on 24 December 1971. Based on the story "The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral" from the 1911 collection More Ghost Stories by M. R. James, it was adapted, produced and directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark.
The Turn of the Screw is a British television film based on Henry James's 1898 ghost story of the same name. Commissioned and produced by the BBC, it was first broadcast on 30 December 2009, on BBC One. The novella was adapted for the screen by Sandy Welch, and the film was directed by Tim Fywell. Although generally true to the tone and story of James's work, the film is set in the 1920s—in contrast to the original 1840s setting—and accentuates sexual elements that some theorists have identified in the novella. The film's story is told in flashbacks during consultations between the institutionalised Ann and Dr Fisher. Ann tells how she was hired by an aristocrat to care for the orphans Miles and Flora. She is met at the children's home, Bly, by Mrs Grose, the housekeeper. Ann soon begins to see unknown figures around the manor, and seeks an explanation.
Number 13 is the second adaptation of a ghost story by M. R. James broadcast by the BBC in an ongoing revival of the A Ghost Story for Christmas tradition of the 1970s. Following A View from a Hill the previous year and preceding Whistle and I'll Come to You in 2010, the forty-minute film was first screened in December 2006 on BBC Four. The film was adapted by Justin Hopper from the short story, first published in Ghost Stories of an Antiquary in 1904.
Martin Miller, born Johann Rudolph Müller, was a Czech-Austrian character actor. He played many small roles in British films and television series from the early 1940s until his death. He was best known for playing eccentric doctors, scientists and professors, although he played a wide range of small, obscure roles—including photographers, waiters, a pet store dealer, rabbis, a Dutch sailor and a Swiss tailor. On stage he was noted in particular for his parodies of Adolf Hitler and roles as Dr. Einstein in Arsenic and Old Lace and Mr. Paravicini in The Mousetrap.
Stigma is an episode of the BBC's A Ghost Story for Christmas series, made in 1977. It was the first of only two stories set in the actual year of its making, and the last which mainstay Lawrence Gordon Clark would direct. It was first shown on BBC One on 29 December 1977, and was repeated on 29 May 1978. Scripted by Clive Exton, the thirty-minute piece stars Kate Binchy, Peter Bowles and Maxine Gordon.
Schalcken the Painter is a 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.
"'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'" is a ghost story by British writer M. R. James, included in his collection Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904). The story is named after a 1793 poem of the same name penned by Robert Burns.
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 2019 film Midsommar sparked renewed interest in folk horror. Southeast Asian cinema also commonly features folk horror.
Whistle and I'll Come to You is a BBC television drama adaptation based on the 1904 ghost story "'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'" by writer M. R. James. The story tells the tale of an introverted academic who happens upon a strange whistle while exploring a Knights Templar cemetery on the East Anglian coast. When blown, the whistle unleashes a supernatural force that terrorises its discoverer. It was screened on BBC Two during the 2010 Christmas television season. The film was written by Neil Cross and directed by Andy de Emmony, stars John Hurt in the lead role. This adaptation removes the whistle of the original James story but hints at Robert Burns' original Scottish folk song "Oh, whistle and I'll come to you, my lad", which Hurt's character recites at the beginning of the story to his wife and is played over the end credits.
The Ash Tree is a 1975 supernatural fiction short film produced by the BBC. Running at 32 minutes, it was based on the short story "The Ash-tree" by British writer M. R. James which was included in his 1904 collection Ghost Stories of an Antiquary. The story was adapted by David Rudkin as "The Ash Tree", and was part of the BBC's A Ghost Story for Christmas strand. It was first broadcast on 23 December 1975 at 11.35pm. The adaptation stars Edward Petherbridge in the dual role of Sir Richard and Sir Matthew and Barbara Ewing as the witch, Anne Mothersole. It was directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark.
There have been many adaptations of the works of M. R. James for television, radio, audio and the stage, as well as a 1957 film adaptation of "Casting the Runes" by Jacques Tourneur, titled Night of the Demon.
