Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instalment. So come join us on our weekly foray into interconnectedness!
During the 1970s, the BBC were to make an annual ghost story to be broadcast over the Christmas period. Under the auspices of producer Laurence Gordon Clark, they delivered a festive dose of chills memorable enough that they have since acquired quite a cult following. These BBC ghost stories for Christmas are all excellent stand-alone dramas, brilliantly delivering a creepy, unsettling tale for the Yuletide audience.
The series kicked off with suitably chilling period adaptations of classic ghost stories from MR James, but after four years of these, they moved on to an excellent retelling of Charles Dickens’ “The Signalman” (1976). At this point, a new boss at the BBC favoured a move to brand new stories in contemporary settings.
These modern episodes are genuinely unsettling, but also quite baffling. Shorn of the trappings of an Edwardian ghost tale, they are far more experimental. As brand new stories, rather than adaptations of proven classics, watching them feels like a very different experience. For all the genuinely unsettling and horrible moments in the earlier MR James and Dickens adaptations, their format and settings allow for an element of cosiness. We know the established format of these dramas, making them an easier watch. But the modern Christmas ghost stories made in 1977 and 1978 are like little else you’ll see on television – treading a fine line between scary and silly. Between a beguiling piece of storytelling, and a frustrating one.
That’s a difficult balance to get right and, sadly, when the second of these contemporary chillers “The Ice House” was broadcast, the overwhelming audience reaction at the time was that it was just too much on the silly side, so bosses at the BBC pulled the plug on the whole idea of an annual Christmas ghost story. As a fan of these quirky standalone tales, this has always felt like a real shame to me: so many classic ghost stories that could have been adapted, or modern new tales written to creep the nation out in time for Christmas. So that was it: the Laurence Gordon Clark Christmas Ghost Stories 1971 to 1978.
Or that’s what I thought for many years, until I made a recent discovery. I learnt that the range was maybe not quite as dead as I’d thought. Somehow, something had survived. Lurking on the other side. Because in 1979, Laurence Gordon Clark made another ghost story and based on an MR James classic. Only this was not for the BBC, but for their commercial rival ITV.
This new adaptation mixes the two distinct elements of the BBC run. It’s an adaptation of a classic MR James story – 1911’s “Casting The Runes” – a tale based around the archetypical poisoned text. However, it places the story in a contemporary setting. It’s a mix that I think works brilliantly. The update is nicely handled, evoking a deeply unsettling seventies vibe while capturing what is chilling about the story. The original protagonist – British Museum researcher Edward Dunning – becomes investigative TV journalist Prudence Dunning. Jan Francis delivers a great performance in the role, a nice twist on the conventional MR James leading man: a drive to be curious mixed with a relatable sense of decency.
I’ve always felt that “Casting The Runes” is the MR James story that is most suitable for a dramatic adaptation. It’s got all the ingredients to make a great film. There’s a villainous antagonist, a storyline involving investigating spooky goings-on, and some wonderfully tense set-pieces. In fact, it already has made a great film in 1957’s “Night Of The Demon“.*
Relocating the story to 1979 allows the adaptation to take advantage of “modern” technology to insert all sorts of suitably chilling set pieces. The contemporary journalist works with videotape, and this sets up some nice visual touches that add to the general creepiness. A modern spin on exactly the sort of chills that MR James got up to.
And Iain Cuthbertson is having a fine time playing the dangerous occultist Karswell – his ebullience hiding a ruthless and cruel individual. Karswell is one of the times that MR James creates an overt human antagonist who is active within the story. A character up to no good, who utilises the occult laws of this universe for selfish ends as an integral part of the story. Indeed, it’s one of the reasons why I think this tale works so well in adaptation: it helps to have a good on-screen villain for TV drama. And it helps to get Iain Cuthbertson in to play them.
Like all the BBC Ghost Stories For Christmas, this is a tale told without a lengthy running time. These aren’t TV movies, but dramas that clock in comfortably under the hour mark. “Casting The Runes” is an efficient fifty minutes of creepiness and drama that builds nicely to a dark twist on the original story’s ending. It was a pleasant surprise to learn of its existence, and a dark delight to watch. There was a 2007 DVD release, so second-hand copies are out there lurking at pretty reasonable prices. A definite recommend for those who like to get in the Christmas mood with some festive frightening.
Sadly, ITV did not create their own tradition of a Christmas ghost story, and this was the only one they made. But such was the reputation of these TV stories that, a few years later, a new generation of talent started making new ones, capturing the spirit of the ‘seventies ’70s dramas.
Starting in 2005 with a brilliant take on MR James’ “A View From The Hill”, these new stories were to appear irregularly until 2013, when Mark Gatiss took on the mantle once worn by Laurence Gordon Clarke and began producing a new pleasing terror every Christmas. I’m a huge fan of these new adaptations, and yet there was something rather wonderful and appropriate about discovering one from many years ago that I had not seen before. And surely, if MR James has taught me anything, nothing bad could possibly come of delving into the past…
*As an aside on the ’50s masterpiece that is “Night Of The Demon”, it’s a brilliantly tense and creepy affair that’s well worth watching – right up until the Demon of the title gets revealed, where some of the shots make it look like a laughable comical puppet. I know it is sacrilegious to even contemplate such matters, but I genuinely think there might be some merit in a new cut where subtle CGI is used to erase the worst of the Demon’s reveal. Even though most commercial releases of the film at least help audiences adjust to its disappointing reveal by putting the monster – in all its Chewits-devouring silliness – on the front cover.
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A Damn Fine Cup of Culture 