It’s an old English tradition to tell ghost stories on Christmas. Hence the lyric in The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, “There’ll be scary ghost stories, and tales of the glories…” M.R. James would generally write a ghost story for Christmas every year, eventually cementing his reputation as the greatest author of them.
So back in the ’70s the BBC started producing a year tale under the title A Ghost Story for Christmas. This ran through 1978. Then several years ago the BBC approached TV all-rounder Mark Gattis to revive the concept. He did, and the 2013 entry was the half hour long The Tractate Middoth, adapted from, yes, an M.R. James story about a haunted college library. I prefer black and white for this sort of thing, but even in color it was a nice atmospheric piece that expertly ratcheted up the suspense until the inevitable payoff.
Louis Jameson (Leela, one of Tom Baker’s companions on Doctor Who) gives a nice appearance.
Fun!
