General Witchfinders: The British Horror Podcast (Ross, Jon & James | Exploring Cult British Horror Films, TV & Books)

Ross, Jon and James discuss:

Dracula AD 1972

from Hammer

Available to buy or rent on Amazon and Apple in the UK.

The seventh Hammer film featuring the count, and the sixth to star Christopher Lee as the count. Featuring the return of Peter Cushing as Van Helsing for the first time since The Brides of Dracula in 1960, and was the first to feature both Lee and Cushing in their respective roles since Dracula in 1958.

In 1872, Dracula and his nemesis Van Helsing battle on the top of a runaway coach. The carriage crashes and Dracula is impaled by one of the wheels and Van Helsing collapses and dies from his own wounds. A century later, Jessica Van Helsing, descendant of Dracula's old nemesis, attends a black magic ceremony in which Dracula is resurrected and plans to take his revenge on the Van Helsing family by turning Jessica into a vampire...

Something Horrific:

Ghosts, from the BBC -

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m00049t9/ghosts

Ghostland, Edward Parnell

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ghostland-Haunted-Country-Edward-Parnell/dp/000827195X

Signalman - Ghost Stories, from the BBC: The Signalman

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ghost-Stories-BBC-Signalman-Stigma/dp/B0083HHSZC/ref=pd_sbs_74_3/259-9200382-6269051

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19th century Switzerland! 

On the eve of his execution for the murder of his maid, Baron Victor Frankenstein confesses his story to a visiting priest.

As an orphaned teenager the Baron engages scientist Paul Krempe to tutor him and they begin collaborating on scientific experiments. After successfully bringing a dead puppy back to life, Victor suggests that they create a perfect human being from body parts. Paul assists Victor at first but eventually withdraws, unable to tolerate the continued scavenging of human remains, particularly after Victor's fiancée / cousin comes to live with them.

Peter Cushing, who was then best known for his roles in British television, had his first lead part in a movie with this film. Meanwhile, Christopher Lee's casting resulted largely from his height (6' 5"), though Hammer had earlier considered the even taller (6 '7") Bernard Bresslaw for the role. 

The Curse of Frankenstein premiered in London on 2 May 1957 and was a monstrous success, grossing more than 70 times its production cost during its original theatrical run.

Something Horrific:

Dark - Netflix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrwycJ08PSA

The Lovecraft Investigations

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06spb8w/episodes/player

A Podcast for the Curious - A Warning to the Curious

http://www.mrjamespodcast.com/2013/10/episode-30-a-warning-to-the-curious-part-1-of-2/

http://www.mrjamespodcast.com/2013/11/episode-31-a-warning-to-the-curious-part-2-of-2/

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Warning this book has outdated attitudes, language and cultural depiction, which may cause offence today.

Harris, a young East London art teacher, notices that one of his students has a bloodied bandage around his hand. Meanwhile, a baby girl and her dog are killed by a mischief of giant rats.

Harris takes the student to the hospital and sees the grieving mother with her dead child. According to the doctor, the number of seemingly unprovoked rat attacks have strangely increased.

The rats become increasingly more vicious and daring, as more and more public places are attacked including A tube station and Harris' own school. 

Where did these mutant Rats come from and how can they be stopped!

Herbert became inspired to write The Rats, his first novel, in early 1972, whilst watching Tod Browning's Dracula; specifically, after seeing the scene where Renfield describes a nightmare he had involving hordes of rats.

Published 2 years later The first paperback edition sold out after three weeks. It received harsh criticism upon its publication, deemed to be far too graphic in its portrayals of death and mutilation.

James Herbert went on to write 23 books (including 3 sequels to the Rats) selling over 54 million copies worldwide.

Something horrific?

Dark Harvest - Ann Pilling 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1764436.Black_Harvest

The Star Wars Archives. 1977–1983. 40th Anniversary Edition

https://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/film/all/43957/facts.the_star_wars_archives_19771983_40th_anniversary_edition.htm

The Stone Tape

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/cZHLDbJPNTcyXLHMVgxdQR/nigel-kneales-the-stone-tape-in-six-facts

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Sapphire and Steel are two interdimensional operatives.

Time is a corridor that surrounds everything, but there are weak spots where Time – implied to be a malignant force – can break into the present and take things. There are also creatures from the beginnings and ends of time that roam the corridor looking for the weaknesses to break through. Sapphire and Steel are two of a group of beings described as ‘Medium atomic weighted elements’ who act as Guardians of Time.

The landlord of a Lost and Found shop has gone missing. The new landlord can not be described by the remaining tennant, his face somehow hidden from her mind. Strange children are seen playing in the yard in anachronistic clothing. What were the experiments the missing landlord was undertaking. Why are there photographs throughout his flat with people missing from them.

Starring David McCallum as Steel and Joanna Lumley as Sapphire and Produced by ATV, it ran from 1979 to 1982 on the ITV network.The audience figures were unusually high for a science fiction series with the first episode, gaining 11.8 million viewers. The show has never been repeated on UK terrestrial television, but has gained a cult following with Sapphire and steels adventures continuing in audio form on Big Finish.

Something Horrific

The Battersea Poltergeist - BBC sounds

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0940193

Stigma - BBC Ghost Story

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6pmibb

QAnon Anonymous

https://soundcloud.com/qanonanonymous

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The Stone Tape was broadcast on BBC Two as a Christmas ghost story in 1972. It was written by Nigel Kneale, best known as the writer of Quatermass, for whose juxtaposition of science and superstition is a frequent theme.

Peter Brock played by Michael Bryant is the petulant head of a research team for Ryan Electrics. His team is developing a new recording medium that will give the company an edge over its Japanese competitors. They move into an old Victorian mansion that has been renovated for their use. On arrival, they learn that the refurbishment of one of the rooms remains incomplete, the builders having refused to work in it because it is supposedly haunted. The room, with its stone walls, is a remnant of the original building, with foundations dating back to the Saxon era. 

After the team witness the haunting in particular by Jill Greeley, an emotionally sensitive computer programmer played by Jane Asher, Brock hypotheses that it is not a ghost, but that somehow the stone in the room has preserved an image of a girl's death—this "stone tape" may be the new recording medium they have been seeking.

Realising that the phenomenon occurring in the room is far older than the house, Jill theorises that the stone tape can be recorded over again and again, like magnetic recording tape; Jill realises that the girl's death they are hearing is masking a much older recording, left many thousands of years ago.

Returning to the room one last time, Jill's senses are besieged by a powerful, malevolent presence from the much-degraded older recording.

Critically acclaimed at time of broadcast, it remains well regarded to this day as one of Nigel Kneale's best and most terrifying plays. Since its broadcast, the hypothesis of residual haunting – that ghosts are recordings of past events made by the natural environment – has come to be known as the "Stone Tape Theory".

Something Horrific

What Happens Now by Jeremy Dyson

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2097964.What_Happens_Now

Apparition Phase by Will Maclean

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50498731-the-apparition-phase

The Children of the Stones

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08sy4cd

Other links:

The Stone Tape (new audio version)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAa7C30DmUs

Ghost Adventures

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6sbzzr

Special Mention:

Worzel Gummidge

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000cskw

William Meikle Stone Tape Blog @williemeikle

https://williammeikleblog.wordpress.com/2019/11/14/revisiting-my-influences-the-stone-tape/

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Two years after the events of Dracula AD 1972, a Secret Service agent barely escapes from an English country house, in which satanic rituals are being celebrated. Before he dies, he reveals to his superiors that four prominent members of society – a government minister, a peer, a general and a famous scientist – are involved in a cult led by the satanic priestess Chin Yang.

Scotland Yard's Inspector Murray is called in, for who Michael Coles reprises his role, to work on the case independently. Murray suggests consulting a noted occult expert, The heroic Professor Lorrimer Van Helsing, of course, played by Peter Cushing, who is assisted by his granddaughter Jessica, now played by Joanna Lumley.

Van Helsing visits his scientist friend, Julian Keeley, whom he recognized among the four conspirators. He discovers Keely is undertaking bacteriological research designed to create a virulent strain of the bubonic plague. Keeley referred to the 23rd of the month, which Van Helsing explains is the "Sabbath of the Undead", the date that Dracula plans to unleashed the plague on the world as his final revenge.

The action converges back at the country house where our heroes face off against Dracula, his vampiric brides and the satanic cultists.

In the United States, the film was distributed in a heavily edited version titled Count Dracula and His Vampire Bride.This was the final Hammer film that Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing would make together. The two stars would eventually reunite one more time in House of the Long Shadows, ten years later.

Something Horrific

Possessor

https://www.possessormovie.com/

Night Terrors: The Ghost Stories of E.F. Benson

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Night-Terrors-Stories-F-Supernatural/dp/1840226854

Adam Curtis - can’t get you out of my head

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p093wp6h/cant-get-you-out-of-my-head

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SAMPLE Patreon Bonus 2 - Ghost Adventures Stardust Ranch 

Hello, you may have heard Ghost Adventures come up in a few of our podcasts, although it’s not British Horror we thought it would be a great thing for us to cover as an extra for our lovely supporters.

We try to release a few extra titbits each month and also plan to allow patrons to vote on what we are going to cover in some of our episodes in the future.

Here are a few highlights from a commentary we recorded for episode 12, series 12  (we think... although some sites online say different - just search for the Stardust Ranch episode) , if you would like the whole thing, as well as some other special bits and bobs, please become a friend of the show on www.patreon.com/generalwitchfinders

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Horror Express - or Pánico en el Transiberiano translated as Panic on the Trans-Siberian, is an English language Spanish science fiction horror film loosely based on the novella Who Goes There? (also a basis for the Thing From Another World, which was in turn was remade as the classic The Thing by John Carpenter.) 

The film stars Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, with Alberto de Mendoza, Silvia Tortosa, Julio Peña, George Rigaud and Ángel del Pozo in supporting roles, and Telly Savalas in a guest appearance.

In 1906, Professor Sir Alexander Saxton, a renowned British anthropologist, played by Lee, is returning to Europe by the Trans-Siberian Express from Shanghai to Moscow. With him is a crate containing the frozen remains of a primitive humanoid creature that he discovered in a cave in Manchuria. 

Before the train departs Shanghai, a thief is found dead on the platform. His eyes are completely white, without irises or pupils. 

Later the humanoid is reanimated, roaming the moving train, leaving bodies with the same opaque, white eyes in it’s wake. Autopsies suggest that the brains of the victims are being drained of memories and knowledge. 

When the humanoid is gunned down by police Inspector Mirov, the threat seems to have been eliminated… But the murders continue.

Like all Italian and Spanish films of the period, Horror Express was filmed mostly without sound, with effects and voices dubbed into the film later. Lee, Cushing and Savalas all provided their own voices for the English market, with a certain Roger Delgado providing the voice for Inspector Mirov. 

According to Director Eugenio Martín, the film was made because a producer obtained a train set from the production of Nicholas and Alexandra. "He came up with the idea of writing a script just so he would be able to use this prop,"

Horror Express was filmed in Madrid between 1971 and 1972 and produced on a low budget of $300,000 and released a few months after the topic of our very first podcast episode, Dracula AD 1972.

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Jeremy Dyson is the co-creator of the West End play Ghost Stories, and a member of the sketch comedy team The League of Gentlemen. The League initially began as a stage act in 1995, which was then transferred to BBC Radio 4 in 1997 as On the Town with the League of Gentlemen, and then became a television series on BBC Two in 1999.

Dyson has written several books including a novel ‘What Happens Now’ published in 2006, nominated for the Goss first novel award and enthusiastically reviewed by Ross after a bottle of wine in episode 5. He also wrote Bright Darkness: Lost Art of the Supernatural Horror Film, a non-fiction guide to horror films, and three collections of short stories entitled Never Trust a Rabbit published in 2000 – short-listed for the Macmillan Silver Pen award – The Cranes That Build The Cranes which won the 2010 Edge Hill award as well as The Haunted Book, which Wikipedia seemed not to know about so we don’t have any info on any awards. But it does have a cool augmented reality cover.

Five stories from Never Trust a Rabbit were read on BBC Radio 4 in 2000, only two of which we have managed to find a link for...

https://archive.org/details/BBC_Radio_4_Extra_20200429_170000?start=810

https://archive.org/details/BBC_Radio_4_Extra_20200428_230000?start=837

Tonight we are are mainly going to talk about 

• We Who Walk Through Walls
• A Slate Roof in the Rain
• Love in the time of Molyneux

All of the stories in this book have a twist in their tales and we highly recommend you get hold of a copy and read for yourself before you listen any further as we will inevitably be dropping spoilers as we chat.

Buy the book here

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Never-Trust-Rabbit-Jeremy-Dyson/dp/0349118752

Something horrific?

We each recommend something we've seen read or listened to:

Servant Season 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FGq5rZi1Pc

Nosferatu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1Rachk7ipI

‘Alice Isn’t Dead’ Podcast

http://www.nightvalepresents.com/aliceisntdead

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Late one night at the Russell Square station in the London Underground, university students Patricia and her American exchange student boyfriend Alex find an unconscious man on the stairwell. Fearing that he may be diabetic, Patricia checks his wallet and finds a card that reads James Manfred, OBE. They inform a police officer, but find that Manfred has vanished. Inspector Calhoun is assigned to look into the disappearance. Calhoun questions Alex and suggests that he and Patricia robbed the man.

Calhoun's colleague tells him about the history of the London Underground, particularly the Victorian railway workers who constructed the tunnels under dire conditions, and an urban legend that a group of descendants who survived an 1892 cave-in still live belowground. Meanwhile, one of the last surviving members of a family of these railway workers watches his pregnant female companion die; they have survived in the underground by resorting to cannibalism of the patrons. In an empty chamber, Manfred's body lies, mutilated. The man, now left in complete solitude, goes into a brutal murderous rage!.

Death Line premiered in London on November 17, 1972 as a double bill with The Triple Echo and was later released in the United States under the title Raw Meat on October 3, 1973 in an edited cut to avoid an X rating.

Something Horrific

Parasite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xH0HfJHsaY

Calls

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfpzdSJlv6o

Nosferatu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1Rachk7ipI

My Best Fiend

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lae8FewbnuU

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Selected for our 10th episode anniversary by our listeners, The Abominable Dr. Phibes is a 1971 British comedy horror film, produced by Ronald S. Dunas and Louis M. Heyward, directed by Robert Fuest.

