GHOST STORIES FOR CHRISTMAS VOL. 2 (3 x Blu-ray)

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Introduction to Lost Hearts, The Treasure of Abbot Thomas and The Ash Tree by Lawrence Gordon Clark (2012, 11 mins, 11 mins, 8 mins) Commentaries and the 2020 adaptation of Whistle and I’ll Come to You aside, all of the special features have been sourced from the previous BFI DVD releases and are in standard definition. The final two stories were based on original screenplays, one by Clive Exton, who was an experienced television screenwriter, and the other by John Bowen, who was primarily known as a novelist and playwright, [11] [12] but also had extensive television experience, including adapting The Treasure of Abbot Thomas earlier in the series.

Newly recorded audio commentaries for The Stalls of Barchester and Lost Hearts by Kim Newman and Sean Hogan Number 13 (2006, 40 mins): infuriated by the ghoulish noises made nightly by his neighbour, Professor Anderson is soon driven to investigate the diabolical secrets of the old hotel and mysteriously vanishing room 13The filming of the adaptations took place at a variety of locations. Clark notes that James gave him "a wonderful excuse to discover...places where you could best impart tension and atmosphere." [23] East Anglia, where M. R. James set many of his stories, was the location for the two first films. The Stalls of Barchester was filmed at Norwich Cathedral and in the surrounding close. [24] For A Warning to the Curious, "Seaburgh" (a disguised version of Aldeburgh, Suffolk) was filmed on the coast of North Norfolk at Waxham, Holkham Gap, Happisburgh, Wells-next-the-Sea and on the North Norfolk Railway. [25] [26] Clark recalls filming in North Norfolk in late February, with consistently fine cold weather "with a slight winter haze which gave exactly the right depth and sense of mystery to the limitless vistas of the shoreline there." [17] Newly recorded audio commentary for The Ash Tree by writer and TV historian Jon Dear, incorporating material from author and editor Johnny Mains Mark Gatiss's adaptation of " The Tractate Middoth", another story by M. R. James, was broadcast on BBC Two on Christmas Day 2013. This was followed by a documentary, M. R. James: Ghost Writer. [37] A young squire, John Martin, is on trial for murder in a court presided over by hanging judge George Jeffreys, but the girl he is accused of murdering has been seen after her death. [42] One of four episodes screened by the BBC in December 2000, also under the title of Ghost Stories for Christmas, in which Christopher Lee plays M.R. James in his role as provost of King’s College Cambridge, as he reads Number 13 to a small gathering of students on the night of Christmas Eve at the rail end of the 19th Century. If you’ve seen any of the others in this series – and there are two in the first BFI Blu-ray collection – you’ll know what to expect, but given Lee’s considerable talent as an arresting storyteller, that’s in no way a criticism. An entertaining listen peppered with illustrative cutaways, it also gives those who have not read the James’s story the chance to compare it with the 2005 TV adaptation also featured on this disc. A View from the Hill (2005) (39:01) standard definition 1.78:1

After an infamous demonologist is ridiculed on a television programme, its producer soon finds herself targeted by malevolent supernatural forces. [22] In two programmes from the BBC's four-episode series from 2000, Christopher Lee plays M.R. James in his role of provost of King's College Cambridge at the dawn of the last century and relates two of his ghost stories to a small gathering of masters and students as they sit sipping sherry around a coal fire on Christmas Eve. Gold-tinted visuals of Lee and his attentive, over-privileged audience are intermittently peppered with stylised imagery from the tales themselves, none of which is a problem when you have a storyteller as compelling as Christopher Lee. A constant joy to listen to, he is also worth watching for his sometimes visually expressive delivery. Even the sinister notes of music do not detract from these very fine readings. Wheatley, Helen (2006). Gothic Television. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0-7190-7149-2.

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The remaining five Ghost Story for Christmas films plus A View From A Hill (2005) and Number 13 (2006) were remastered from the original film negatives by the BFI and are to be released on Blu-ray disc as Ghost Stories for Christmas: Volume 2 in November 2023. [63] See also [ edit ] Stewart, Helen (23 December 2013). "M. R. James and the tradition of Christmas ghost stories". BBC Arts and Culture . Retrieved 27 December 2013.