This year the BFI will make all twelve of the classic BBC films from A Ghost Story for Christmas series finally available on DVD. The first two volumes, each containing a double bill of chilling tales, are released on 20 August.
Jonathan Miller’s Whistle and I’ll Come To You (1968) with Sir Michael Hordern, is paired with the 2010 adaptation of the same tale starring John Hurt and directed by Andy de Emmony.
They are released alongside The Stalls of Barchester (1971), starring Robert Hardy - receiving its DVD premiere - and A Warning to the Curious (1972) with Peter Vaughan, both directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark. Both volumes have numerous special features and illustrated booklets.
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.
The release of the first two Ghost Stories volumes is timed to mark the 150th anniversary of MR James’ birth on 1 August 1862.