It stars, in his first appearance on the podcast, mister Vincent Price. 

Its art deco sets, dark humour, and performance by Price have made the film and its sequel Dr. Phibes Rises Again cult classics. The film also features Terry-Thomas and Hugh Griffith, with an uncredited Caroline Munro appearing in still photographs as Phibes' wife.

We follow the title character, Dr. Anton Phibes, who blames the medical team that attended to his wife's surgery four years prior for her death and sets out to exact vengeance on each one.

Phibes is inspired in his murderous spree by the Ten Plagues of Egypt from the Old Testament. For visual reasons, the plagues of flies and gnats were replaced with rats and bats.

The film was shot on the "20s era" sets at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire. The cemetery scenes were shot in Highgate Cemetery, As well as the aforementioned sequel, several others were planned, including Phibes Resurrectus, The Bride of Dr. Phibes, and The Seven Fates of Dr. Phibes, but none were ever produced.

 In order to gain more publicity, this film was advertised as Vincent Price's 100th movie.

Linking this back to past General Witchfinder featured films (which inexplicably seem to all have been made with in a few years of each other) - Of course Caroline Munro has been seen writhing around in a blood sacrifice to Dracula in AD 1972. Peter Cushing was originally cast as Vesalius, but he declined because his wife was in poor health at the time, and a young Joanna Lumley did appeared as a laboratory assistant, but her scenes were sadly cut.

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Horror of Fang Rock is the first serial of the 15th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 3 to 24 September 1977.

The TARDIS lands on the island of Fang Rock off the south coast of England in the early 20th century. Noticing that the lighthouse isn't functioning properly, the Doctor, in his fourth incarnation (or infinity+4 by today's reckoning) played by Tom Baker, decides to investigate.

Upon arrival at the lighthouse, the Doctor discovers the dead body of one of the keepers. The other two keepers, old superstitious Reuben and the keen young Vince Hawkins, report that a light fell from the sky near the island. They also explain the electricity flow to the lamp on the lighthouse has become erratic and the Doctor deduces something is feeding on the flow. 

Reuben does not help matters with his constant references to the mythical Beast of Fang Rock, which reputedly once terrorised the lighthouse. As the Doctor and and his companion, Leela (played by Louise Jameson) explore, something moves Ben's body out of the lighthouse and onto the island, and they witness a curious electric crackling which seems to have killed fish nearby.

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Hellraiser is a 1987 British supernatural horror film written and directed by Clive Barker based on his 1986 novella The Hellbound Heart. The film marked Barker's directorial debut. Its plot involves a mystical puzzle box which summons the Cenobites, a religious sect in Hell known as the ‘Order of the Gash’, describing themselves as "explorers in the further regions of experience", and granting sadomasochistic pleasures to those who call upon them. The leader of the Cenobites is portrayed by Doug Bradley, and identified in the sequels as "Pinhead".

Filmed in late 1986. Barker originally wanted the electronic music group Coil to perform the music for the film, but on insistence from producers the film was re-scored by Christopher Young. Some of Coil's themes were reworked by Young into the final score. 

Since its release in September 1987, the film has divided critics but generally received praise; initial reviews ranged from Melody Maker calling it the greatest horror film made in Britain, to Roger Ebert decrying its "bankruptcy of imagination". It was followed by nine sequels, the first seven of which featured Bradley reprising his role as Pinhead. A remake is currently in the works

Something Horrific

PJ Harvey

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6v3zljSKKxioPywlGXs3-Q

Housebound

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji8Tsuj3u0c

Blood on Satans Claw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RMySPyhMUY

https://www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk/film/the-demonic-in-british-horror-cinema/

https://www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk/reviews/review-devils-advocates-the-blood-on-satans-claw/

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Dead of Night is a 1945 black and white British anthology horror film, made by Ealing Studios, was their sole attempt at making a horror movie. 

It Featured the following stories

• The Hearse Driver, based on "The Bus-Conductor" by E. F. Benson
• The Christmas Party
• The Haunted Mirror
• The Golfer's Story, based on "The Story of the Inexperienced Ghost" by H. G. Wells

and

• The Ventriloquist's Dummy

The individual segments were directed by by Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden and Robert Hamer. 

The film is best remembered for the concluding story featuring Michael Redgrave and an insane ventriloquist's malevolent dummy.

Dead of Night is a rare British horror film of the 1940s; horror films were banned from production in Britain during the war. It had an influence on subsequent British films in the genre. Both of John Baines' stories were reused for later films and the possessed ventriloquist dummy episode was adapted into the pilot episode of the long-running CBS radio series Escape.

The circular plot of Dead of Night inspired Fred Hoyle's steady state model of the universe, developed in 1948.

Mario Livio in Brilliant Blunders cites the impact of a viewing of Dead of Night had on astrophysicists Fred Hoyle, Hermann Bondi, and Thomas Gold. "Gold asked suddenly, "What if the universe is like that?' meaning that the universe could be eternally circling on itself without beginning or end. Unable to dismiss this conjecture, they started to think seriously of an unchanging universe, a steady state universe.

In the early 2010s, Time Out conducted a poll with several authors, directors, actors and critics who have worked within the horror genre to vote for their top horror films. Dead of Night placed at number 35 on their top 100 list. Director Martin Scorsese placed Dead of Night 5th on his list of the 11 scariest horror films of all time.

Writer/director Christopher Smith was inspired by the circular narrative in Dead of Night when making his 2009 film Triangle.

Something Horrific:

Censor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRrhXjH1M70

HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR The Mark of Satan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTKjizivKRU

Help my House is Haunted

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPpZOb0svC0

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Released on the 6th day of the 6th month in the year 1976, the week The Wurzels ‘Combine Harvester’, became number one in the UK (coincidence?)...

The Omen, which was originally considered by Warner Bros, who thought it might be ideal for Oliver Reed, is an American-British supernatural horror film directed by Richard Donner, written by David Seltzer, and eventually starred Gregory Peck, Lee Remick and David Warner.

One of Richard Donner's first requests to screenwriter Seltzer was to remove all suggestions of the supernatural, such as cloven-hoofed demons and witches' covens. The idea was that there should be some degree of doubt over whether or not Thorn was deranged.

The films follows Damien Thorn, a young child replaced at birth by an American ambassador unbeknownst to his wife, after their biological child dies shortly after birth. As a series of mysterious events and violent deaths occur around the family and Damien enters childhood, they come to learn he is in fact the prophesied Antichrist.

The Omen received mixed reviews from critics but was a commercial success, grossing over $60 million at the U.S. box office and becoming one of the highest-grossing films of the year. The film earned two Oscar nominations, and won for Best Original Score for Jerry Goldsmith, his only Oscar win. 

The film spawned a franchise, starting with Damien: Omen II, released two years later, followed by a third installment, Omen III: The Final Conflict, in 1981, and in 1991 with Omen IV: The Awakening. A remake was released in 2006.

Something Horrific:

Relic - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgSXwlcIvtg

In The Earth - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Lqkfo7IymU

L.T.C. Rolt - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._T._C._Rolt

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The Earth Dies Screaming is a black and white, 1964 British horror science fiction film directed by Terence Fisher ( who also directed The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) - covered in episode 2 of the General Witchfinders, and went on to film several adaptations of classic horror subjects, including Dracula (1958), The Mummy (1959), and The Curse of the Werewolf (1961)

‘Dies Screaming’ stars Willard Parker, Virginia Field and Dennis Price.

Human bodies are scattered around an English village, apparently dead in a sudden cataclysm. A small group of survivors gather in the local hotel bar, led by an American jet test pilot, Jeff Nolan (played by Parker). During the very short feature the rag tag team face off against Ro-berts, zombies and each other.

The film was shot in black and white at Shepperton Studios in London. Location filming was done at the village of Shere in Surrey. 

The British band UB40 released a single, "The Earth Dies Screaming", in 1980, which spent 12 weeks in the UK chart, peaking at number 10.

The first track on Tom Waits' 1992 album Bone Machine is entitled "Earth Died Screaming."

Something Horrific

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBIgXhiOpeQ

https://www.hammerhouseofhorrortvseries.co.uk/project/h-children-of-the-full-moon/

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Because Jon is rushed off his feet with work, we haven’t been able to record a usual General Witchfinders, so to give you something to listen to, here is part of a podcast that Ross and James ran for about 10 years or so called Creeping With Armstrong.

This is from April 2010 (we think) just after the first episode of Matt Smith’s Doctor Who, The Eleventh Hour, when we drove to Wales to talk to Jon about it..

There is a bit of horror in here but its not indicative of our usual show, please check out another episode if it’s your first time here, hopefully we will get back to normal for next time.

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Xtro is a 1983 British science fiction horror film directed by Harry Bromley-Davenport. 

Starring Bernice Stegers, Philip Sayer, and Simon Nash, the film focuses on a father who was abducted by, what could be seen as aliens, and returns to his family three years later, where he goes in search of his son. 

Even though the plot involves extraterrestrials, the creatures in this film are at no point referred to as aliens. Some fans like thinking of them as Lovecraftian-type beings coming from another dimension.

The film had a six week shooting schedule and was completed in February 1982. Chris Hobbs, a sketch artist helped finalise the visual concepts for the production, which originally involved a faceless rubber suit for a creature. This was changed to man standing with his back to the ground on his arms and legs. A mime was hired to perform the strange scuttle of the walk.

When released on home video in 1983, the film was subject to a prosecution case in relation to British obscenity laws. Unlike many other "video nasties", as they were then called, Xtro had actually been passed uncut by the BBFC with an 18 certificate for theatrical release (with both the original and an alternate ending).

Bromley-Davenport made two sequels to the film, Xtro II: The Second Encounter and Xtro 3: Watch the Skies. Neither film had anything to do with the original film. In March 2011, Davenport confirmed that Xtro 4 (The Big One) was in the works.

Even though he has made many deviations from the exploitation field since Xtro, the stigma is still attached, as Bromley-Davenport himself admits that: "Getting a start in exploitation films, as I did, suddenly became unfashionable about 20 years ago, and such movies are now regarded as smut, despite the fact that they gave Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Jim Cameron, Joe Dante, Jonathan Demme and countless others their first opportunities to direct a professional movie."

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Quatermass 2 (a.k.a. Enemy From Space in the United States and Canada) is a 1957 black-and-white British science fiction horror film from Hammer Film Productions, directed by Val Guest, that stars Brian Donlevy, John Longden, Sidney James, Bryan Forbes, Vera Day, and William Franklyn.

Quatermass 2 is a sequel to Hammer's earlier film The Quatermass Xperiment, Like its predecessor, it is based on the BBC Television serial Quatermass II written by Nigel Kneale.

Brian Donlevy reprises his role as the eponymous Professor Bernard Quatermass, making him the only actor to play the character twice in a film. It is considered as the first film sequel to use the ‘2’ / ‘II’ suffix within the title.

The film's storyline concerns Quatermass's investigation of reports of hundreds of meteorites landing only in the Winnerden Flats area of the UK. His inquiries lead him to a huge industrial complex, strikingly similar to his own plans for a Moon colony. This top-secret facility is in fact the centre of a conspiracy involving the alien infiltration of the highest echelons of the British Government. Quatermass and his allies must now do whatever is necessary to defeat the alien threat before it is too late.

The first Quatermass film had been a major success for Hammer and, eager for a sequel, they purchased the rights to Nigel Kneale's follow-up before the BBC had even begun transmission of the new serial. For this adaptation, Nigel Kneale himself was allowed to write the first draft of the screenplay, although subsequent drafts were worked on by director Val Gues who directed the first Hammer Quatrmass. Guest once again employed many cinema vérité techniques to present the fantastic elements of the plot with the greatest degree of realism. Nigel Kneale was critical of the final film, mainly on account of the return of Brian Donlevy in the lead role. Kneale was unhappy with Donlevy's interpretation of the character and also claimed the actor's performance was marred by his alcoholism.

Although Quatermass 2 was financially successful, its box office performance was eclipsed by the massive success of another Hammer film, The Curse of Frankenstein, which was to be the first of their many Gothic horror films. (and the subject of our 2nd ever podcast episode) As a result it would be ten years before Hammer adapted the next Quatermass serial for the cinema with Quatermass and the Pit in 1967. Supposedly Quatermass 2 was originally shot in AnsaColor, developed by Agfa, but released in Black and White and it is said the colour negative still exists in the archives - although this could be a weird online hoax.

Something Horrific:

Whisper Down the Lane

by Clay McLeod Chapman 

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/55671294-whisper-down-the-lane

Cornish Horrors: Tales from the Land's End

by Joan Passey (Editor)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58320855-cornish-horrors

Where Furnaces Burn

by Joel Lane

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16299282-where-furnaces-burn

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Ghostwatch, a drama produced for the BBC anthology series Screen One, is a British reality–horror/pseudo-documentary television film, broadcast on BBC1 on Halloween night, 1992. Written by Stephen Volk, and directed by Lesley Manning. Despite having been recorded weeks in advance, the narrative was presented as live television.

During and following its first and only UK television broadcast, the show attracted a considerable furore, resulting in an estimated 1,000,000 phone call enquiries to the BBC switchboard on the night of broadcast, comprising a mixture of complaints and praise for the programme's unique presentation, these calls included a call from Michael Parkinson's own concerned mother and a very nervous 15 year old Ross.

Ghostwatch has never been repeated on UK television. 

The story, based on the tale of the Enfield Poltergeist, was put into production months before and was complete fiction. The presentation contained realistic elements which suggested to a casual viewer that it was an actual documentary. The studio scenes were recorded in Studio D, BBC Elstree Studios, Clarendon Road. The scenes at the house and the street were all shot on location around 5–6 weeks before the recording of the studio scenes. The recorded scenes in the house and street were then played into the studio, where Michael Parkinson, Mike Smith, and "Doctor Pascoe" had to interact with them.

It earned the dubious honour of being the first TV programme to be cited in the British Medical Journal as having caused Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in children.

As featured in his collection Dark Corners, screenwriter Stephen Volk wrote a short story entitled 31/10, which is effectively a sequel to Ghostwatch. The piece was later selected for "The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 2007".

