A Ghost Story for Christmas (1971) [Season 1, Episode 1]
The Stalls of Barchester
Shown 24 Dec 71
A Ghost Story for Christmas (1971) [Season 1, Episode 2]
A Warning to the Curious
Shown 24 Dec 72
A Ghost Story for Christmas (1971) [Season 1, Episode 3]
Lost Hearts
Shown 25 Dec 73
A young orphan moves into a large house
run by his distant relative,
a cousin who is old enough to be his grandfather.
The house is haunted by a couple of ghostly kids.
The ghosts do not seem to intend the orphan any harm.
Of course, this means they are probably Death Omens.
A Ghost Story for Christmas (1971) [Season 1, Episode 4]
The Treasure of Abbot Thomas
Shown 23 Dec 74
A Ghost Story for Christmas (1971) [Season 1975]
The Ash Tree
Shown 23 Dec 75
This has a "12" rating and a trigger warning for nudity.
However, it must have been edited out
because this reviewer was unable to find it.
The main story is about an English country squire.
He should spend his time courting
Lalla Ward
, but instead he becomes preoccupied with the history of his house.
It was once site of a witch-burning,
and the witch cursed the magistrate and his descendants.
The original story by
MR James
has a more down-to-Earth explanation.
This version focuses on the supernatural.
A Ghost Story for Christmas (1971) [Season 1976]
The Signalman
Shown 22 Dec 76
A Ghost Story for Christmas (1971) [Season 1977]
Stigma
Shown 28 Dec 77
Instead of a historical effort based on story by
MR James
, this time the filmmakers used a contemporary story by
Clive Exon
.
A middle-class family moves into a cottage,
which is basically the classic
Cabin in the Woods
. The father (Peter Bowles -
Eyewitness
) wants the lawn enlarged,
so a pair of workmen are enlisted to remove a large boulder.
What nobody seems to realise is that it is a toppled megalith
at the end of a string of standing stones.
The tweenage daughter wanders around,
ogling the shirtless workers and exploring the ancient landscape.
Meanwhile the mother is suffering a mental and physical decline.
She finds herself bleeding without apparent injury,
akin to the stigmata.
A Ghost Story for Christmas (1971) [Season 1978]
The Ice House
Shown 25 Dec 78
A Ghost Story for Christmas (1971) [Season 2005]
A View from a Hill
Shown 23 Dec 05
A Ghost Story for Christmas (1971) [Season 2006]
Number 13
Shown 22 Dec 06
An Oxford academic books into a lodging house
in a Cathedral town in Victorian England
With the help of the Cathedral Archivist,
Mr. Harrington (Paul Freeman -
Raiders of the Lost Ark
), he uncovers the story of a strange Archbishop
from the time of Cromwell.
Back at the lodging house,
the academic meets fellow lodger Edward Jenkins (Tom Burke -
Musketeers
). He is in room number twelve,
and the academic is in room number fourteen.
But sometimes,
a door numbered thirteen is found between their rooms.
Of course, the lodging house turns out to be
the Archbishop's former home.
They even uncover a trial document from Matthew Hopkins, AKA
The Witchfinder General
.
A Ghost Story for Christmas (1971) [Season 2010]
Whistle and I'll Come to You
Shown 24 Dec 10
This is based on a story by
MR James
. It is yet another one of his tales of intellectual pride,
and the hubris which leads to messing with the unknown.
The protagonist (Michael Hordern -
Theatre of Blood
) stays in a Victorian hotel in a seaside town.
A Ghost Story for Christmas (1971) [Season 2013]
The Tractate Middoth
Shown 25 Dec 13
A Ghost Story for Christmas (1971) [Season 2018]
The Dead Room
Shown 24 Dec 18
A Ghost Story for Christmas (1971) [Season 2019]
Martin's Close
Shown 24 Dec 19
A Ghost Story for Christmas (1971) [Season 2021]
The Mezzotint
Shown 24 Dec 21
This is based on a story by
MR James
.
England, 1923.
Edward Williams (Rory Kinnear -
Our Flag Means Death
) provides verifications for an auction house.
One of the sellers delivers a Mezzotint,
a primitive Victorian-era photograph of a stately home.
But ever time he looks at it, the scene changes somehow.
A Ghost Story for Christmas (1971) [Season 2022]
Count Magnus
Shown 23 Dec 22
Sweden, 1863.
An antiquarian, Mr Wraxhall (Jason Watkins -
Being Human
), visits a Scandinavian countess (
Myanna Buring
). He becomes obsessed with the story of her ancestor,
the titular Count Magnus.
A Ghost Story for Christmas (1971) [Season 2023]
Lot No 249
Shown 24 Dec 23
Oxford, 1881.
Abercrombie Smith (Kit Harington -
Game of Thrones
) visits an unnamed friend late at night,
and narrates a flashback about what happened to him.
The main story is about a fellow academic at Old College.
This particular fellow is researching an ancient Egyptian mummy.
By incredible coincidence,
anyone who annoys this researcher
is later attacked by a hideous entity.
Has he managed to weaponise the mummy?
Smith's friend is a mystery-solver
who is looking to rent an apartment on Baker Street, London.
The story was originally written by
Arthur Conan Doyle
, so the unnamed friend's identity should be easily deduced.
A Ghost Story for Christmas (1971) [Season 2024]
Woman of Stone
Shown 24 Dec 24
This was written and directed by Mark Gatiss,
the BBC's man-of-the-moment when it comes to Horror.
The writer of the year is ...
EE Nesbit
.
The elderly Edith Nesbit (
Celia Imrie
) narrates a story about a young woman and her husband.
It is implied that the husband is abusive,
since the wife is more successful than he is
and he needs her to financially support him.
A Ghost Story for Christmas (1971) [Season 2025]
The Room In The Tower
Shown 24th December 2025
This starts in a Second World War bombing raid.
Roger Winstanley (Tobias Menzies -
Outlander
) hides in a shelter,
and tells a fellow traveller about his recurring dream.
He is at a rich friend's house, when Mrs Stone (
Joanna Lumley
) offers to let him stay the night … in the room in the tower.
Then Roger mentions the time this dream came true,
only it was Mrs Clinton (
Polly Walker
) who let him stay the night.
Of course, there is yet another twist ...
