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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Dec 3, 2007 11:50:28 GMT
Sadly there will be no TV adaptation of an M.R. James story this year, though the classic "A Ghost Story For Christmas" versions are reppeated on BBC4 again - plus a showing of the "Dead of Night" episode "The Exorcism", which hasn't been seen on TV since the 1970s, I don't think. However, there are five new radio adaptations of MRJ airing on BBC4 throughout Christmas week. From the BBC Press Office - www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/proginfo/radio/wk52/mon_52.shtmlWoman's Hour Drama – MR James At Christmas Ep 1/5 Christmas Eve Monday 24 to Friday 28 December 10.45-11.00am BBC RADIO 4 Sir Derek Jacobi introduces five new, chilling dramatisations of MR James's ghost stories, in this week's Woman's Hour Drama. Montague Rhodes James (1862-1936) was arguably the finest writer of ghost stories England ever produced, influencing the likes of HP Lovecraft, Ramsey Campbell and Stephen King, and his work has inspired numerous film and TV adaptations. Many of his 30 or so tales were penned as Christmas Eve entertainment and read aloud to gatherings of friends. Across the week, cursed artefacts, quests for immortality, restless spirits and pacts with the Devil come together to create a sense of foreboding and unease. The week begins with a dramatisation of James's best-known – and most frequently anthologised – story, Oh, Whistle, And I'll Come To You, My Lad. During a winter golfing holiday in Norfolk, Professor Parkins uncovers a whistle from the site of a Templar preceptory. Back in his hotel room, fascinated by his find, the professor raises the whistle to his lips, heedless of the terror it may summon. The cast includes Jamie Glover, Nicholas Boulton, Rachel Atkins and Ben Onwukwe. Christmas Day's story, on Tuesday, is The Tractate Middoth. The will of wealthy Dr Rant is hidden in an obscure text in the archives of the British Library. He's devised a particularly unpleasant surprise for the first of his relatives to track the book down. Diligent curator David Garrett gets caught up in these machinations when he is sent to the library's stacks to retrieve the manuscript. The cast includes Joseph Millson, Joannah Tincey, John Rowe and Sam Dale. Lost Hearts is Boxing Day's offering. Stephen Elliot, orphaned at the tender age of 12, moves to his wealthy uncle's house in Lincolnshire, only to find himself troubled by dreams of two ghostly figures. It transpires that they had been staying at the same house when they met their untimely end. Is Stephen's uncle involved and, if so, could it have something to do with his obsession with immortality? The cast includes James D'Arcy, Sophie Roberts, Jordan Clarke, Peter Marinker and Katy Cavanagh. Anton Lesser, Carolyn Pickles, Susan Jameson, Ben Crowe and Simon Treves star in Thursday's story – The Rose Garden. Mary and George Goodman are renovating an old house in rural Essex. When they remove an ancient post from the back garden, it opens a doorway to the region's turbulent past. Julian Rhind-Tutt, Jan de Lukowicz, Simon Treves and Ben Onwukwe star in the final drama of the week on Friday – Number 13. It's just after Christmas and Dr Anderson is on a research trip to Denmark. He becomes curious about why his hotel doesn't include the number 13 in its room listings, particularly as the room itself actually exists. It soon transpires that he is the only one who can see the door. This would seem warning enough to most people, but the curious academic is determined to see what lies within. The stories are dramatised by Chris Harrald and feature specially composed music by Danish composer-in-residence, Nicolai Abrahamsen. Producer/Gemma Jenkins
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Post by marksamuels on Dec 3, 2007 12:13:14 GMT
Lurker
Is "The Exorcism" on BBC4 too or on terrestrial? I've heard it's a classic.
Mark S.
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Dec 3, 2007 12:22:45 GMT
"The Exorcism" is on BBC4 (on Sat 22nd Dec at 11.10pm) and it is, indeed, a classic. Some of the more political aspects of the script are a bit overplayed, but it's got a very strong story, some excellent acting and is very atmospheric.