The Apparition Phase

Will Maclean

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1119138/the-apparition-phase/9781786091017.html

No one Gets out Alive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY2TLiK27g4

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Staring Noel Willman, Ray Barrett, Jennifer Daniel and Jacqueline ‘Servalan’ Pearce, The Reptile is based in the fictional village of Clagmoor Heath in Cornwall where several locals are dying from what is deemed to be the "Black Death". 

Harry Spalding inherits his late brother Charles' cottage and arrives with his new bride, Valerie. The inhabitants of the village keep clear of the couple and only the publican, Tom Bailey, befriends them. Tom explains that the hostility exhibited by the townspeople is the result of many mysterious deaths in the community.

The sinister Dr. Franklyn, the owner of the nearby Well House, is the only resident in the vicinity of the cottage, and he lives with his daughter Anna and her menagerie of ‘pets’. Franklyn treats Anna with cruel contempt, and she is attended by a silent Malay servant.

The production was filmed by Hammer, back to back with The Plague of the Zombies, using many of the same sets, including exterior shots in the grounds of Oakley Court near Bray, Berkshire (seen burning in the final frames). 

As documented in books on Hammer Film's history, Jacqueline Pearce disliked wearing the Infamous Reptile make-up as she suffered from claustrophobia. After this film, she vowed never to wear "creature" make-up in her future acting projects.

The film was released in 1966 and in some markets was shown in a double feature with Rasputin, the Mad Monk.

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Frenzy is a 1972 British horror / thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock (aged, at time of production, 71). 

It is the penultimate feature film of his extensive career. 

The screenplay, centred on a serial killer in contemporary London and the ex-RAF serviceman he implicates, was written by Anthony Shaffer, based on the 1966 novel Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square by Arthur La Bern, who, in a letter to the Editor of The Times, said he found Hitchcock's production and Shaffer's adaptation of his book “appalling”. 

The film stars Jon Finch, Alec McCowen, and Barry Foster and features Billie Whitelaw, Anna Massey, Barbara Leigh-Hunt, Bernard Cribbins and Vivien Merchant.

Produced the year before, the curse of 1971 continued unabated as, along with poor Peter Cushing wife’s demise, Hitchcock's wife and long-time collaborator Alma had a stroke during production. As a result, some sequences were shot without Hitchcock on the set, so he could tend to his wife.

Michael Caine was Hitchcock's first choice for the role of Rusk, the main antagonist, but Caine thought the character was disgusting and said "I don't want to be associated with the part." Foster was cast after Hitchcock saw him in Twisted Nerve (which featured Frenzy co-star Billie Whitelaw).

Helen Mirren, who later in life played Hitchcock's wife Alma Reville in Hitchcock, met with the director to discuss the role of Babs Milligan. Eventually she rejected the role, and years later said she regretted doing so.

Henry Mancini who was originally hired as the film's composer, is quoted as saying,"If the same film was made ten years ago it would've had twice the amount of music in it", After an enigmatic, behind-the-scenes melodrama, where Hitch was reported to have yelled "If I had wanted Bernard Herrmann, I would have hired him!" the composer was fired and replaced by Ron Goodwin.

The tag line for this movie was "Hitchcock's Last Masterpiece!" This line would be prophetic, since this is now considered to be the last masterwork Alfred Hitchcock produced in his canon.

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A Ghost Story for Christmas is a strand of annual British short television films originally broadcast on BBC One between 1971 and 1978, and revived sporadically by the BBC since 2005. With one exception, the original instalments were directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark and (Like the first 3rd doctor Adventure, The Spearhead from Space) the films were all shot on 16 mm colour film. The remit behind the series was to provide a television adaptation of a classic ghost story, in line with the oral tradition of telling supernatural tales at Christmas.

Each instalment is a separate adaptation of a short story, ranges between 30 and 50 minutes in duration. The first five are adaptations of ghost stories by M. R. James, the sixth is based on a short story by Charles Dickens, and the two final instalments are original screenplays by Clive Exton and John Bowen respectively. The stories were titled A Ghost Story for Christmas in listings such as the Radio Times, although this did not appear on screen until ‘'The Signalman'’ in 1976. 

An earlier black-and-white adaptation of M. R. James's Whistle and I'll Come to You, directed by Jonathan Miller and shown as part of the series Omnibus in 1968, is often cited as an influence upon the production of the films, and is sometimes included as part of the series. 

For tonight’s, podcast, we watched:

A Warning to the Curious, the 2nd of the films, broadcast on Christmas Eve in our favourite year of 1972. It featured Peter Vaughan, Clive Swift, Roger Milner, Gilly Fraser where an amateur archaeologist travels to a remote seaside town in Norfolk to search for the lost crown of Anglia, but after unearthing it he is haunted by a mysterious figure.

And

The Signalman, from 22 December 1976, featuring Denholm Elliott, Bernard Lloyd, Reginald Jessup, Carina Wyeth in which a railway signalman tells a curious traveller how he is being troubled by a spectre that seems to predict calamity. This, being the sixth of the original run of films, is based on a short story by Charles Dickens, thought to be influenced by Dickens's own involvement with the Staplehurst rail crash in Kent on 9 June 1865. While passing over a viaduct, The cast iron viaduct fractured, causing most of the carriages to fall into the river below. Dickens was in the first carriage, which derailed sideways but did not fall completely. It was suspended at a precarious angle by the coupling of the coach in front and held up by the remains of the viaduct's masonry. Dickens helped rescue other passengers, and was commended for his actions, but the experience subsequently had a profound effect on his life.

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The Legend of Hell House is a 1973 supernatural horror film directed by John Hough, and starring Pamela Franklin, Roddy McDowall, Clive Revill, and Gayle Hunnicutt. 

It follows a group of researchers who spend a week in Belasco House, the "Mount Everest of haunted houses." , originally owned by Emeric Belasco, an imposing, perverted millionaire and supposed murderer whose acts of debauchery were loosely based on the occultist Aleister Crowley. Belasco disappeared soon after a massacre occurred at the home and since the house is haunted by the victims of his twisted and sadistic desires. Subsequently, paranormal investigators to the house have been inexplicably killed. 

Matheson's screenplay, based upon his 1971 novel Hell House, drastically reduced some of the more extreme elements of the novel, particularly its graphic sexuality and BDSM. It also changed the location of the events to England, whereas the novel took place at an estate in rural Maine in the United States.

The external shots of the house were filmed at Wykehurst Park, West Sussex.

The mansion in the opening sequence is Blenheim Palace. The interior shot of the long room is the palace's library.

The role of Belasco was played by an uncredited Batman’s Michael Gough. His part consisted of a couple of recorded lines and an on-camera appearance as an embalmed corpse seated upright in a chair.

The film features a score with an electronic music bassline (with occasional woodwind and brass stabs). The score and electronic sound effects were created by Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson, recorded at Hodgson's Electrophon studio in London.

The shot of the cat in the opening credits sequence was later used for the Granada Night Time ident on the ITV network in the United Kingdom in 1988.

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The Oblong Box is a 1969 British horror film directed by Gordon Hessler, starring, The King of the Grand Guignol

The Merchant of Menace, The Master of Horror: Vincent Price, as well as Christopher Lee and Alister Williamson. This was the first film to star both Price and Lee.

Loosely based on the 1844 short story "The Oblong Box", it explores and combines several themes typical to the work of Edgar Allan Poe, such as premature burial and masked figures, with the non-Poe theme of voodoo ritual killings.

The film was produced by the British subsidiary of American International Pictures. Price, Davies and Dwyer had recently appeared in Witchfinder General, under the direction of Michael Reeves, and on 18 November 1968, the four also began work on the Oblong Box. The original script had the Markham brothers as twins, both played by Vincent Price.

Christopher Wicking was bought in to do some additional dialogue. He says AIP were keen to put the film into production to take advantage of Witchfinders success and that they had also promised him When the Sleeper Wakes and a film about Christ coming to the modern day. Wicking says Oblong Box "was the carrot".

However, Reeves fell ill during pre-production, so Hessler stepped in and made a number of substantial changes. With the help of Christopher Wicking, he reworked the screenplay to incorporate the theme of imperial exploitation of native peoples in Africa. This theme gave the film a "pro-black" appearance that would later cause it to be banned in Texas.

The leading role of the film was given to character actor Alister Williamson, his first. Although he has the largest amount of screen time, more than either Price or Lee, his real voice is never heard (it was redubbed by another actor) and his face is covered for the majority of the film.

Hessler says AIP insisted he use Hilary Dwyer.:

I don't know what the situation was, but they liked her and they kept pushing you to use certain actors. I guess the management must have thought she was star material or something like that.[1]

Shooting took place at Shepperton Studios, with sets were designed by the art director George Provis. The score was composed by Harry Robertson, who later worked on several Hammer Horrors.

Price and Christopher Lee were born on the same day (May 27th) and Peter Cushing was born on the 26th. 

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Here are some clips from the first three episodes of the podcast, go and listen to the whole thing here...

Dracula AD 1972

https://shows.acast.com/general-witchfinders/episodes/1-dracula-ad-1972

The Curse of Frankenstein

https://shows.acast.com/general-witchfinders/episodes/2-the-curse-of-frankenstien

Sapphire and Steel - Assignment 4

https://shows.acast.com/general-witchfinders/episodes/3-sapphire-and-steel-assignment-4

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The Wicker Man is a 1973 British folk horror film directed by Robin Hardy and starring Edward Woodward, Britt Ekland, Diane Cilento, Ingrid Pitt, and Big Chris Lee. In his 7th appearance on The General Witchfinders. The screenplay by Anthony (frenzy) Shaffer, inspired by David Pinner's 1967 novel Ritual, centres on the visit of Police Sergeant Neil Howie to the isolated island of Summerisle in search of a missing girl. Howie, a devout Christian, is appalled to find that the inhabitants of the island have abandoned Christianity and now practice a form of Celtic paganism.

The movie is well-regarded by critics. Film magazine Cinefantastique described it as "The Citizen Kane of horror movies", and in 2004, Total Film magazine named The Wicker Man the sixth greatest British film of all time, and during the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony the film was included as part of a sequence that celebrated British cinema.

In 1989, Shaffer wrote a script treatment for The Loathsome Lambton Worm, a direct sequel with fantasy elements. Hardy had no interest in the project, and it was never produced. In 2006, an ill-received American remake was released, from which Hardy and others involved with the original have dissociated themselves. In 2011, a spiritual sequel directed by Hardy entitled The Wicker Tree, was released and featured Lee in a cameo appearance.

Television actor Edward Woodward was cast in the role of Sergeant Neil Howie after the part was declined by both Michael York and David Hemmings. In Britain, Woodward was best known for the role of Callan, which he played from 1967 to 1972. After The Wicker Man, Woodward went on to receive international attention for his roles in the 1980 film Breaker Morant and the 1980s TV series The Equalizer.

The film was produced at a time of crisis for the British film industry. The studio in charge of production, British Lion Films, was in financial trouble and was bought by wealthy businessman John Bentley. To convince the unions that he was not about to asset-strip the company, Bentley needed to get a film into production quickly. This meant that The Wicker Man, a film set during spring, actually began filming in October 1972: artificial leaves and blossoms had to be glued to trees in many scenes. The production was kept on a small budget. Christopher Lee was extremely keen to get the film made; he and others worked on the production without pay,(Something he seems very keen to mention at every opportunity). While filming took place, British Lion was bought by EMI Films.

Iron Maiden released a single called The Wicker Man from their Brave New World album in tribute to the classic film.

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Twins of Evil (also known as Twins of Dracula) is a 1971 British horror film directed by John Hough and starring Peter Cushing's in his first film after the death of his poor wife, Helen, along with Damien Thomas and the real-life identical twins and former Playboy Playmates, Mary and Madeleine Collinson. It also sees the return of one of General Witchfinders favourite cinematographers, Mr Dick Bush.*

Twins of Evil was the third film in Hammer's "Karnstein trilogy," following The Vampire Lovers and Lust for a Vampire  in a series loosely based on Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla." 

These pictures were produced incredibly quickly, -and they were lurid even by Hammer standards, bloody and relatively steamy, with an emphasis on heaving bosoms and vampire-enhanced girl-on-girl sexuality

Much of the interest of the film revolves around the contrasting evil and good natures of two beautiful sisters, Frieda and Maria. Unlike the previous two entries in the series, this film contains only a brief lesbian element.

The film was released in the U.S. as a double feature with Hands of the Ripper (soon to be featured here in your favour British horror podcast)

Ingrid ‘Wicker man’ Pitt was offered the part of Countess Mircalla Karnstein, but refused.

Harvey Hall and Kirsten Lindholm appear in all three films of the trilogy, although in different roles in each one. 

Peter Cushing also played one of the leads in the first, The Vampire Lovers.

Special effects veteran Bert Luxford first employed Spam, then a marrow and finally resorted to using a large German sausage to simulate Frieda's decapitation for the climax of the film.

Australian indie rock band Turnstyle used a sample of Karnstein summoning Satan in their song Winter Rodeo, in 1999.

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*FYI Dick Bush also shot Tommy, The Phildelphia Experiment, The Lair of the White Worm, The Blood on Satans Claw, Phase IV, 2 pink panther movies and loads more - ‘Dick Bush Shoots’ could be a legitimate spin off podcast.

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An American Werewolf in London is a 1981 horror comedy film written and directed by John Landis. An international co-production of the United Kingdom and the United States, the film stars David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Griffin Dunne and John Woodvine. The film's plot follows two American backpackers, David and Jack, who are attacked by a werewolf while travelling in England, causing David to question whether he will become a werewolf under the next full moon.  The film made $62 million worldwide against the budget of $5.8 million and At the 54th Academy Awards, it won the first-ever Academy Award for Best Makeup.

Landis wrote the first draft of the screenplay for the film in 1969 and shelved it for over a decade. Prospective financiers believed that Landis' script was too frightening to be a comedy film and too humorous to be a horror film. After achieving success in Hollywood with the comedies The Kentucky Fried Movie, National Lampoon's Animal House and The Blues Brothers, Landis was able to secure financing from PolyGram Pictures to produce An American Werewolf in London.

