While the first volume of the BFI’s series of BBC supernatural dramas contained both the precursor to and the most recent revival of the Ghost Stories for Christmas strand, this second volume is where the series really begins. While the words ‘Ghost stories for Christmas’ never actually appear on screen, this annual tradition of the 1970s begins here, with two MR James stories from 1971 and 1972, both written, produced and directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark.

The Stalls of Barchester is the first story, and adapts the original James story quite faithfully. It opens in 1932, with a Dr Black (Clive Swift) cataloguing the collections of Barchester Cathedral and finding a box of secret papers and diaries belonging to former Archdeacon Haynes (Robert Hardy). The film then flashes back to 1872, where Haynes is waiting, none-too-patiently for the ageing Archdeacon Pulteney (Harold Bennett) to either retire or expire, neither of which he shows any sign of doing. Eventually, aged 92, Pulteney slips on a loose stair carpet and goes to meet his maker, allowing Haynes to take over his role. It soon becomes clear that the death might not have been entirely accidental, and Haynes finds himself subject to assorted supernatural events – voices in the night, a wooden carving that seems alive and mysterious figures seemingly lurking in his home.

This is an impressive opening salvo in the series. Hardy is perfectly cast as the arrogant and ambitious Archdeacon who slowly falls apart as both his guilt and the supernatural events he finds himself subjected to take over his life, his nervous twitchiness and deflating pomposity all too convincing. Unlike Jonathan Miller’s Whistle and I’ll Come To You, there’s no hedging on the ghostly aspects here – while Haynes may be breaking down, he’s definitely doing so under a genuine ghostly vengeance vendetta.

The film lets itself down in a couple of places – a signpost seen towards the end is all too clearly of 1970s vintage, and for a film that is making such an effort to keep its horrors unseen, there are a couple of overly crude moments – an unconvincingly ghostly hand rather too blatantly and slowly reaching out to grab Haynes is more likely to induce sniggers than shudders, although he should perhaps remember than these films were made to be seen on smaller, blurrier TV screens than anyone will be watching them on now. And these are minor blunders in what is for the most part a very satisfying and effectively creepy ghost story.

A Warning to the Curious, broadcast a year later, is a considerable step up – Clark seems more confident in his abilities (The Stalls of Barchester was the first drama from the documentary maker) and his source material is more genuinely scary. With this adaptation, Clark is a lot looser - by necessity – with the source material, taking the main theme and crafting one of the most unsettling pieces of television ever broadcast around it.

Here, Peter Vaughn plays Mr Paxton, a company clerk who has lost his job in the great depression and travels to the seaside resort of Seaburgh, hoping to make a splash in the archaeology world by discovering an ancient and magical Saxon crown, buried nearby to help keep the are safe from invasion. We already know this is a foolish pursuit after seeing another archaeologist hacked to death by the last surviving ‘guardian’ of the crown in the opening scenes, and although the killer is now dead, Paxton’s secretive excavations are watched by a mysterious figure – and once the crown is uncovered, Paxton finds himself relentlessly chased.

Quiet, steadily paced and moody, A Warning to the Curious lets its horrors build before unleashing them – but when it does, it does so very effectively. The scenes of Vaughn running, being chased by a black clad figure, have an almost surreal atmosphere to them – they seem at odds with the steady realism of the rest of the film, and it’s this weirdness that makes them so effective. Again, the film perhaps suffers a little from advances in TV technology, the ghostly figure sometimes seeming a little too upfront when seen on a big HD screen.

Clive Swift again turns up as Dr Black –here, he is an observer who gets caught up in the events after Paxton prevails on him to help him to replace the crown and lift the curse around him. Ghost story enthusiasts will know that it’s never that easy of course. Swift’s appearance suggests a character that will run through the film series, though the final scenes hint at a far worse fate for him, and sure enough, this was his final appearance.

Both these films – and this is true of the others in the non-series too - have an entirely unique feel. Shot on 16mm film, they don’t look like TV shows (either of the time or now) or movies – instead, their grainy appearance seems to add to the unique atmosphere of the films.

This essential pairing is further enhanced by the inclusion of two thirty minute episodes of the 2000 BBC series Ghost Stories for Christmas with Christopher Lee, which feature the iconic star as MR James, reading his stories to pupils at Cambridge. The initial set-up aside, these are essentially spoken word performances, with Lee reading the tale in his own inimitable manner. Christopher Lee could probably make a gas bill sound dramatic, and here does a fine job of making these stories both authentic and chilling. The two stories included here are the same as those dramatised, allowing for immediate compare-and-contrast, Hopefully, future volumes will find room for more of these – and perhaps a DVD of similar series such as Spine Chillers from 1980 and Classic Ghost Stories from 1986 could emerge?

With video intros by Clark for both films, this is another essential package. I look forward to further entries in the series.

DAVID FLINT

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