BFI to Release BBC's Ghost Stories On DVD

[Jens Thomsen]

Nice! Got rips of some of the previously un-released and I can't wait to see them in good quality. I remember liking The Treasure of Abbott Thomas and The Ash Tree. The latter has a particular creepy moment.

[Mark C.]

Glad to see they are going with a complete boxset for this eventually, Oct 22. Hopefully its not too pricey.

[Ian Jane]

Ghost Stories from the BBC: Lost Hearts / The Treasure of Abbot Thomas / The Ash Tree (DVD)

Films by Lawrence Gordon Clark

As a Christmas treat in the late 1960s and 70s, the BBC produced adaptations of ghost stories based on the works of MR James, the Cambridge academic and author of some of the most spine-tingling tales in the English language, which were broadcast to terrified viewers in the dead of winter. This was a tradition that was briefly revived by the BBC between 2007 and 2010.

These adaptations, which have a subtlety and style all of their own, have been a major influence on many contemporary British horror filmmakers and have come to be some of the most sought after British TV titles by their legions of eager fans.

This BFI's collection of Ghost Stories from the BBC features the DVD premiere of three MR James stories directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark: 1973's Lost Hearts, 1974's The Treasure of Abbot Thomas and 1975's The Ash Tree

Special Features:
-New introduction to Lost Hearts by Lawrence Gordon Clark (11 minutes)
-New introduction to Treasure Of Thomas Abbott by Lawrence Gordon Clark (11 minutes)
-New introduction to The Ash Tree by Lawrence Gordon Clark (8 minutes)
-Illustrated booklet featuring newly commissioned essays by horror writer Ramsey Campbell and the BFI's Alex Davidson and Dick Fiddy.

Ghost Stories from the BBC: The Signalman / Stigma / The Ice House

Films by Lawrence Gordon Clark and Derek Lister

This BFI's collection of Ghost Stories from the BBC includes 1976's The Signalman, 1977's Stigma and 1978's The Ice House. Although most films in the series were based on the works of MR James, The Signalman, was scripted by Andrew Davies (Pride and Prejudice) from a Charles Dickens Story, while the last two films in this volume were based on original scripts.

Special Features:
-New introduction to The Signalman by Lawrence Gordon Clark (11 minutes)
-New introduction to Stigma by Lawrence Gordon Clark (8 minutes)
-New introduction to The Ash Tree by Lawrence Gordon Clark (8 minutes)
-Illustrated booklet featuring newly commissioned essays by broadcaster Matthew Sweet and Dr. Helen Wheatly.

The fifth and final installment of Ghost Stories, containing the more recent installments A View From A Hill and Number 13, and a complete Ghost Stories For Christmas box set will be released October 22.

[Ian Jane]

The next two releases in the line are:

[Randy G]

Cool, I'll see if I can track them down. Would love to hear a good reading of The White People.

[Paul L]

Paul, did the BBC ever do any Machen adaptations? Doubtful I know but...

I don't recall any, but there have been some pretty good readings of Machen's stories on BBC radio.

[Roderick]

James' Casting the Runes is getting a R1 release next week. It looks to be a port of the R2 release from several years back.

[Randy G]

Paul, did the BBC ever do any Machen adaptations? Doubtful I know but...

[Jens Thomsen]

Oh man, I am SO going to buy all these. I actually ended buying all the OOP releases a year and a half to two years ago on eBay and Amazon. Cost me quite a lot. But who cares. That was then.

I have only seen rips of the rest of the shows. Some of them I liked quite a lot, so I am really looking forward to re-watch them in better quality.

Now someone just need to re-issue the ITV 'Woman in Black'.

[Paul L]

Eagerly awaiting these! Thanks for the updated info, Ian!

[Ian Jane]

And some cover art...

[Ian Jane]

An update from the BFI on the Ghost Stories releases came in this morning...

BBC TV's acclaimed Ghost Stories finally come to DVD in five individual volumes and a box set from the BFI.

First releases Whistle and I'll Come to You (1968 & 2010 versions) and The Stalls of Barchester & A Warning to the Curious on 20 August 2012.

The BFI will make all twelve of the classic BBC films from A Ghost Story for Christmas series available on DVD this year, with the first two volumes - each containing a double bill of chilling tales - released on 20 August.

The first release features Jonathan Miller's Whistle and I'll Come to You (1968), with Sir Michael Hordern, paired with the 2010 adaptation of the same chilling tale, starring John Hurt and directed by Andy de Emmony. Released alongside it is a pairing of The Stalls of Barchester (1971), starring Robert Hardy and receiving its DVD premiere, and A Warning to the Curious (1972), with Peter Vaughan, both directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark. Each set comes with numerous special features and illustrated booklets, full details on page two.

As a Christmas treat during the 1970s, the BBC screened adaptations of the classic ghost stories of MR James, the Cambridge academic and author of some of the most spine-tingling tales in the English language. Most of the instalments, which were broadcast to terrified viewers in the dead of winter, were directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark, who has been interviewed for new introductions on these BFI releases.

With only three of the twelve tales previously released on DVD (by the BFI in 2002, and long since deleted), the films in this brilliant series have been high on many film and TV fans' 'most wanted' DVD lists. With a subtlety and style all of their own, they have been a major influence on recent British horror films, such as The Woman in Black, and have inspired screenwriters and filmmakers such as Mark Gatiss (The League of Gentlemen, Sherlock).