An American Werewolf in London was the first film allowed to shoot in Piccadilly Circus in 15 years. Landis accomplished this by inviting 300 members of London's Metropolitan Police Service to a screening of his new film The Blues Brothers. The police were so impressed by his work that they granted the production a two-night filming permit between the hours of 1 and 4 a.m. Traffic was stopped only three times for two-minute increments to film the automobile stunts involving the double-decker bus.

An American Werewolf in London was released in the US by Universal Pictures on August 21, 1981. It was a critical and commercial success, winning the 1981 Saturn Award for Best Horror Film and the first ever Academy Award for Best Makeup. Since its release, it has become a cult classic.

In December 2017, Max Landis confirmed on Twitter that he had completed the first draft of the script for a reboot of the film. But beginning in late 2017, accusations by a number of women that Landis had abused them emotionally or sexually began to emerge publicly. In the wake of those allegations, it remains unknown if Landis will be replaced or if the project will be put on indefinite hold.

In November 2019, Variety reported that Robert Kirkman, creator of The Walking Dead comic book series, was in consideration to serve as a producer for a new reboot.

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Thomas Nigel Kneale was a British screenwriter who wrote professionally for more than 50 years, was a winner of the Somerset Maugham Award, and was twice nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay. This year is the 100 anniversary of his birth.

Predominantly a writer of thrillers that used science-fiction and horror elements, he was best known for the creation of the character Professor Bernard Quatermass.. Kneale wrote well-received television dramas such as The Year of the Sex Olympics and, the 3rd highest scoring General Witchfinders classic, The Stone Tape in addition to the Quatermass serials. He has been described as "one of the most influential writers of the 20th century", and as "having invented popular TV".

Part One: The Road

The Road is a 1963 British television play by Kneale. It was broadcast as part of the BBC Television anthology drama series First Night. An Australian remake was aired the following year. However, no recordings of the play, renowned as "one of the great missing masterpieces of British television." are known to exist having been tragically wiped by the BBC.

So… we listened to the  BBC Radio 4 audio adaptation, written by Toby Hadoke and directed by Charlotte Riches, aired on 27 October 2018. The production starred Mark Gatiss as Gideon Cobb, Adrian Scarborough as Sir Timothy Hassall and Hattie Morahan as Lady Lavinia Hassall.

Part Two:  Beasts: Baby

Beasts is a 1976 British television series. Written by Nigel Kneale, it is an anthology of six self-contained episodes that feature the recurring theme of bestial horror. The series was made by ATV for the ITV Network.

We watch the most infamous of the series, episode 4 titled ‘Baby’ Starring Simon ‘Manimal’ MacCorkindale as a newlywed whose wife (played by Midsumer Murders Jane Wymark - Daughter of Patrick Wymark as seen in The Witchfinder General)  sees her pregnancy falls foul of ancient witchcraft.

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The General Witchfinders present: Folk in Hell! (a spinoff podcast)

The Innocents 

NOT the 1961 film with Deborah Kerr, which we WILL be covering in the mothership show at some point, which has a far more comprehensive Wikipedia article than the sparsely covered film that we did watch, hence Ross adding in this short paragraph to bulk out the intro a little - 

Rather, we are talking about - The Innocents or De Uskyldige  - a 2021 Norwegian supernatural thriller film directed by Eskil Vogt.

Four children become friends during the summer holidays, and out of sight of the adults they, discover they have hidden powers. While exploring their newfound abilities in the nearby forests and playgrounds, their innocent play takes a dark turn and strange things begin to happen.

Leslie Felperin of The Hollywood Reporter called the film "low-tech, high-tension", writing that "The lonely, uncanny and sometimes unthinkingly violent world of childhood is explored with chilling candour and exceptional skill". 

Jessica Kiang of Variety praised the performances of the child actors as well as the film's atmosphere, calling the film "both a satisfying genre exercise and a minute observation of the process by which young children acquire morality."

SPECIAL GUEST: Becca (Ross's long-suffering wife)

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Scars of Dracula is a 1970 British horror film directed by Roy Ward Baker for Hammer Films.

It stars Christopher Lee as Count Dracula, along with Dennis (i should be so good for you) Waterman, Jenny Hanley, Patrick Troughton, and Michael Gwynn. 

Although disparaged by some critics, the film does restore a few elements of Bram Stoker's original character: the Count is introduced as an "icily charming host;" he has command over nature; and he is seen scaling the walls of his castle. It also gives Lee more to do and say than any other Hammer Dracula film except its first, 1958's Dracula.

This film breaks the continuity maintained through the previous entries in Hammer's Dracula film series: whereas at the end of the preceding film, Taste the Blood of Dracula, the Count met his end in a disused church near London, this film opens with a resurrection scene set in Dracula's castle in Transylvania, with no explanation of how his ashes got there. Furthermore, in Scars of Dracula, the Count has a servant named Klove, played by Patrick Troughton; in the third film of the series, Dracula: Prince of Darkness, Dracula has a servant named Klove (played by Philip Latham) who appears to be a different character, though identically named. The disruption of continuity caused by Scars of Dracula reflects the fact the film was originally tooled as a possible reboot of the series in the event Christopher Lee elected not to reprise the role of Dracula, and, as Listener Christopher pointed out was intended for John Forbes-Robertson, who later played Dracula in The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires.

Peter Cushing was asked to appear in this movie, however due to conflicting schedules, he reluctantly declined the major role written for him. He was able to carry out a dare set by his good friend Christopher Lee. Due to a hold up in production in filming of "Scream and Scream Again", Peter was able to spend a day on set filming a brief cameo as a milkmaid for the opening village Inn scene.

Dracula's resurrection at the beginning of the film is the same footage as Dracula's death from Taste the Blood of Dracula, but simply played in reverse.

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The Ritual is a 2017 British/ Canadian horror film starring Rafe Spall, Arsher Ali, Robert James-Collier, and Sam Troughton (grandson of two time General Witchfinder featured actor, Patrick - 2nd Doctor -Troughton, or as we like to call him Kinky Klove) 

 The film is based on the 2011 novel The Ritual by Adam Nevill, which we've been told by listener ‘Mr London’, is pretty creepy.

The original tagline that was used when advertising the film was 'They should have gone to Vegas'. But due to the massacre that took place on 1st of October 2017, the tagline has now been changed to 'They should have gone to Ibiza'.

Although set in Sweden (helpfully clarified as being in Northern Europe by IMDB) the film was shot on location in the infamous Carpathian Mountains of Romania.

The screen writer, Joe Barton, went on to write the Excellent ‘Encounter’ staring Riz Ahmed, which Ross highly recommends and director, David Bruckner, went on to direct The Night House and has recently completed the reboot of the General Witchfinder ‘favourite’ Hellraiser, coming to cinemas soon

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In this episode, we are joined by BOOMER from

Podcast in the Woods

https://linktr.ee/woodspodcast

This is the episode Ross was in btw: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6G5TocltVLFUgVdPdPUC2V?si=fQ7JuHMLTP2mbSqlrpH20Q

The Wailing is a 2016 South Korean horror film written and directed by Na Hong-jin and starring Kwak Do-won, Hwang Jung-min, Chun Woo-hee. And was cited in  the documentary “Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched” as an excellent example of international, specifically Asian, Folk horror.

The film centers on a policeman who investigates a series of mysterious killings and illnesses in a remote Korean village called Gokseong in order to save his daughter.

According to director Na Hong-jin, this movie was made on the basis of folk religions in Korea and Nepal and on Catholic faiths.

Na teamed up with Thai director Banjong Pisanthanakun, acting  as the producer and screenwriter for ‘The Medium’, a supernatural horror film mockumentary. When writing the story, Na explained in an interview that The Medium was initially a sequel to The Wailing with Hwang Jung-min’s shaman character. However, this rendition did not come to light, as quoted by Na himself, “The Medium has no relation to The Wailing.” Therefore, not a very interesting titbit, but these newer films have hardly any info on Wikipedia or IMDB, so cut us some slack.

Na has said, “Whenever I finish a film, I don’t want to go anywhere near another one.” Which may explain the slow release of his movies, despite being in the film industry for over 15 years, he only has 3 films to his name. (which is probably more than whoever dished this shade on IMDB has ever done)

This review contains spoilers - please watch this before we ruin it for you

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Possum is a 2018 British psychological horror film written and directed by Matthew (Garth Marenghi) Holness in his feature film debut, starring Sean Harris and Alun (Krull) Armstrong. It centres on a disgraced children's puppeteer who returns to his childhood home and is forced to confront the abuse and trauma he suffered there.

Possum is an adaption of Holness' short story of the same name, published in the horror anthology The New Uncanny: Tales of Unease, and partially inspired by the theories on the uncanny by Sigmund Freud. Holness soon forgot about the idea of adapting the story until he had begun working on developing a possible horror film. As a fan of the horror genre, Holness stated he much preferred horror films that resonate with the audience and force them to reflect on the experience afterward. Possum's visual style was inspired by public information films Holness saw in his youth. Other inspirations include Dead of Night (covered by us in the mothership show), George Romero's Martin, and German Expressionist films. Filming began in Norfolk, with additional filming taking place in Great Yarmouth and Suffolk. The film's score was composed by sound effects and experimental electronic music studio The legendary Radiophonic Workshop, and featured unreleased material by the studio's original member Delia Derbyshire. This marked their first soundtrack purposely constructed for a feature film.

In addition to garnering multiple awards and nominations, it was generally praised by critics for Harris' performance, the film's atmosphere, score, and unsettling imagery, though the story prompted several negative reviews.

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Tales of the Unexpected was a British television series that aired between 1979 and 1988.

Each episode told a story, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, with an unexpected twist ending.

Every episode of series one, and a number of episodes in subsequent series were based on short stories by Roald Dahl, collected in the books Tales of the Unexpected, Kiss Kiss, and Someone Like You.

Made by Anglia Television for ITV with interior scenes recorded at their Norwich studios, whilst location filming mainly occurred across East Anglia. The iconic theme music for the series was written by composer Ron ( Doctor Who, The Prisoner, Steptoe and Son) Grainer.

Later episodes were set in different locations outside the United Kingdom, with many being made in the United States.

On Saturday night April 16, 1983, Just after TJ Hooker, on ITV, the episode we watched tonight was aired.

"The Memory Man"Directed by Peter Duffell based on a story by prolific writer by Henry Slesar (By whom the term "coffee break" was coined) and Dramatised by Denis Cannan

The episode featured

Colin Blakely (The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, A Man for All Seasons)

Judy Geeson (To Sir, with Love, 10 Rillington Place, a couple of Star Trek Voyager episodes and still working today) John Biggerstaff (not known for much)

John Judd (Scum , A Bridge Too Far and The Prince and the Pauper (1996). Incedendly He has been married to Helen Shapiro since 1988)

And, the reason we are doing this episode, the late great, Bernard Cribbins 

Cribbins became known in the UK for his successful novelty records "The Hole in the Ground" and "Right Said Fred" and for his appearances in comedy films including Two-Way Stretch and the Carry On series. His other screen roles include the astronaut Vincent Mountjoy in The Mouse on the Moon , Albert Perks in The Railway Children, the barman Felix Forsythe in Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy (featured previously on General Witchfinders) and the pretentious hotel guest Mr Hutchinson in the Fawlty Towers episode "The Hotel Inspectors".

On television, he was a regular and prolific reader for the BBC series Jackanory, clocking up 114 appearances between 1966 and 1991, he narrated the children's programme The Wombles and he played the title role in the CBeebies series Old Jack's Boat.

In the 1966 film Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D., Cribbins portrayed Tom Campbell, a companion to Dr. Who.

41 years later, he began appearing in the revival series of Doctor Who as Wilfred Mott, the grandfather of regular companion Donna Noble and a temporary companion to the Tenth Doctor.

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NOT The 1980 James C. Wasson film in which an anthropologist and his students attempt to track down a Bigfoot responsible for a rash of violent murders…

OR the 1988 Kevin Tenney film, Night of the Demons’ where Ten teenagers party at an abandoned funeral parlor on Halloween, awakening demonic spirits…

Rather, we all, hopefully, watched the 1957 British horror film, produced by Hal E. Chester and Frank Bevis directed by Jacques (Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie) Tourneur (or ‘Jack Turner’ as the French Director was referred to in the UK). starring Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins and Niall (Zeus from Jason and the Argonauts) MacGinnis. 

Adapted from the M (‘Montague’) R. James story "Casting the Runes" first published in 1911 as the fourth story in More Ghost Stories, which was James' second collection of ghost stories.

Screenwriter Charles Bennett owned the rights to the story and wrote a screenplay loosely based on it, using the title ‘The Haunted’. Bennett later regretted selling the script to Chester, as he was later approached by RKO, to direct the film himself.

Chester decided the Bennett screenplay was “too tame” and "too British" so hired Cy Endfield who had been blacklisted by the House of Un-American Activities Committee as a Communist and forced to move to the UK. Despite his contribution, which was said to be "significant", he was ultimately uncredited. Cy Enfield incidentally was the writer and director of Zulu.

Director Tourneur and Producer Chester had serious disagreements during filming. One argument was about the wind scene; Tourneur tried to convince Chester to replace two electric fans with two aeroplane engines. When Chester hesitated, star Dana Andrews threatened to leave the picture if Chester did not let "the director direct the picture" 

Chester also decided to show the demon at the beginning and end of the film, despite Tourneurs protests, he added the scenes in post production: 

Cue James’ French accent… 

"The scenes where you see the demon were shot without me...the audience should never have been completely certain of having seen the demon". 

Original screenwriter, Bennett, was also so angry at the script changes, he said "If [Chester] walked up my driveway right now, I'd shoot him dead".

Ray Harryhausen was asked to create the demon for the production, but he was already committed to The 7th Voyages of Sinbad.

To accelerate the pace and make the film more commercial, the 96-minute original feature was trimmed down to 82 minutes prior to its release in the United States. This shortened version was retitled Curse of the Demon, playing in June 1958 as the second half of a double feature with either ‘The True Story of Lynn Stuart’ or ‘The Revenge of Frankenstein’

Kate Bush has said this is one of her favorite films, and it has influenced her on at least two occasions: the song Hounds of Love begins with a quote from a line spoken in the film by Maurice Denham, and somewhat more obliquely, the film ‘The Line The Cross And The Curve’ borrows the idea that the possession of a small slip of paper with mystic symbols can confer great power, as well as borrowing several images and set pieces…

Night of the Demon was also mentioned in the opening song from The Rocky Horror Picture Show ("Science Fiction Double Feature"): "Dana Andrews said prunes gave him the runes, but passing them used lots of skills".

