BLOG POST: What to watch next if, like me, you wish there were at least a hundred more of those 1970s BBC ghost stories for Christmas. 🎞📽 precastreinforced.co.uk/2024/11/24/t... - ThreadSky

raynewman.bsky.social • 95 days ago

BLOG POST: What to watch next if, like me, you wish there were at least a hundred more of those 1970s BBC ghost stories for Christmas. 🎞📽

https://precastreinforced.co.uk/2024/11/24/the-infinite-supply-of-bbc-ghost-stories-for-christmas/

Comments

bigkingbadger.bsky.social•95 days ago

Amazing thanks, i was running out of ghost stories for christmas. I have seen half the list but happy to have the other half to watch, great picks

joermurphy.bsky.social•95 days ago

📌

squishythings.com•95 days ago

📌

rebekka.bsky.social•95 days ago

📌

raynewman.bsky.social•95 days ago

There's also a Letterboxd watchlist but not everything is available there because of the complexities of what counts as a film versus a TV episode:

https://letterboxd.com/rayray67/list/more-bbc-ghost-stories-for-christmas/

raynewman.bsky.social•95 days ago

Now updated to include ‘The Withered Arm’ which I forgot despite having only watched it this week.

redrosesarah.bsky.social•95 days ago

I won't lie, I had to teach The Withered Arm to re-sit GCSE students at a 6th form college for about 5 years in the 90s. Still have flashbacks 😬. Maybe if you'd been around then to add as a resource it would have been an easier sell 😄.

sebg.bsky.social•95 days ago

Watched and enjoyed this after you mentioned it. 👍🏻

raynewman.bsky.social•95 days ago

As promised @blogmywiki.bsky.social! 👆

blogmywiki.bsky.social•95 days ago

Thank you!

smoothbrick.bsky.social•95 days ago

I love these. The Signalman with Denholm Elliott was the first I watched.

simonelasher.bsky.social•95 days ago

Ohh that’s such a good one.

jamesh1.bsky.social•95 days ago

As a signalman, it is required viewing... 😬😉

clearwind.bsky.social•95 days ago

Elliott's performance was fantastic

maniraptor.bsky.social•94 days ago

📌

slimyswampghost.bsky.social•95 days ago

Thank you so much for this!!

gpxl.bsky.social•95 days ago

📌

mrumbongowingsesq.bsky.social•93 days ago

I suppose it's a bit obvious with so much Nigel Kneale on the list but The Stone Tape still packs a punch.

demdefend.bsky.social•95 days ago

📌

mapeel.bsky.social•95 days ago

So interesting. Ghost stories at Christmas isn't an American tradition. Yet Edward Pola & George Wyle put it into Andy Williams's 1963 blockbuster It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, so we've heard abt it

There'll be scary ghost stories
And tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago

toffphilippo.bsky.social•94 days ago

American stories, while not quite as common as British ones, have always been around. https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/25258910-the-origin-of-the-lyric-scary-ghost-stories

mapeel.bsky.social•94 days ago

Wow. Love all the details. Thanks. "There doesn’t appear to be any evidence that listeners found the “scary ghost stories” lyric strange in 1963 or for decades following" true, bt it's a somewhat buried lyric, so like me, I think lots just didn't focus on it.

toffphilippo.bsky.social•94 days ago

It's possible. I'd certainly wondered about it for years before really delving into the subject. You can see a good portion of my intro for Vol 4 on Amazon via the "Read sample" where I go into other details & in some of the other blog posts like "GenXmas Horror". https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/24355253-gen-xmas-horror

simonelasher.bsky.social•95 days ago

📌

simonelasher.bsky.social•95 days ago

Oh thank you thank you! I cannot get enough of these. WAICTY changed my brain.

ghostlytales.bsky.social•92 days ago

An excellent list!

cinnemaldehyde.bsky.social•95 days ago

📌

gaarrgh.bsky.social•91 days ago

Haven't seen 3 of these and found them. A couple of neglected ones by William Trevor could also be on the list and are out there if you look. 1975's 'Mrs Acland's Ghosts' (as sad as it is spooky) and 1976's 'The Love of a Good Woman'. The latter is from 'The Mind Beyond' subseries of BBC Playhouse.

raynewman.bsky.social•91 days ago

Thank you, good tips.

roxannebaker2266.bsky.social•95 days ago

Thank you!!!!

squeaksquirrel.bsky.social•95 days ago

I can’t begin to describe how beside myself I am with this list. Thank you!

abbytoir.bsky.social•89 days ago

Thank you!

thesimplysyn.bsky.social•95 days ago

📌

fenrisgames.com•95 days ago

📌

timtoon.com•95 days ago

I loved A Woman Sobbing, and would also suggest the series Children of the Stones (which I watched cut together as a feature)

beastliness.bsky.social•95 days ago

thank you!! 👀

mjpcuervo.bsky.social•95 days ago

I always recommend A Pattern of Roses. Gordon Clark, but for teens.

sebtallents.bsky.social•95 days ago

📌

phillipjane.bsky.social•95 days ago

i would argue that The Stone Tape would fit on here

raynewman.bsky.social•95 days ago

It's on some of my other lists, and I like it, but it's also super well known, and a bit *large*. Most of the stuff on my list is a bit more moody and low key.

swansonian.bsky.social•95 days ago

Great list. Thanks for this. I’m a big fan of Robert Powell’s M.R. James readings. They’re under appreciated I think.

raynewman.bsky.social•95 days ago

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed them.

swansonian.bsky.social•95 days ago

He does my favourite version of the Mezzotint. I always loved the way he said “horribly thin”.

jamesh1.bsky.social•95 days ago

The Christipher Lee/ MR James adaptations are somewhere on YouTube.

