{"podcast":{"title":"General Witchfinders: The British Horror Podcast","slug":"general-witchfinders-the-british-horror-podcast-3516772","podcast_index_feed_id":3516772,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/5fd77337c08ac45a2c50d003","website_url":"http://www.generalwitchfinders.com","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/5fd77337c08ac45a2c50d003/1772694982754-eb0af34b-8742-48c8-a3e1-0d3fc0433f39.jpeg","author":"Ross Cleaver, Jon Pountney, James Randall","episode_count":82,"summary":"General Witchfinders: The British Horror Podcast Welcome to General Witchfinders, a podcast dedicated to the dark heart of British horror and classic Hammer horror films – officially selected for permanent preservation in the British Library’s National Sound Archive. If you are passionate about British horror cinema, Hammer films, classic folk horror, Nigel Kneale’s Quatermass, and the chilling legacy of British supernatural television, this is the podcast for you. Hosted by lifelong friends Ross, Jon, and James, General Witchfinders dives deep into the world of British horror, gothic cinema, and unsettling archive television. We explore everything from Hammer horror’s blood-drenched vampire classics – starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing – to the eerie landscapes of The Wicker Man, Tigon’s The Creeping Flesh, and Amicus anthology films. Whether it is cinematic British horror icons like Dracula AD 1972 and The Curse of Frankenstein, modern independent UK folk horror like Possum and In The Earth, or sci-fi horror thrillers like Event Horizon and The Medusa Touch, we unearth the films that shaped the genre. We cover the definitive British sci-fi horror of Nigel Kneale – includ…","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/general-witchfinders-the-british-horror-podcast-3516772"},"episode":{"title":"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","slug":"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_at":"2024-12-24T04:00:33+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/general-witchfinders-the-british-horror-podcast-3516772/52a-bbc-ghost-stories-for-christmas-the-ash-tree-1975-bbc-dir-lawrence-gordon-clark-writer-m-r-james-edward-petherbridge-barbara-ewing-preston-lockwood","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/general-witchfinders-the-british-horror-podcast-3516772","url":"http://www.generalwitchfinders.com/","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/5fd77337c08ac45a2c50d003/e/67586bcf6d1777b368475fd6/media.mp3","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…","meta_description":"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 si…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3445,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/general-witchfinders-the-british-horror-podcast-3516772/episodes/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/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/general-witchfinders-the-british-horror-podcast-3516772/52a-bbc-ghost-stories-for-christmas-the-ash-tree-1975-bbc-dir-lawrence-gordon-clark-writer-m-r-james-edward-petherbridge-barbara-ewing-preston-lockwood.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}