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The martial arts horror film The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires was released in 1974. 

It stars.

Peter Cushing as Professor Van Helsing 

Christopher Lee… oh hang on… John Forbes-Robertson as Count Dracula (Not the son of Johnston Forbes-Robertson, but did play Mr Badger in 2 episodes of Jonny Briggs) 

Robin Stewart as Leyland Van Helsing  (29 episodes of Sons and Daughters) 

Julie Ege (pronounced eg-gay", not "edge") as Vanessa Buren (1962 Miss Norway and competed in Miss Universe pageant Awarded the title "The New Sex Symbol of the 70s" by the head of Hammer Film Studios, Sir James 

Carreras. Hammer featured her as a not-so-glamorous prehistoric woman in its ‘Creatures the World Forgot’ (1971). The film was a flop, but Julie went on a round-the-world publicity tour and became a leading pin-up model. 

She lived for six years in the 1970s with Tony Bramwell, former assistant to The Beatles and later a successful record and film music promoter. Their next door neighbor was Brian May of the rock group Queen. To date, she is the only Norwegian James Bond girl (in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969))

Shen Chan as Kah, David Chiang as Hsi Ching and Szu Shih as Mei Kwei all stars of innumerable asian movies. 

The film began development due to Don Houghton's father-in-law knowing Hong Kong film producer Run Run Shaw. Houghton flew to Hong Kong to discuss a project with Run Run and his brother Runme who agreed to finance 50% of the film. It was shot between October 22 and December 11, 1973, at Shaw Brothers Studios in Hong Kong. 

The Shaw Brothers were not happy with how Roy Ward Baker (Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde, Scars of Dracula, The Vampire Lovers, and A Night to Remember) was directing the film and had martial arts sequences choreographed by one of their studios directors Cheh Chang (uncredited), these additional scenes that led to the Eastern version of the film to run at 110 minutes (20 mins longer that the UK version).  

Renee Glynee who was the continuity supervisor for the film stated that working with the Shaw Brothers Studios was "a big experience" due to language differences and that director Roy Ward Baker was constantly screaming at the Chinese actors to stop spitting on set. In an interview in the late 1990’sBaker described the shooting of this film as "a nightmare". He discovered that Hong Kong films were made silent and looped in post-production due to the constant noise of traffic and aircraft. He lamented that Peter Cushing was practically catatonic on set, having recently been widowed but still wanting to do the film to give him something to do.

On its release in the United States, the film was truncated further by 20 minutes, re-titled The 7 Brothers Meet Dracula and loops several remaining scenes to fill the running time. 

In all territories, the film was a financial failure. 

This is the only Hammer "Dracula" film not to feature Count Dracula's name in the title.

Forbes-Robertson, long time stand in for Big Chris Lee (was considered to fill the cape in Scars of Dracula before Lee was persuaded to return) was furious when he discovered that he had been dubbed by David de Keyser.  

Lee tried to talk Peter Cushing into not doing the project, as he considered it below an actor of Cushing's calibre. Lee told Cushing that Ralph Bates was willing to step in and do the film if Cushing wanted to back out, but Cushing replied that he thought the change of scenery might help his ongoing grief induced depression. 

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"Whistle and I'll Come to You" is a 1968 BBC television drama adaptation of the 1904 ghost story "'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'" by M. R. James. It tells of an eccentric and distracted professor who happens upon a strange whistle while exploring a Knights Templar cemetery on the East Anglian coast. When blown, the whistle unleashes a frightening supernatural force.

The production starred Michael Hordern and was adapted and directed by Jonathan Miller. It was broadcast as part of the BBC arts strand Omnibus and inspired a new yearly strand of M.R. James television adaptations known as A Ghost Story for Christmas.

Jonathan Miller adapted his 1968 version as part of the BBC arts strand Omnibus, which consisted mainly of arts documentaries so the dramatic adaptation was an unusual move; This probably explains Miller's documentary-like introduction to the film. The adaptation itself changes a number of aspects of James' story, turning the academic, described as "young, neat and precise of speech" into a bumbling, awkward, middle-aged eccentric. This adaptation was filmed on the Norfolk coast, at Waxham and nearby.

The performance of Michael Hordern is especially acclaimed, with his hushed mutterings and repetition of other characters' words, coupled with a discernible lack of social skills, turning the professor from an academic caricature into a more rounded character, described by horror aficionado David Kerekes as "especially daring for its day". The stage journal Plays and Players suggests that Hordern's performance hints that the professor suffers from a neurological condition called the "idea of a presence". Much of the script was improvised on location with the actors.

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Stigma is an episode of the BBC's A Ghost Story for Christmas series, made in 1977. It was the first of only two stories set in the actual year of its making, and the last which mainstay Lawrence Gordon Clark would direct. It was first shown on BBC One on 29 December 1977 (postponed from its original scheduled broadcast date of 28 December), and was repeated on 29 May 1978. Scripted by Clive Exton, the thirty-minute piece stars Kate Binchy, Peter Bowles and Maxine Gordon.

The production was filmed at Avebury, Wiltshire, which had also been the location used for the ITV series Children of the Stones (screened earlier the same year). The production is unlike the previous films in the Ghost Story For Christmas strand in several ways; it is the first to be an original story and the first to be set in the then-present day. Critical opinion is decidedly mixed, with the decision to move away from adaptations of classic ghost stories the main concern. 

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Ghost Adventures is an American paranormal and reality television series that premiered on October 17, 2008, on the Travel Channel before moving to Discovery+ in 2021. An independent film of the same name originally aired on the Sci-Fi Channel on July 25, 2007. The program follows ghost hunters Zak Bagans, Nick Groff (season 1–10), Aaron Goodwin, Billy Tolley, and Jay Wasley as they investigate locations that are reported to be haunted.

The crew also claims to have recorded spirit possessions on video. Bagans believes that he was possessed at the Preston School of Industry and at Poveglia Island in Italy. Groff claims that he was overtaken by a "dark energy" at the Moon River Brewing Company. Goodwin claims he was "under the influence of a dark spirit" at Bobby Mackey's Music World and Winchester Mystery House.

There have been a number of Ghost Adventures Spins offs:

• Ghost Adventures: Aftershocks
• Ghost Adventures: Where Are They Now?
• Ghost Adventures: Serial Killer Spirits
• Ghost Adventures: Screaming Room!
• Ghost Adventures: Quarantine
• Ghost Adventures: Top 10
• Ghost Adventures: House Calls
• Paranormal Challenge
• Deadly Possessions aka Ghost Adventures: Artifacts
• Demon House
• The Haunted Museum

Bagans was born in Washington, D.C. on April 5, 1977 and raised in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. 

One of Bagans' more notable claims from the show is his alleged communication with deceased actor David Strickland of NBC's Suddenly Susan. Strickland committed suicide at the Oasis Motel in Las Vegas in 1999. Bagans claims to have recorded Strickland's voice nearly a decade following his death, and included this recording in a track on the album NecroFusion. No known scientific analysis has been attempted on the raw recording, including any comparison of the voice heard on the Electronic Voice Phenomena recording to that of the famous actor.

He has a tattoo of the number 11, symbolizing his apologizes to a female spirit he mocked while investigation on room n. 11 of Silver Queen Hotel, Virginia City, back in 2004.

In 2009 the team travelled to the UK to investigate The Ancient Ram Inn, a Grade II listed building and a former pub located in Wotton-under-Edge. Renowned as one of the most haunted buildings in England.

Something Horrific:

Men - Alex Garland

Uncanny Live with Mark Gatiss

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001gjsg

The Night House - David Bruckner

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Quatermass and the Pit (or as it’s known in the US ‘Five Million Years to Earth’) is a 1967 British science fiction horror film from Hammer Film Productions, a sequel to the earlier Hammer films The Quatermass Xperiment and Quatermass 2 (see General Witchfinders episode 17 for more details). Like its predecessors it is based on a BBC Television serial, of the same name, written by Podcast hero Nigel Kneale. 

It was directed by Roy Ward Baker (who is responsible for such highs as A Night to Remember And such lows and The scars of Dracula and The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires - see episodes 28 and 31 respectively)  And this incarnation stars Andrew Keir (featured in Cleopatra, Dracula: Prince of Darkness and Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.)  in the title role as Professor Bernard Quatermass, replacing Brian Donlevy, who played the role in the two earlier films. James Donald, Barbara Shelley (also in Dracula: Prince of Darkness and The Gorgon) and Julian Glover (whos been in some little known films called Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Empire strikes back, Games of thrones, several Doctor Who stories and load of other stuff including being the voice of a giant spider in Harry Potter) they appear in co-starring roles.

Nigel Kneale wrote the first draft of the screenplay in 1961, but difficulties in attracting interest from American co-financiers meant the film did not go into production until 1967. The director, Roy Ward Baker, was chosen because of his experience with technically demanding productions such as A Night to Remember; this was the first of six films that he directed for Hammer. Andrew Keir, playing Quatermass, found making the film an unhappy experience, believing Baker had wanted Kenneth More to play the role. Owing to a lack of space, the film was shot at the MGM-British Studios in Elstree, Borehamwood, rather than Hammer's usual home at the time, which was the Associated British Studios, also in Elstree.

The plot of the film verison was condensed to fit the shorter running time, the main casualty being the removal of a subplot involving a journalist named James Fullalove, and the climax was altered slightly to make it more cinematic. The setting for the pit was changed from a building site to the London Underground. The closing scene of the television version, in which Quatermass pleads with humanity to prevent Earth becoming the "second dead planet", was also dropped, in favour of a shot of Quatermass and Judd sitting alone amid the devastation wrought by the Martian spacecraft.

The script was sent to John Trevelyan of the British Board of Film Censors in December 1966. Trevelyan replied that the film would require an X certificate and complained about the sound of the vibrations from the alien ship, the scenes of the Martian massacre, scenes of destruction and panic as the Martian influence takes hold and the image of the Devil.

It has been suggested that Tobe Hooper's 1985 Lifeforce is largely a remake of Hammer's Quatermass and the Pit. In an interview, director Tobe Hooper discussed how Cannon Films gave him $25 million, free rein, and Colin Wilson's book The Space Vampires. Hooper then shares how giddy he was: "I thought I'd go back to my roots and make a 70mm Hammer film.

Three decades on, Andrew Keir reprised the role of the Professor in "The Quatermass Memoirs", a five-part docudrama scripted by Nigel Kneale and transmitted on BBC Radio 3 in March 1996.

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The Shout is a 1978 British horror film directed by Jerzy Skolimowski (who is also an Actor was in Mars Attacks and played a General in Marvels The Avengers). 

It was based on a short story by Robert Graves (author of I, Claudius and great friend of Spike Milligan, with whom, from the 1960s until his death, he frequently exchanged letters, Many of which are collected in the book ‘Dear Robert, Dear Spike’) 

Grave's short story was adapted for the screen by Skolimowski and Michael Austin screenwriter of Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes. 

The film was the first to be produced by Jeremy Thomas under his ‘Recorded Picture Company’ banner. Thomas went on to produce and exec-produce 70 more films (to date) including Naked Lunch, The last Emperor, Crash, The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle, Sexy Beast and High-rise.

Interiors were shot at Pinewood Studios, the film's sets were designed by the art director Simon Holland (Quadrophenia, Buster, Nuns on the Run and King Ralph). 

The North Devon coastline, specifically Saunton Sands and Braunton Burrows, were used for the bulk of the location shooting. The church of St Peter in Westleigh was used for the church scenes. 

The soundtrack is by Michael Rutherford and Tony Banks of the rock band Genesis (After the original first choice of David Bowie turned it down). When heard in theatres in Dolby Stereo, it was aurally separating and distorting. Reportedly, forty different music tracks were used for the sound, when it was usual for films of this era to use just 4.

The film was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival and received the Grand Prize of the Jury, in a tie with Bye Bye Monkey (A film staring Gérard Depardieu about a man who finds the corpse of King Kong and Kong's orphaned son, and takes it to a friend who lives in the city, and they decide to raise it.)

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Clips from the best bits from episodes four to six

4 - James Herbert - The Rats

https://podfollow.com/general-witchfinders/episode/fcc6efe904b6f9160ab7a0656bc46dd0f5901e93/view

5 - Nigel Kneale’s - The Stone Tape

https://podfollow.com/general-witchfinders/episode/ff8003920d88e2462eaa2353dc2a007a102c2789/view

6 - The Satanic Rites of Dracula

https://podfollow.com/general-witchfinders/episode/75233646bd312312a10f794fb49b2ffed51b2a72/view

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After his involvement in the reboot of the Tomb Raider movie franchise was scuppered by the Pandemic, Ben Wheatley, director of Kill List, Sightseers, A Field in England and High-Rise, announced in September 2020,that he had written and directed a horror film over the course of 15 days in August. This became In the Earth, a science fiction horror film staring Joel Fry, Reece Shearsmith, Hayley Squires, Ellora Torchia, John Hollingworth and Mark Monero.

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film a score of 4/5 stars, writing that it "brings us back to Wheatley’s classic world of occult loopy weirdness and cult Britmovie seediness, with a new topical dimension of pandemic paranoia".

The research station is called ATU327A. This is derived from the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index (ATU index), a catalogue of folktale types used in folklore. Index # ATU 327a is called "the children and the witch", which the story of Hansel and Gretel is classified as. The ATU listing reads: "The parents abandon their children in the wood. The gingerbread house. The boy fattened; the witch thrown into the oven. The children acquire her treasure."