phantomcorsair.bsky.social•95 days ago

Thank you so much for this! Now to gird up my loins and watch them...

emilyklassen.bsky.social•95 days ago

Thank you for this!!

stottemma.bsky.social•95 days ago

Thank you for introducing me to the Three Miles Up one. The story is a favourite and I didn't know about that :)

raynewman.bsky.social•95 days ago

It's really interesting but also a bit *too* 1990s and a bit *too* loose with the adaptation. Definitely worth watching, though.

paulfranklin.bsky.social•95 days ago

Schalken the Painter, 1979, from the BBC Omnibus strand, would be a good addition to the list.

raynewman.bsky.social•95 days ago

I know it, and love it, and have put it on other lists. I believe it was literally broadcast at Christmas, too... but it doesn't quite fit on this list in my mind. Not English enough.

paulfranklin.bsky.social•95 days ago

Ah ha, makes sense

paulfranklin.bsky.social•95 days ago

Scared me and my little brother silly on broadcast.

timh77.bsky.social•89 days ago

📌

neilacta.bsky.social•95 days ago

Can I suggest ‘The Horse of the Invisible’ an 1970s ITV adaptation of the story by William Hope Hodgson - with Donald Pleasance as Carnacki the Ghost Finder. Part of a series called The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes. Then read all the Carnacki stories!!!

raynewman.bsky.social•95 days ago

I have read ’em all!

neilacta.bsky.social•95 days ago

Have you read any A M Burrage?

raynewman.bsky.social•95 days ago

Yes, I have. Last year's project was to read 365 short stories and I ended up reading or rereading a lot of classic ghost stories. I wrote that up here:

https://open.substack.com/pub/apersonalanthology/p/a-personal-anthology-by-ray-newman

neilacta.bsky.social•95 days ago

Admirable! They are sadly neglected! I’d love to see a whole series - The Whistling Room in particular!

justified72.bsky.social•95 days ago

📌

philedwards.bsky.social•91 days ago

Just discovered that Alan Garner's wonderful short drama To Kill A King is on Youtube. (It's about a writer, living in an ancient cottage in Cheshire, who is visited by a sudden inspiration... or possibly by something else.)

philedwards.bsky.social•91 days ago

"A night to kill a king is this night."

It seems to have been part of a series called Leap In The Dark, which I don't remember at all; there are a few more of them on YT, though, if anyone wanted to investigate...!

jackal27.bsky.social•95 days ago

I owe you my life for this

drzito.bsky.social•95 days ago

Thank you! I thought I had seen them all but... no!

rappinrach.bsky.social•95 days ago

📌

mjfouldes.bsky.social•89 days ago

How wonderful! I have the DVD boxset (which includes the newer version of "Whistle") and I wanted more stories! Sure, Gatiss is doing one a year these days but I wanted more classic ones!

raynewman.bsky.social•89 days ago

Exactly this.

rebaberk.bsky.social•95 days ago

📌

lordbonkers.bsky.social•95 days ago

Many thanks for these. The ITV children's series Dramarama is probably worth exploring too. https://liberalengland.blogspot.com/2020/03/dramarama-snap-1987.html

slipperyjack.bsky.social•95 days ago

Big fan of this one..!

dancortona.bsky.social•95 days ago

Was going to suggest this one, too. Eerie and bleak.

stevelockley.bsky.social•95 days ago

I've enjoyed the more recent ghost stories for Christmas under the stewardship of Mark Gatiss, but not as much as those earlier ones. I'd like to give a shout out for the BBC's 1979 adaptation of 'Schalcken the Painter'

raynewman.bsky.social•95 days ago

Ah, as I've just said in another reply: I know it, and love it, and have put it on other lists. I believe it was literally broadcast at Christmas, too... but it doesn't quite fit on this list in my mind. Not English enough.

azbear.online•95 days ago

📌

louises.bsky.social•95 days ago

📌

wednesdaygj.bsky.social•95 days ago

This is fantastic, thank you so much

dancortona.bsky.social•95 days ago

📌

dancortona.bsky.social•95 days ago

Excellent list! Thanks, Ray.

raynewman.bsky.social•95 days ago

You're welcome! Cribbed from the work of very many list makers before me.

happyhorrorhardon.bsky.social•94 days ago

It has been resurrected by Mark Gattis and others. There’s even a new one this year.

raynewman.bsky.social•94 days ago

Yes, I look forward to and watch them every year. But anything too modern just doesn't *feel* the same, and the tone of the new ones tends to be a bit lighter and brighter. I think period grain is part of the appeal of the stuff on my list.

mrtrellis.bsky.social•94 days ago

Here's one that doesn't often get mentioned. It's rather good.

raynewman.bsky.social•94 days ago

Thanks! I need to start collecting more for next year I suppose.

tamsinwilson.bsky.social•95 days ago

Many thanks! I will definitely be watching all of these.

raynewman.bsky.social•95 days ago

What's great is that most of them are short enough to fit in around *life*.

madeleinedeste.bsky.social•94 days ago

Bookmarked!!

timmorton2.bsky.social•95 days ago

One for @lordrickettsp.bsky.social

lordrickettsp.bsky.social•95 days ago

Err thanks! I’m wondering what the link is…

timmorton2.bsky.social•95 days ago

Seem to remember you were looking for Box of Delights last year, but I may be mistaken 🤔

lordrickettsp.bsky.social•95 days ago

Now you mention it, yes I was looking for the wonderful radio version of the Freddie Forsyth Xmas story The Shepherd which is indeed a kind of ghost story! Several people helped me to find it as it had disappeared off the iPlayer. Well remembered!

timmorton2.bsky.social•95 days ago