Talking Pictures TV has announced their intention to broadcast A Ghost Story for Christmas, a staple of the BBC’s festive TV schedules during the 1970s.
A Ghost Story for Christmas was an anthology of short films in the tradition of telling spooky stories at Christmas, ie with family around the fireplace and that type of thing. They were broadcast one per year, from 1971 to 1978.
The collection of films featured many well-known faces of the day and of the future, including Peter Vaughan, Clive Swift, Frank Mills, Barbara Ewing, Lucy Griffiths, Peter Bowles and Thelma Barlow.
The series was something of a staple of seasonal viewing during the 1970s, with adaptations taken from classic ghost stories. The first five produced were adapted from M.R. James works, the sixth from Charles Dickens and the final two were original screenplays by Clive Exton and John Bowen.
Talking Pictures so far have the first three episodes on their schedule, from 1971, ’72 and ’73: The Stalls of Barchester, A Warning to the Curious and Lost Hearts. The Stalls of Barchester stars Thelma Barlow, Clive Swift, Robert Hardy and Erik Chitty. It will be broadcast on Monday 11th December 2023 at 8.35 pm.