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Tonight we are discussing the  1989 British horror drama television film directed by Herbert Wise (most famous for I, Cladius, who worked solidly from 1957 to 2001 on everything from The Bill to 9 episodes of Tales of the Unexpected - including ‘The Landlady’ which may well be the episode that Jon talked about remembering in episode 29) 

It  stars

Adrian Rawlins (Harry Potters Dead Dad in the movies and Mr Pike in one episode of Neighbours), 

Bernard Hepton (I, Claudius, Get Carter Tinker Tailor, Soldier Spy and Colditz), David Daker (93 episodes of Boon, 84 episodes of Z cars, Time Bandits and 2 Doctor Who stories: Irongron in The Time Warrior and Captain Rigg in Nightmare of Eden) 

and Pauline Moran ( who was Miss Lemon in many episodes of Poirot and was bass player in the all female band ‘The She Trinity’ who had a top 40 hit a cover of "He fought the law" in 1966.). 

Hill’s The Woman in Black had already been adapted into a beloved stage-play that went to become the West End’s second longest running, non-musical after The Moustrap. More recently, the story was filmed by Hammer in 2012, staring Daniel Radcliff and going on to be the highest grossing British horror movie of all time.

This teleplay is adapted from the 1983 novel of the same name by Susan Hill. It focuses on a young solicitor who is sent to a coastal English village to settle the estate of a reclusive widow, and finds the town haunted.

The programme was produced by Central Independent Television for ITV, it was filmed at Stanlake Park in Berkshire, using the causeway to Osea Island, near Goldhanger in Essex, and the local salt marshes, whilst scenes to represent Crythin Gifford were filmed at the National Trust village of Lacock, near Chippenham, Wiltshire.

and premiered on Christmas Eve 1989. It was an unexpected success, though author Susan Hill reportedly disagreed with some of the slight changes made in the adaptation By General Witchfinder’s favourite Nigel Kneale, who you will all most like be aware of as the writer of the eerie and downright terrifying with his Quatermass tetralogy and, the classic ‘The Stone tape’, The Road and Beasts, a six horror stories based around animals, for ITV. (Go and check out episodes 5, 17, 27, and  34 for more Kneal goodness)

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Murder by Decree is a 1979 mystery thriller directed by Bob Clark (Director of ‘Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things’ and ’Dead of Night’ (not the brilliant black and white British film from 1945 - featured in episode 13, but the 1974 American film ), he also directed ‘Black Christmas’, ‘Porkys’ and ‘Porkys 2’ 

Murder by Decree was written by playwright John Hopkins, who scripted the Bond film Thunderball, and the Alec Guinness TV version of Smileys People. Hopkins referenced Conan Doyle's work, particularly Holmes' deduction and science skills but downplayed other aspects of the characters, such as Holmes' drug use, in favour of making them more likeable and human.

Peter O'Toole was originally cast as Sherlock Holmes, and Sir Laurence Olivier was cast as Dr. Watson. But the two actors had not worked well together in the past, and were unable to overcome their differences for this movie. Rather, Holmes is played by Christopher (Captain Georg von Trapp) Plummer and Dr. Watson is played by James Mason.

Plummer, described by IMDB as“ perhaps Canada's greatest thespian”, turned down the role of Gandalf in Sir Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, and admits to regretting that decision. 

Question for James and Jon? Christopher Plummer had two roles in common with Peter Cushing, can you name them?

James Mason reportedly, he once saved the life of Max Bygraves' son at a party at Judy Garland's house. The boy fell into the pool and Max did not notice. James Mason did and, fully clothed, he jumped into the water and pulled him out. He was scheduled to play James Bond in a 1958 television adaptation of "From Russia with Love", which was ultimately never produced. Later, despite being in his 50s, Mason was a contender to play Bond in Dr. No before Sean Connery was cast. He later turned down the role of Hugo Drax in the James Bond film Moonraker, which went to Michael Lonsdale.

In his autobiography, "In Spite of Myself", Plummer noted that Mason was the best Watson he had seen, and that his death halted a proposed furthering of their on-screen partnership.

The film also features:

David Hemmings (Blow Up, Deep Red, Brabarella, Gladiator, Magnum Pi and Airwolf) as Inspector Foxborough, Anthony Quayle (Lawrence of Arbia, The Guns of Navarone) as Sir Charles Warren, Frank Finlay (Lifeforce, The Three Musketeers) as Inspector Lestrade, Geneviève Bujold as Annie Crook, Susan Clark as Mary Kelly, John Gielgud as Prime Minister Lord Salisbury, Donald Sutherland as Robert Lees and the Mighty June Brown as Anne Chapman

The film's premise of the plot behind the murders is influenced by the book Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution, by Stephen Knight, who presumed that the killings were part of a Masonic plot. The original script contained the names of the historical suspects, Sir William Gull and John Netley. In the actual film, they are represented by fictional analogues: Thomas Spivy (Gull) and William Slade (Netley). This theory on the perpetrators of the killings is featured in a number of other Jack the Ripper-themed fictions, including the graphic novel ‘From Hell’.

The replica nineteenth century dockland set took two months and fifty men to construct at Shepperton Studio's largest soundstage. The set also included a replica muddy Thames River, Alien was shooting concurrently in the same studios.

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Tonight, we complete the Hammer Quatermass trilogy (albeit out of order) with The Quatermass Xperiment (a.k.a. The Creeping Unknown in the US) is a 1955 British science fiction horror film from Hammer Film Productions, based on the 1953 BBC Television serial written by Nigel Kneale. Produced by Anthony Hinds, one of the of 37 films he made for Hammer. Hinds wrote a number of films under the  pseudonym 'John Elder' which he adopted after Her couldn't afford a screenwriter for The Curse of the Werewolf). It is directed by Val Guest, writer and director of the Cannon and Ball vehicle, Boys in Blue and Confessions of a Window Cleaner. (and of course director of Quatermass 2) The film stars Oscar Nominee, Brian Donlevy in his fist of 2 portrayals as the eponymous Professor Bernard Quatermass. 

Richard Wordsworth, Who feature as a sinister taxidermist with James Stewart in Alfred Hitchcock's second version of The Man Who Knew Too Much, as well as appearing in British TV dramas such as Huntingtower and The Tripods, and notablble in other Hammer films - The Revenge of Frankenstein and The Curse of the Werewolf, plays the tormented astronaut Carroon. 

Jack Warner plays Inspector Lomax (insanely famous in his time as the titular Dixon of Dock Green appearing in 432 episodes on tv from 1955 to 1976) 

Margia Dean plays Judith Carroon. Dean only passed away, sadly, this June. 

We also briefly see Thora Hird in one scene as 'Rosie'. Thora lived so long and did achieved so much, she was the subject of 'This is your Life' Twice. The Quatermass Experiment was originally a six-part TV serial broadcast by BBC Television in 1953. It was an enormous success with critics and audiences alike, later described by film historian Robert Simpson as "event television, emptying the streets and pubs". 

Among its viewers was the forementioned Hammer Films producer, Anthony Hinds, who was immediately keen to buy the rights for a film version. Nigel Kneale also saw the potential for a film adaptation and, at his urging, the BBC touted the scripts around a number of producers. Kneale met with Sidney Gilliat to discuss the scripts but Gilliat was reluctant to buy the rights as he felt any film adaptation would inevitably receive an 'X' Certificate from the British Board of Film Censors. Hammer's offer met some resistance within the BBC, with one executive expressing reservations that The Quatermass Experiment was not suitable material for the company, but the rights were nevertheless sold for an advance of £500. 

Kneale was a BBC employee at the time, which meant that his scripts were owned entirely by the BBC. He received no extra payment for the sale of the film rights. This became a matter of some resentment on Kneale's part, and when his BBC contract came up for renewal he demanded and secured control over any future film rights for his work. Kneale remained bitter over the affair until the BBC made an ex-gratia payment of £3,000 to him in 1967, in recognition of his creation of Quatermass.  

We also include the concept Album 'Victor Caroon', available on Soundcloud here:

https://soundcloud.com/victor-caroon

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Lifeforce (aka Space Vampires) is a 1985 science fiction horror film directed by Tobe Hooper, adapted by Dan O'Bannon (writer of Alien!) and Don Jakoby, and starring Steve Railsback, Peter Firth, Frank Finlay, Mathilda May, and Patrick Stewart. It also features John Forbes-Robertson as ‘The Minister’ The film is based on Colin Wilson's 1976 novel, The Space Vampires. It portrays the events that unfold after a trio of humanoids in a state of suspended animation are brought to Earth after being discovered in the hold of an alien spaceship. This was the first film of Hooper's three-picture deal with Cannon Films, the other two films are the remake of Invaders from Mars and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. Prior to Lifeforce, Hooper was originally offered the script for E.T. but turned it down. Spielberg then suggested Hooper direct Poltergeist, a project he had written himself and had planned on directing. he took the job and Spielberg went on directed E.T. (and most people also believe Poltergeist as well) Before Hooper, Michael Winner was offered the Lifeforce director's gig, but it didn't work out. And Billy Idol said he had been offered a lead role as a vampire by Hooper, who had directed the video for "Dancing with Myself", but turned it down due to touring commitments. It has been suggested that this is a remake of Hammer Film Productions' Quatermass and the Pit. In an interview, director Tobe Hooper discussed how Cannon Films gave him $25 million, free rein, and Colin Wilson's book The Space Vampires. Hooper then shares how giddy he was: "I thought I'd go back to my roots and make a 70mm Hammer film." Hooper came up with the idea of using Halley's Comet in the screenplay, rather than the asteroid belt as originally used in the novel, as the comet was going to pass by Earth one year following the film's release. Colin Wilson, the author of the source material, was unhappy with the way the film turned out. He wrote of it, "John Fowles had once told me that the film of The Magus was the worst movie ever made. After seeing Lifeforce I sent him a postcard telling him that I had got one better." According to interviews with Bill Malin, who plays one of the male vampires, the film went over schedule during production. Because of this, some important scenes were never shot, and the film was shut down at one time because the studio had simply run out of money. The film marked the fourth project to feature special effects produced by Academy Award winner John Dykstra. Dykstra who has worked on 38 films including: Star Wars, Star Trek the Motion Picture, Batman Forever and Batman and Robin, Spider-Man 1 and 2, and the last three Tarantino films. His last IMDB credit is a fan man Spiderman film that is getting some heat because of racist slurs used by some of the cast whilst promoting the film. The umbrella-like alien spaceship was modelled after an artichoke, while the miniature London destroyed in the film was actually the remains of Tucktonia, a model village near Christchurch, United Kingdom, that had closed not long before the shooting of the film. The initial Director's cut was 128 minutes long. This is 12 minutes longer than the final version, which had several scenes cut, most of them taking place on the Space Shuttle Churchill. According to an interview he gave on the UK talk show Wogan in 1985, most of Nicholas Ball's performance ended up on the cutting room floor Mathilda May had to learn her lines phonetically, for her audition as Space Girl, because she didn't know any English at the time. She then went on to learn the language during the six months she spent in England on this movie. Patrick Stewart has said several times that Tobe Hooper was his favourite director to work with (which is rather unkind to Jonathan Frakes I thought). 

Music and SFX provided by https://slip.stream and Audio jungle

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"Dracula the Damned" is a 1960 British supernatural horror film produced by Hammer Film Productions starring ‘Big’ Christopher Lee… 

Scratch that…

Rather, the original sequel to the first Hammer Dracula film was cancelled without explanation, although Christopher Lee's decision not to return due to fear of typecasting probably led to The Brides of Dracula taking its place.

 #BigChrisLee did return five years later, however, when he starred in Dracula, Prince of Darkness.

The Brides of Dracula is a 1960 British supernatural horror film produced by Hammer Film Productions. Directed by Terence Fisher, the film stars Peter Cushing, David Peel (who wore lifts in his shoes to make him the same height as actor Peter Cushing in the film. Peel, according to his bio at the time, was 5 foot 10. Cushing was six feet tall. To make his vampire look distinguishable from Christopher Lee's, Peel wore a full blonde hairpiece), Yvonne Monlaur, Andrée Melly, Miles Malleson (the hearse driver in the Ealing chiller compendium Dead of Night), Martita Hunt (known for her rich cluster of queens, dowagers, shrews, and evildoers—but it was her brilliant performance as the mad, reclusive Miss Havisham in the classic Great Expectations that earned her international recognition), and Freda Jackson (also an alumna of Great Expectations). Although, the character of Count Dracula does not appear in the film, and is instead mentioned only twice.

After the success of Dracula, Hammer commissioned Jimmy Sangster to write a sequel titled Disciple of Dracula, about an acolyte of the vampire, with Count Dracula himself only making a cameo appearance. Sangster's script was rewritten by Peter Bryan to remove references to Dracula, while adding the character of Van Helsing. The screenplay was then further revised by Edward Percy. Filming began on January 16, 1960, at Bray Studios, and the film premiered at the Odeon Marble Arch on July 6. It was distributed theatrically on a double bill with The Leech Woman.

The ending was originally planned to have the vampires destroyed by a swarm of bats, but this proved too expensive to stage and shoot, and was also vetoed by Peter Cushing, who did not think his character would perform the black magic required to summon the bats. However, the idea was recycled three years later for the climax of Hammer's The Kiss of the Vampire. The prop department put a lot of effort into making a realistic model bat, but it was lost and had to be replaced on short notice. This explains the unconvincing model bat in the movie.

The front doors of Oakely Court served as the main entrance to Meinster Castle. Oakley Court has been featured in a number of classic horror films, including The Curse of Frankenstein, The Horror of Dracula, The Evil of Frankenstein, Die, Monster, Die, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

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The Stalls of Barchester was first broadcast on BBC 1 at 11:00 pm on December 24, 1971. It is based on the story "The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral" from the 1911 collection More Ghost Stories by M. R. James, it was adapted, produced, and directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark, who directed every BBC Ghost Stories for Christmas between 1971 and 1977. Can you name them all, Jon?

1. The Stalls of Barchester (1971)
2. A Warning to the Curious (1972)
3. Lost Hearts (1973)
4. The Treasure of Abbot Thomas (1974)
5. The Ash Tree (1975)
6. The Signalman (1976)
7. Stigma (1977)

The cast of The Stalls of Barchester includes several actors now better known for their roles in situation comedies or lighter dramas:

Clive (Richard Bucket) Swift as Dr. Black (a character who does not appear in the original story). As we have mentioned before, he has had two appearances in Doctor Who of which he was not particularly pleased, so we will only mention them again. Of his appearance in the 2007 Doctor Who Christmas special, Swift declared, "It wasn't until we'd been filming for two weeks that I realized that Mr. Copper is an alien!" And having been asked about his appearance in Revelation of the Daleks (1985), he said, "It was the most bizarre entertainment I have ever been part of."