The release of the first two Ghost Stories volumes is timed to mark the 150th anniversary of MR James' birth on 1 August 1862.
Two more volumes, the first containing Lost Hearts, The Treasure of Abbot Thomas and The Ash Tree, and the second containing The Signalman (Andrew Davies' adaptation of the Charles Dickens story) Stigma (written by Clive Exton) and The Ice House (written by John Bowen), will follow in September, while the fifth and final volume, containing the more recent instalments View from a Hill and Number 13, as well as a complete Ghost Stories for Christmas box set, will be released in October.

Whistle and I'll Come to You (Jonathan Miller, 1968):

When a sceptical professor, played with eccentric intensity in a brilliant performance by Michael Hordern, finds an old whistle on a Norfolk beach he unleashes a horrifying monster from the depths of his psyche.

Jonathan Miller's (Beyond the Fringe, The Drinking Party, Alice in Wonderland) adaptation of MR James' terrifying tale, made for BBC's Omnibus series, uses the bleak Norfolk landscape, superbly photographed by Dick Bush, to instil a sense of isolation and unease.

Whistle and I'll Come to You (Andy de Emmony, 2010)

In this recent rendering of MR James's celebrated ghost story, the legendary John Hurt plays James Parkin, a lonely retiree who has left his wife in a nursing home. Troubled by this loss, he visits their old holiday haunt, but his discovery of a mysterious ring on the beach sparks a series of ghostly encounters and disturbing nightmares which refuse to disappear in the cold light of day.
Atmospheric and emotive, this modern adaptation brings a fascinating new interpretation to an endlessly creepy yarn.

Special features:
-Jonathan Miller and Christopher Frayling discuss Whistle and I'll Come to You (BBC, 2012, 3 mins)
-MR James' original story, 'Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad', read by Neil Brand (2001, 42 mins)
-Introduction to Whistle and I'll Come to You by horror writer Ramsey Campbell (2001, 16 mins)
-Ramsey Campbell reads his own MR James inspired story 'The Guide' (2001, 27 mins)

RRP £19.99 / Cat No: BFIV959 / Cert PG
UK / 1968 + 2010 / black and white & colour / English / 42 mins + 52 mins / DVD9 / Original aspect ratios 1.33:1 and 2:35.1 (16x9 anamorphic) | Dolby Digital mono audio 320kbps

The Stalls of Barchester (Lawrence Gordon Clark, 1971):

Whilst cataloguing the collections of Barchester Cathedral library, Dr Black (Clive Swift) stumbles across an intriguing box of papers belonging to a former Archdeacon Haynes (Robert Hardy), which has remained under lock and key since the nineteenth century. In it he discovers a hidden history of blood guilt and macabre supernatural revenge.

With its superb cast and beautiful choral accompaniment by Norwich Cathedral choir, Lawrence Gordon Clark's (Harry's Game) evocative adaptation of MR James' short story sparked the BBC's popular Ghost Story for Christmas series of the 1970s.
A Warning to the Curious (Lawrence Gordon Clark, 1972)

The second of Gordon Clark's MR James adaptations features Peter Vaughan (Straw Dogs, Our Friends in the North) as a doomed amateur archaeologist who pays a terrible price for his curiosity about an ancient Saxon legend.

John McGlashan's extraordinary photography imbues the wide open Norfolk coastline with an uneasy sense of dread in this chilling re-working of James' classic tale.

Special features:
-Introduction to The Stalls of Barchester by Lawrence Gordon Clark (2012, 10 mins)
-Introduction to A Warning to the Curious by Lawrence Gordon Clark (2012, 12 mins)
-Ghost Stories for Christmas with Christopher Lee - 'The Stalls of Barchester by MR James' (Eleanor Yule, 2000, 30 mins): Christopher Lee recreates MR James' famous soirees, at which the antiquary would read his tales of the supernatural to eager undergraduates.
-Ghost Stories for Christmas with Christopher Lee - 'A Warning to the Curious by MR James' (Eleanor Yule, 2000, 30 mins): Christopher Lee plays MR James in this dramatic reconstruction of one of the author's famous Christmas readings.

RRP £19.99 / Cat No: BFIV959 / Cert PG
UK / 1971 + 1972 / colour / English / 45 mins + 50 mins / DVD9 / Original aspect ratios 1.33:1 / Dolby Digital mono audio 320kbps

[Wernski]

I only purchased my australian boxset two days before this was announced, talk about unlucky

Same! I'm still waiting for my Australian set to arrive. Oh well.

[george n]

Why were you unlucky in buying the Aussie boxset? Wasn't it the complete series?

Yeah like ben said,it will likely be superior,and the aussie box is missing 'the signalman' 'stigma' 'the ice house' and one of the chris lee narrated episodes. Its more a collection of mr.james bbc ghost story adaptions rather than a complete set.

Also being english I would like to support the bfi as much as I possibly can,they are on a serious roll at the minute, br's of andy milligans 'nightbirds' ian merricks 'black panther', 'the devils' and now this, great stuff

[Paul L]

It'll be nice to see the non-James Ghost Stories for Christmas again; IIRC 'Stigma' and 'The Ice House' have only circulated in low-quality VHS boots, and as far as I can recall, whilst the James stories and 'The Signalman' have been repeated several times since the 1970s, neither 'The Ice House' nor 'Stigma' has been repeated on British television since their original broadcasts