A Ghost Story for Christmas
British television series / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.[1][2][3]
A Ghost Story for Christmas | |
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![]() Title screen of The Signalman, the 1976 adaptation. Because this was the first non-James story, the strand's title appears on screen for the first time. | |
Genre | Supernatural, Folk horror, Anthology |
Created by | Lawrence Gordon Clark |
Written by | See Films |
Directed by | Lawrence Gordon Clark (1971–77) Derek Lister (1978) Luke Watson (2005) Pier Wilkie (2006) Andy de Emmony (2010) Mark Gatiss (2013–present) |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
No. of episodes | 17 |
Production | |
Running time | 30–50 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | BBC1 (1971–78) BBC Four (2005–06, 2018-19) BBC Two (2010–13, 2021–present) |
Release | 24 December 1971 (1971-12-24) – present |
Related | |
Whistle and I'll Come to You (1968) |
The majority of episodes are based on ghost stories by M. R. James, with one episode each based on stories by Charles Dickens and Arthur Conan Doyle, and three being original.[4] Clarke directed all but the final instalment of the original run, and every instalment since 2013 has been written and directed by Mark Gatiss. Though the title A Ghost Story for Christmas has been used in the Radio Times since its debut,[5] it didn't appear on-screen until The Signalman (1976), the first episode that wasn't a James adaptation.[6]
The series was inspired by the success of Whistle and I'll Come to You (1968), based on an M. R. James story and directed by Jonathan Miller for the BBC One documentary strand Omnibus.[1] As James originally wrote his stories to be read aloud as Christmas entertainment, in line with the oral tradition of telling supernatural tales at Christmas, A Ghost Story for Christmas was intended to be a part of this tradition.[7] The original run was shot entirely on location on 16mm film,[8] which was unusual for television drama at the time and gave the episodes a cinematic quality.[9]
The series as a whole is highly regarded, with several instalments considered among the greatest horror television ever made.[10][11][12][13] The original run is considered a key part of the folk horror genre of the era, and has had a major influence on its 21st Century revival, making James, according to critic Jon Dear, “the go-to folk horror writer for television.”[14]