Will Leighton as the cathedral librarian. He also appeared in the previously discussed film, An American Werewolf in London, as one of the Tramps that get killed by David.

Robert Hardy as Dr. Haynes. Hardy's birth name was Timothy Sidney Robert Hardy, his nickname being 'Tim'. He has played British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in six separate films, and has also twice played Winston Churchill's World War II ally and friend, American President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Thelma Barlow as Letitia Haynes. Famous for her part of Mavis Riley in Coronation Street, her first episode was transmitted in 1971, but her character only appeared regularly from 1973, when she joined the staff of "The Kabin". She remained in the series for 26 years, appearing in nearly 2,000 episodes.

Harold Bennett as Archdeacon Pulteney. Not Pountney as Ross kept hearing. Best known as the lecherous, octogenarian 'Young Mr. Grace' in the long-running comedy series Are You Being Served?, Bennett had a career as an architect and only became an actor when he retired.

Erik Chitty as the priest. Seen in Doctor Who: The Deadly Assassin as Engin the Time Lord Coordinator of the Matrix

David Pugh as John and Ambrose Coghill as museum curator

The adaptation was filmed on location at Norwich Cathedral and the surrounding cathedral close. Unusual for a BBC television drama of the 1970s, both interior and exteriors in The Stalls of Barchester were originated on 16 mm film, as opposed to the standard studio videotape for interiors.

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The Treasure of Abbot Thomas is a supernatural drama produced by the BBC as part of the A Ghost Story for Christmas series. Once again, directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark, the screenplay was written by John Bowen (Writer of the Series’The Guardians’ In a declining England of the 1980s, the UK has broken up and England is ruled by a fascist military force), with an atmospheric musical score by Geoffrey Burgon (Who also created the music for the BBC Narnia series and Monty Python’s the Life of Brian). It is based on the 1904 short story "The Treasure of Abbot Thomas" by M.R. James, the drama was originally broadcast on December 23, 1974.

The drama starred Podcast Hero, Michael Bryant as Rev. Justin Somerton. As listeners will remember, Bryant was one of the stars of the classic BBC television play The Stone Tape (made only two years previous to his appearance in this film), in which he played the leader of a team of scientists who investigate ghost sightings in a brooding Gothic mansion.

The film also features:

Paul Lavers as Peter, Lord Dattering, who appeared in the Fourth Doctor adventure "The Androids of Tara."

Frank Mills as Mr. Tyson, known for being considered for the role of one of the security guards in the film "Lifeforce."

John Herrington as Abbot Thomas, who had small roles in the television versions of "Quatermass 2" and "Quatermass and the Pit," as well as two Doctor Who television stories: as Rhynmal in "The Daleks' Master Plan" and Jim Holden in "Colony in Space."

Sheila Dunn as Mrs. Tyson and Virginia Balfour as Lady Dattering also appear in the film.

Although James's original story was set in Germany, for budgetary reasons, the television version was relocated to England. Clark used the grounds of Wells Cathedral in Somerset for the entrance to the well where Abbot Thomas hid his treasure. Wells Cathedral Chapter House and its adjoining steps were also used in various scenes.

Regarding "The Treasure of Abbot Thomas," Clark recalls John Bowen's script "took some liberties with the story—which made it for the better, I think...It's really quite a funny story until it gets nasty, although the threat is always there. James has a mordant sense of humour, and it's good to translate that into cinematic terms when you can. I'd always wanted to do a medium scene, and John came up with a beauty."

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Nothing but the Night is a 1973 British horror film directed by Peter Sasdy and starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. It is based on the 1968 novel of the same name by John Blackburn.

A commercial failure, the film was the only production of Charlemagne Films, cofounded by Christopher Lee and Anthony Nelson Keys (producer of may Hammer films, this was his last listing on IMDB). #BigChrisLee and Charlemagne Films optioned two other books by John Blackburn, "Portrait of Barbara" and "Bury Him Darkly", which were envisioned as sequels to this movie, with Lee re-creating the role of Colonel Bingham, but it didn't work out. They also optioned some of Dennis Wheatley's books, but only "To the Devil a Daughter" was ultimately made by "Hammer."

Peter Sasdy Also directed Taste the Blood of Dracula, Countess Dracula, Hands of Ripper, The Stone Tape AND both series of Adrian Mole.

Screenwriter Brian Hayles Wrote six stories for "Doctor Who" and created the Celestial Toymaker (Recently brought back in the 60th anniversary episodes), the Ice Warriors, introduced in 1967, and the feudal planet Peladon (setting for 'The Curse of Peladon' and its sequel 'The Monster of Peladon').

Along with Lee and Cushing the film also features:

Diana Dors as Anna Harb

Dors (real name Diana Mary Fluck) came to public notice as a blonde bombshell, was promoted by her first husband, Dennis Hamilton, mostly in sex film-comedies and risqué modelling. After it was revealed that Hamilton had been defrauding her, she continued to play up to her established image, and she made tabloid headlines with revelations of the celebrity sex parties reportedly held at her house (with then boyfriend Bob Monkhouse). 

Georgia Brown as Joan Foster

Who's breakthrough role was Nancy in Oliver!, a role she created in the original 1960 London production. But is most memorable to your hosts as Helena Rozhenko, Worf's adoptive mother in Star Trek: The Next Generation ("New Ground" and "Family".

Keith Barron as Dr. Haynes

Famous for playing David Pearce in the ITV sitcom Duty Free also featured in the Doctor Who story Enlightenment, replacing Peter Sallis who was unavailable

Gwyneth (Cassandra Trotter) Strong as Mary Valley

Also appeared in the "Observation" segment about detective Samantha Smith made for the 1990 series of The Krypton Factor,

Fulton (Poridge) Mackay as Cameron 

John (Quatermas)Robinson as Lord Fawnlee

Morris Perry as Dr. Yeats

Michael (Dumbledoor) Gambon as Inspector Grant

Duncan Lamont as Dr. Knight

Shelagh (Aunt Beru ) Fraser as Mrs. Alison

Kathleen Byron as Dr. Rose

Andrew McCulloch as Malcolm

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28 Days Later is a 2002 British post-apocalyptic horror film, our first film from the 21st Century.

Ewan McGregor was the original choice to play the protagonist, ‘Jim’, but he and director Danny Boyle had a falling-out at the time over The Beach, in which McGregor was to play the lead but was replaced by Leonardo DiCaprio (McGregor and Boyle have since reconciled). After McGregor, the role was offered to Ryan Gosling, who passed, having a scheduling conflict, leading to the film being offered to the relatively unknown Cillian Murphy.

Danny Boyle films include: Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, A Life Less Ordinary, The Beach, Sunshine and 127 Hours. He was the artistic director for the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics, which he was offered a knighthood but declined. 

In 2011 he directed Frankenstein on stage for the National Theatre, with dual Holmes’s: Cumberbatch and Miller, (that James was lucky enough to see live).

Regular collaborator with Boyle, writer and director Alex Garland (who wrote this film) has a filmography that includes: Never Let Me Go, Dredd, Ex Machina, (for which he received an Oscar nomination), Annihilation and the fantastically bonkers ‘Men’.

Garland has said he took inspiration for 28 days later from George A. Romero's Living Dead film series and John Wyndham's 1951 novel The Day of the Triffids.

The crew filmed during early mornings and temporarily closed streets to capture recognisable and typically busy areas when they were deserted. For the scene in which Jim walks by the overturned double-decker bus, the crew placed the bus on its side and removed it when the shot was finished, all within 20 minutes. They had asked permission to place the bus outside Downing Street, but Westminster City Council refused. When they arrived at 4am and nobody from the council was present, they placed it there anyway.

One of the first mainstream films to be shot entirely digitally, it was a financial success., grossing more than $82.7 million worldwide on its modest budget of $8 million, it became one of the most profitable horror films of 2002.

Producer Andrew Macdonald had access to funding from the National Lottery, and pitched it to Universal Pictures, who declined to support it. Budget constraints proved to be an issue, with Christopher Eccleston having to take an emergency pay cut during filming. Macdonald announced to the crew that the production had run out of money, and filming ceased without a closing sequence being shot. After pitching several endings, the original, which featured Jim's death, tested badly with audiences, the studio granted more funding to film the ending scene that was eventually used. The crew organised for a real jet to fly overhead for them to film, as this was cheaper than approximately £70,000 for a computer-generated one.

Despite Boyle not considering it a zombie film, 28 Days Later is credited with reinvigorating the zombie genre and influencing a revival in the decade after its release, with its fast-running monsters and character-driven drama.

The film was followed by the 2007 sequel 28 Weeks Later and Boyle and Garland have been reportedly working on a 3rd part entitled “28 Years Later” (which may or may not be being released in 3 parts - depending on what rumours you read).

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We continue where we left off in episode 27 with our exploration of the 1976 British anthology series "Beasts," written by the legendary Nigel Kneale (who now has his own dedicated page on our website!), tonight we watch the first of two episodes "The Dummy." Directed by Don Leaver (not Cleaver), a veteran of many shows from our youth and boasts credits on two episodes of "Hammer House of Horror": "Witching Time" and "The Mark of Satan"  

Bernard Horsfal as Clyde Boydl: He appeared in classic TV series like the very first episode of "The Avengers" and a four "Doctor Who" serials: "The Mind Robber," "The War Games," "The Planet of the Daleks," and "The Deadly Assassin." 

Glyn Houston as Sidney Stewart: another "Doctor Who" alumnus, having featured in "The Hand of Fear" and "The Awakening." 

The fantastically named Thorley Walters as Sir Ramsey: bringing a wealth of genre experience to the table, playing the Burgermeister in "Vampire Circus, "Dr. Hertz in "Frankenstein Created Woman" and Inspector Frisch in "Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed,". Notably, 

Michael Sheard as the Sergeant, who gained fame for his portrayal of the tyrannical schoolteacher Mr. Bronson in Grange Hill during the mid-1980s. He also developed a niche for playing Adolf Hitler, appearing in four films: "Rogue Male," "The Dirty Dozen: Next Mission," "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," an uncredited role in "Hitler of the Andes." and in the TV series "The Tomorrow People." Sheard also made appearances in Doctor Who: "The Ark," "Mind of Evil," "Pyramid of Mars," "The Invisible Enemy," "Castrovalva," and "Remembrance of the Daleks. 

We also see Lillias Walker as Joan Eastgate - her obligatory Doctor Who appearance being "Terror of the Zygons", was married to Peter Vaughan, who starred in "Warning to the Curious." (episode 21) 

Patricia Haines as Sheila Boy - She also starred in "Virgin Witch" with first-time actor Vicky Michelle. Haines was married to Michael Caine with whom she had a daughter; sadly, this was her final screen role.  

And finally, of course, one of our most featured actors, Clive Swift (or as the Apple Podcasts AI transcript generator calls him, Kloof Swift). We've covered his career several times now, and I highly recommend Andrew Screens ‘Book of Beasts’ blog for a fantastic, exhaustive biography. 

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Welcome back to our “Beasts” Double Bill! Last time, we watched "The Dummy" from the infamous anthology series by General Witchfinders hero Nigel Kneale.

We now leave the smashed-up movie set of "The Dummy" with its snarling Y-fronts-wearing jilted actor and join Angie and Roger Truscott in their secluded Hampshire home for "During Barty's Party." This episode features the only actual 'beasts' as the main threat: in this case, large, super-evolved, intelligent rats.

Elizabeth Sellars plays Angie Truscott, known for "The Mummy's Shroud," and Anthony Bate plays Roger Truscott, heavily channeling Michael Bryant's Peter Brock character from "The Stone Tape." Bate was cast as Doctor Fendehman in "Image of the Fendahl" but dropped out, with Denis Lill taking the role.

Colin Bell plays Barty Wills, the local DJ hosting the titular "Barty's Party," his regular rock and roll radio show. Like the rest of the cast, Bell is only heard, not seen. He is seen, however, in "The Sea Devils" and "Invasion of the Dinosaurs," both Jon Pertwee stories.

Norman Mitchell plays the Police Sergeant. Supposedly, at 18, Mitchell walked from Sheffield to London to become an actor, leading to nearly 200 film appearances, 500 radio broadcasts, and an estimated 2,000 television appearances. He developed a niche of playing policemen, appearing as such in 12 episodes of "Worzel Gummidge," "Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell" (more on this very soon), "And Now the Screaming Starts!", "Oliver!" and the first Doctor Who Christmas episode, "The Feast of Steven."

John Rhys-Davies plays Peter Newell. Famous for his parts in Lord of the Rings and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Rhys-Daviesis a supporter of the British Conservative Party, Rhys-Davies was a radical leftist in the '60s, who tried to heckle a young Tory MP. But the parliamentarian "shot down the first two hecklers in such brilliant fashion that I decided I ought for once to shut up and listen". The MP was Margaret Thatcher. He is a supporter of Brexit. On 25 April 2019, he appeared as a panellist on the BBC's Question Time. His conduct on the programme towards politician Caroline Lucas was later described as "thuggish and sexist" by some viewers.

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We return to Hammer Productions with Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell, filmed at Elstree Studios in 1972. It marked the final chapter in the Hammer Frankenstein saga and director Terence Fisher's last film. 

The Film Features: 

Peter Cushing in his sixth and final portrayal of Baron Victor Frankenstein, a part he originated in 1957's The Curse of Frankenstein. Despite being 59 and apparently in poor health when he made this film, Cushing still insisted on performing a stunt requiring him to leap from a tabletop onto the hulking creature's back, spinning wildly in circles to subdue the monster gone amok with a sedative. 

Shane Briant as Dr. Simon Helder, best known for his four Hammer appearances, including this film and Demons of the Mind, Straight on Till Morning, and Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter (coming soon from General Witchfinders). He reprised the role of Simon Helder years later in the film Sherlock Holmes vs. Frankenstein. 

