The BFI has announced the 20 November 2023 release Ghost Stories for Christmas Volume 2 as a three-disc Blu-ray set at the RRP of £29.99.
Broadcast in the dying hours of Christmas Eve, the BBC’s A Ghost Story for Christmas series was a fixture of the seasonal schedules throughout the 1970s and spawned a long tradition of chilling tales, which terrified yuletide viewers for decades to come. For many fans, they are still a traditional Christmas-time watch.
Volume 2 contains the remaining original instalments – The Treasure of Abbot Thomas, The Ash Tree, The Signalman, Stigma and The Ice House – all newly remastered from original film materials and presented on Blu-ray for the first time. Later adaptations of A View From a Hill and Number 13 are also included, plus new and archive extras and a booklet.
THE FILMS:
The Treasure of Abbot Thomas (1974): directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark, original story by MR James, starring Sheila Dunn, Anne Blake, Frank Mills.
The Ash Tree (1975): directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark, original story by MR James, starring Edward Petherbridge, Preston Lockwood, Barbara Ewing.
The Signalman (1976): directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark, original story by Charles Dickens, starring Denholm Elliott, Bernard Lloyd, Reginald Jessup.
Stigma (1977): directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark, original story by Clive Exton, starring Kate Binchy, Peter Bowles, Maxine Gordon.
The Ice House (1978): directed by Derek Lister, original story by John Bowen, starring John Stride, Elizabeth Romilly, Geoffrey Burridge.
BLU-RAY FEATURES:
- Newly remastered by the BFI
- Newly recorded audio commentary for The Treasure of Abbot Thomas by writer and broadcaster Simon Farquhar
- Newly recorded audio commentary for The Ash Tree by writer and TV historian Jon Dear, incorporating material from author and editor Johnny Mains
- Newly recorded audio commentary for The Signalman by Jon Dear and actor and writer Mark Gatiss
- Newly recorded audio commentaries for Stigma and The Ice House by writer Kim Newman and writer and filmmaker Sean Hogan
- A View From a Hill (2005, 39 mins, SD)
- Number 13 (2006, 40 mins)
- Spectres, Spirits & Haunted Treasure: Adapting M R James (2023, 17 mins): newly commissioned video essay by Nic Wassell exploring some of the classic BBC adaptations
- Introductions by Lawrence Gordon Clark (2012, 39 mins total): the director of seven of the BBC’s classic A Ghost Story for Christmas episodes discusses his part in the last four instalments he directed
- Ghost Stories for Christmas with Christopher Lee – Number 13 (2000, 30 mins): Ronald Frame’s adaptation of MR James’s story is brought to life by the horror maestro
- First pressing only: Illustrated booklet with essays by Alex Davidson, Dick Fiddy, Simon Farquhar and Helen Wheatley; credits and notes on the special features
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