Episode
52a: BBC Ghost Stories for Christmas - The Ash Tree (1975) – BBC – Dir. Lawrence Gordon Clark, Writer M.R. James – Edward Petherbridge, Barbara Ewing & Preston Lockwood
- Published
- Dec 24, 2024
- Duration seconds
- 3445
- Processing state
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- http://www.generalwitchfinders.com/
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Summary
A Ghost Story for Christmas is a series of annual British short films first broadcast on BBC One from 1971 to 1978, and sporadically revived by the BBC since 2005. With one exception, the original films were directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark and shot on 16 mm color film. The series aimed to adapt classic ghost stories for television, echoing the tradition of telling supernatural tales at Christmas. So far, we’ve covered A Warning to the Curious and The Signalman in Episode 21, Whistle and I’ll Come to You and Stigma in Episode 32, and The Stalls of Barchester along with The Treasure of Abbot Thomas in Episodes 41a and 41b. This year, we’re bringing you Lost Hearts on New Year’s Eve. But tonight, Christmas Eve—the traditional night for ghost stories—we’ll be discussing The Ash Tree. Written for the screen by David Rudkin and based on M.R. James’s short story, The Ash Tree was directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark. Looking back at Clark’s credits, it’s surprising we haven’t mentioned that he also directed one of our favorite monkey-man TV drama events from the 1990s— Chimera . That’s definitely something we should cover, assuming we can find a way to watch it. The Ash Tree aired on December 23, 1975, and featured Edward Petherbridge in the dual roles of Sir Richard and Sir Matthew. According to IMDb, Petherbridge began his career in 1961 and appeared in a wide range of film and TV roles. He’s apparently best known as the sharp and snooty sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey in The Dorothy L. Sayers Mysteries . Impressively, he kept working until 2017, with one of his final roles being the voice of a gentleman fish in one of Tim Burton’s Alice films. The cast also included Preston Lockwood as Dr. Croome, Barbara Ewing as Anne Mothersole, and, happily for our status as a secret Doctor Who…