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Dec 4, 2007 12:50:43 GMT
In addition to the new dramatisations, there is "A Warning to the Furious", a new play written by Robin Brooks, who previously wrote the entertaining series "The Red Room", which featured a couple of MRJ tales amongst other classic ghost stories. From the BBC Press Office site - www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/proginfo/radio/wk52/fri_52.shtmlA Warning To The Furious Friday 28 December 2.15-3.00pm BBC RADIO 4 A Warning To The Furious, by Robin Brooks, commissioned as a contemporary response and tribute to the MR James classic ghost stories, follows the last of five of James's tales broadcast in Woman's Hour this week. In this play, a female film-making team sets out to make an iconoclastic documentary about MR James and visits the Suffolk coast, a place close to James's heart and where some of his ghost stories are set – in particular, A Warning To The Curious (1925). Sceptical and dismissive of the supernatural, they air their anti-male prejudices concerning James, who lived the life of a donnish bachelor, and whose work, they decide, betrays a fear and ignorance of women. However, as they go about the business of making their documentary, they are echoing the actions of some of James's unfortunate protagonists – people who unwittingly, by their research into the past or the unknown, awaken things better left alone. The women fail to spot the warning signs: the distant laughter in the darkening church and the strange figure, dimly glimpsed across a misty beach. The cast includes Lucy Robinson, Catherine Shepherd, Gerard McDermott, Carl Prekopp and Andrew Wincott. Producer/Fiona McAlpine
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Post by carolinec on Jan 9, 2008 16:03:18 GMT
"The Exorcism" was excellent. I thought I probably hadn't seen it before, but once it got started, I realised I had seen it. If it hasn't been on TV since the 70s, it must have been way back then. Enjoyed it. Great to see oldies like that again.
I didn't watch the BBC4 MR James ones again this year - I think I know them all by heart now anyway! A few years ago they did something different and had Christopher Lee reading some James' stories in the guise of the Oxford don. Did anyone see those? Very enjoyable.
I had the pleasure of seeing Lawrence Gordon Clark (writer/director, Ghost Stories for Christmas) when he appeared at the Fantastic Films Weekend at the National Media Museum last year. Fascinating person to hear being interviewed. They also showed a few of the adaptations on the big screen there - a nice, atmospheric way to watch them. "Lost Hearts" stands out for me as the best. Those spooky kids are really quite scary!
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Post by humgoo on Jul 31, 2019 13:43:28 GMT
A Warning To The Furious Friday 28 December 2.15-3.00pm BBC RADIO 4 I've recently listened to this -- only 12 years late, not bad! A cautionary tale for Freudian critics. When will Darryl Jones's MRJ biography be published?
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Post by Michael Connolly on Jul 31, 2019 14:01:57 GMT
A Warning To The Furious Friday 28 December 2.15-3.00pm BBC RADIO 4 I've recently listened to this -- only 12 years late, not bad! A cautionary tale for Freudian critics. When will Darryl Jones's MRJ biography be published? Never, hopefully. The Freudians will leap on it. They can't control themselves!
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Post by ropardoe on Jul 31, 2019 15:28:37 GMT
A Warning To The Furious Friday 28 December 2.15-3.00pm BBC RADIO 4 I've recently listened to this -- only 12 years late, not bad! A cautionary tale for Freudian critics. When will Darryl Jones's MRJ biography be published? Yes, it's good, isn't it?
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Post by Shrink Proof on Aug 1, 2019 8:24:17 GMT
The Freudians will leap on it. They can't control themselves!
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Post by helrunar on Aug 1, 2019 15:32:51 GMT
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Post by helrunar on Aug 2, 2019 4:34:46 GMT
I thought that was a marvelous homage to the Master. I wouldn't describe the BBC presenter as a "feminist," however. Equal opportunity exploiter, more like it.
H.
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Post by ropardoe on Aug 2, 2019 8:20:59 GMT
I thought that was a marvelous homage to the Master. I wouldn't describe the BBC presenter as a "feminist," however. Equal opportunity exploiter, more like it. H. Glad you enjoyed it. And I agree about the presenter!
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Post by helrunar on Aug 2, 2019 12:24:08 GMT
It was so funny--but no doubt true to life--that she was "spontaneously" recording her thoughts about Dr J and his oeuvre for her film, while never having read ANY of his tales.
cheers, Steve
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Post by ropardoe on Aug 21, 2019 17:57:14 GMT
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Post by humgoo on Aug 21, 2019 18:33:15 GMT
Martin's Close got its prequel and sequel in G&S only some years ago, and now it's going to have its BBC adaptation! What's happened? Am still waiting for The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance, though.
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