Madeline Smith as Sarah "Angel" Klauss. Also seen in Hammer's The Vampire Lovers, Taste the Blood of Dracula, Tam-Lin, and Theatre of Blood, she went on to become the first Bond girl of the Roger Moore era, Miss Caruso, in the post-opening titles sequence of Live and Let Die (infamous for the scene where Bond unzips her dress with a magnetic wristwatch). After taking a break from acting to raise her daughter, she is still working now at the age of 74, recently appearing in Mark Gatiss's The Amazing Mr. Blunden. 

And of course, the main event... the feature creature... we have Dave ("Dave Prowse IS Darth Vader") Prowse as the Creature / Herr Schneider. 

Actor, bodybuilder, and strongman Dave Prowse carved a unique path in film history. He's best known for portraying Darth Vader (voiced by American actor James Earl Jones) in the original Star Wars trilogy. However, his career stretched far beyond that iconic role. 

He was a familiar face in the UK as the Green Cross Man, promoting road safety for children. However, in a recurring snub to the beautiful West Country accent, the first two adverts in the series had Prowse's voice dubbed by another actor. Thankfully, he appeared using his own voice in the third advert. 

Dave won the British heavyweight weightlifting championship for three consecutive years (1962-1964). Leading him to compete for England in the 1962 Commonwealth Games. During his bodybuilding training, he befriended future action stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno. 

His role as the manservant in Stanley Kubrick's 1971 film, "A Clockwork Orange," caught the eye of Star Wars director George Lucas, which led him to the defining role of Darth Vader. Throughout his film and TV career, Prowse was often typecast with parts such as the circus strongman in Vampire Circus, a Minotaur in (Doctor Who Klaxon)'The Time Monster,' and an android named Coppin in The Tomorrow People.  

He supposedly came close to iconic roles, claiming to have nearly landed the part of Jaws in James Bond and being considered for Conan the Barbarian before those parts went to other actors. 

We are told that Prowse lobbied for the role of Superman in Richard Donner's 1978 film. In a television interview, he recounted his response to being told "we've found our Superman" with a simple "Thank you very much," only to then learn Christopher Reeve had been chosen and Prowse would be his trainer. 

Finally, it's worth noting that David Prowse made his second appearance as a Frankenstein laboratory creation in this film, his first being in The Horror of Frankenstein (uncredited cameo in 1967's Casino Royale aside). He holds the distinction of being the only actor to play a Hammer Frankenstein's monster more than once.

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Intro music from:

Arthemis - Survivor (Destiny's Child Cover)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjYCOtYjCY4

The Survivor is a 1981 supernatural horror Australian-British co-production directed by David Hemmings and starring Robert Powell, Jenny Agutter, and Joseph Cotten.

In Adelaide, Australia (not Eton in the UK as in the original novel written by James Herbert), airline pilot David Keller (played by Powell) survives the crash of his Boeing 747-200, unhurt despite all 300 passengers dying in the accident. With no memories of the accident, he starts to suffer strange supernatural visions.

Director David Hemmings is most famous for his acting roles, including Dildano in Barbarella, Marcus Daly in Dario Argento's Deep Red, and Thomas, the fashion photographer in the hugely successful avant-garde mystery film Blowup – a role turned down by Sean Connery because director Michelangelo Antonioni would not show him the full script but only a seven-page treatment stored in a cigarette packet. Hemmings would later feature in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen with Connery 37 years later.

Robert Powell, best known for his portrayal of a charismatic cult leader/son of a carpenter in the 1977 epic television drama series Jesus of Nazareth, also played secret agent Richard Hannay in The Thirty-Nine Steps, appeared in Ken Russell's Tommy as Captain Walker and, at the request of his friend and golf partner, comedian Jasper Carrott, co-starred in the BBC sitcom The Detectives (which ran for five series!). He also lent his voice to the 2002 rock opera The Hound of the Baskervilles by Clive Nolan and Oliver Wakeman, playing John Watson. Powell was considered for several roles in Lifeforce (featured in episode 39 of this podcast). A founder member of the Social Democratic Party in 1981, he campaigned alongside Barry Norman on behalf of the party's first leader, Roy Jenkins.

Jenny Agutter (OBE), who plays the role of Hobbs the clairvoyant (a male character in the novel), is best known for her ongoing role in the inexplicably popular Call the Midwife. She also starred in two adaptations of The Railway Children, the critically acclaimed film Walkabout, and, relevant to this podcast, An American Werewolf in London (listen to episode 26 for more info). 

The film also features Joseph Cotten, (best man at Orson Welles's wedding to Rita Hayworth) appeared in five films selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant. In addition to these classics, he appeared in many films and TV programs, including, pertinent to this podcast, one episode of Tales of the Unexpected. He later admitted, "I was in a lot of junk. I get nervous when I don't work." This was his final motion picture, suffering a stroke shortly after working on it.

James Herbert, author of the source novel, sent a note to David Hemmings offering his assistance. He never received a reply, and in 1988 dismissed this film and the later Deadly Eyes (the film adaptation of The Rats) as "They're terrible...absolute rubbish. I can only say - don't blame me." The Survivor was Herbert's third novel, published in 1976, coming after The Rats and The Fog.

The music for this film is by Brian May! …but not the one you're thinking of... This is the Australian Brian May, who has an impressive musical CV, including: The Blue Lagoon, Gallipoli, Mad Max, Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, Missing in Action 2 and Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare.

This was the first Australian movie to cost more than $1 million (Australian) to make. The location was shifted to OZ as a complex tax dodge, allowing English investors to completely write-off on the whole film.

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Inside No. 9 is a British black comedy anthology series that aired from February 5, 2014, to June 12, 2024. Written by Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith and produced by the BBC. The only recurring elements are a setting related to the number 9 and a hidden brass hare statue. The show blends comedy, horror, and plot twists.

The episode we watched, "The Devil of Christmas," is a Christmas special and the first episode of the third series, aired on December 27, 2016. Directed by Graeme Harper and written by Pemberton and Shearsmith, it took heavy inspiration from 1970s anthology programs such as Beasts (see episode 27 and 44 a and b), and Tales of the Unexpected (listen to episode 29 for more details), filmed at Studio D in the BBC Elstree Centre with rented 1970s costumes and props, the production used retrofitted 1970s cameras and lighting. This approach differed from the usual single-camera setup of the series. Producer Adam Tandy noted the blend of heritage and modern technology, while Shearsmith remarked "it looks shit, but it's brilliant".

Graeme Harper, the episode's director, is well-known for his work on Doctor Who, being the only person to direct both the original and revived series. Harper's direction was widely acclaimed, with Peter Davison praising him as the best director he worked with on Doctor Who.

The episode featured Rula Lenska, born Roza Maria Leopoldyna Lubienski, who has appeared in Special Branch, Minder, Boon, The Detectives, Footballers' Wives, To the Manor Born, One Foot in the Grave, Casualty, Space: 1999, Return of the Saint, Robin of Sherwood, Doctors, and EastEnders, where she played Frank Butcher's girlfriend, Krystle, in a 2002 Costa del Sol special. In the 1970s, she was shortlisted for the role of companion Jo Grant in Doctor Who and later appeared in Resurrection of the Daleks. She starred as Mrs. Peacock in series 2 of Cluedo and appeared with John Inman in the series Take a Letter, Mr. Jones.

In 2009, Lenska joined the cast of Coronation Street as Claudia Colby, an old friend of Audrey Roberts. She left in May 2011 to join the Calendar Girls tour. Lenska was married to actors Brian Deacon and Dennis Waterman, with both marriages ending in divorce. She appeared in commercials for Alberto VO5 in the US during the late 1970s, becoming a running joke on Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show. Her work with the London Gay Men's Chorus led to her participation in the UK version of Celebrity Big Brother in 2006, where she made headlines for a role-play task with George Galloway.

Since today's topic was a last-minute change to our schedule, we didn't have much time to research Steve and Reece thoroughly. I’m sorry we don’t have more to share about them, but they seem like really nice guys. Both, along with the other two members of the League of Gentlemen, consistently create content that we pretty much universally like, if not love. (Ross is speaking for himself here, but I think Jon and James would agree.)

This episode also features the voice of Sir Derek Jacobi, Professor Yana himself!!!!. Due to time constraints, our research for this episode was limited. We'll need to cover another project featuring Derek so we can properly explore the life and work of this wonderful actor. If you have any suggestions, please tweet us @GeneralWitch1.

In May 2024, it was announced that Pemberton and Shearsmith had adapted the series into a West End stage play, Inside No. 9 Stage/Fright. They will perform in the production, premiering in January 2025 at Wyndham's Theatre, London. (Ross and his wife have tickets to go in April!)

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"The House That Dripped Blood" is a 1971 British anthology horror film directed by Peter Duffell and distributed by Amicus Productions. The film is a collection of four short stories, each concerning a series of inhabitants of the eponymous building.

Denholm Elliott appears in the segment "Method for Murder," playing Charles Hillyer. He is joined by Joanna Dunham, who portrays Alice Hillyer, Charles' wife.

Peter Cushing stars in the segment "Waxworks," portraying Philip Grayson. Joss Ackland (known for "Lethal Weapon 2," "Watership Down," and "Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey," among over 100 other films) plays Neville Rogers, Grayson's friend. Wolfe Morris appears as the Waxworks Proprietor.

Christopher Lee appears in the segment "Sweets to the Sweet," playing John Reid. He is joined by Nyree Dawn Porter (star of "The Forsyte Saga," who turned down the lead female role in "The Avengers") as Ann Norton, the tutor hired to care for Reid's daughter.

Jon Pertwee features in the segment "The Cloak," portraying Paul Henderson. Ingrid Pitt plays Carla Lind, Henderson's co-star and love interest in the vampire film they're working on.

All of the stories were written by Robert Bloch, best known as the writer of "Psycho." Bloch wrote hundreds of short stories and over 30 novels and was a protégé of H. P. Lovecraft.

Amicus films are sometimes mistaken for the output of Hammer Films due to their similar visual style and use of some of the same actors. However, unlike the period gothic Hammer films, Amicus productions were usually set in the present day.

In the Second World War, Denholm Elliott (famous to this podcast for his titular role as the Signalman in the BBC "Ghost Story for Christmas," podcast episode 21) joined the Royal Air Force, training as a wireless operator/air gunner in 1942. His aircraft was hit by flak and subsequently ditched in the North Sea. Elliott and four of his crewmen survived, and he spent the rest of the war in Stalag Luft VIIIb, a prisoner-of-war camp.

Later, Pertwee was attached to the top-secret Naval Intelligence Division, working alongside future James Bond author (and of course Big Chris Lee’s cousin) Ian Fleming and reporting directly to Prime Minister Winston Churchill. In 1967, he was chosen by "Dad's Army" producer David Croft for the role of Captain Mainwaring, but Pertwee turned it down. In 1969, Pertwee asked his agent to apply for the role of Doctor Who and was surprised to find he was already on the shortlist. He was the second choice for the role; Ron Moody was the first but was unavailable.

Jon Pertwee later claimed that "The House That Dripped Blood" was meant to be a comedy-horror film and was initially filmed in that way. However, during the production, "the producer came in, took one look at what we are doing, and went raving mad," insisting it be a horror film and not a comedy. This change meant a shift in tone, but the material already filmed remained, resulting in the film dipping in quality and edits to remove comedy elements from Pertwee's sequences. He also admitted that he intentionally based his character on his co-star and friend Christopher Lee. In a scene where Jon's character talks about favourite roles, he says that he prefers Bela Lugosi's Dracula rather than "the chap who plays him nowadays."

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This time, we listened to and read Ringing the Changes by Robert Aickman.

Robert Fordyce Aickman was an English conservationist and writer. As a conservationist, he played a key role in preserving and restoring England's inland canal system. As a writer, he is best known for his supernatural fiction, which he described as "strange stories."

On his mother’s side, Aickman was the grandson of the prolific Victorian novelist Richard Marsh. Marsh is known for his occult thriller The Beetle, a book as popular in its time as Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Aickman is best known for his 48 "strange stories," published across eight volumes.

Podcast favorite Jeremy Dyson has adapted Aickman’s work in various forms. Listen to episode 8 for our most in-depth look at Jeremy’s work. A musical version of Aickman’s short story The Same Dog, co-written by Dyson and Joby Talbot, premiered in 2000 at the Barbican Concert Hall.

In 2000, Dyson, along with his League of Gentlemen collaborator Mark Gatiss, adapted Ringing the Changes into a BBC Radio Four play, airing exactly twenty years after the CBC adaptation. This adaptation was intended to start a tradition of 'An Aickman Story for Halloween,' but unfortunately, it did not continue. Dyson also directed a 2002 short film based on Aickman’s story The Cicerones, with Gatiss as the principal actor.

It is this Dyson/Gatiss adaptation that we listened to for this episode. (Thanks to ‘Mysterious Magpie’ for putting this up on YouTube so we could listen to it)

The cast includes George Baker as Gerald. Baker is known for his roles in The Dam Busters as Flight Lieutenant D. J. H. Maltby, Tiberius in I, Claudius, D.C.I. Wexford in The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, Decider Logrin in the Doctor Who story Full Circle, and appearances in two James Bond films.

Fiona Allen plays Phrynne. Allen is an actress and writer known for 24 Hour Party People, Smack the Pony, and Poirot. She has been married to Michael Parkinson since April 2001. This surprised Ross when writing this until he discovered it wasn’t ‘That’ Michael Parkinson (see episode 18 of this podcast for more about him). Instead, it’s the patronymic son of the chat show legend, whom she met while he was working as a location manager on Smack the Pony. Confused? I am!

Friend of the show Mark Gatiss appears as the Narrator and Mr. Pascoe, the landlord. 

Commandant Shortcroft is played by Michael Cochrane, known for his role in 280 episodes of The Archers, Arnold (Private Godfrey) Ridley in We’re Doomed! The Dad’s Army Story, and for playing three different characters in three different episodes of Heartbeat.

Barbara Shelley plays Mrs. Pascoe. Known to our podcast listeners for her portrayal of Barbara Judd in the Hammer version of Quatermass and the Pit (reviewed in episode 34), she also starred in The Village of the Damned (which we need to review soon), Dracula: Prince of Darkness (one of the Dracula films we still need to cover), Rasputin: The Mad Monk, The Gorgon, and the 1958 Hammer wannabe Blood of the Vampire, written by Jimmy Sangster. 

She also appeared in both Blake’s 7 and Doctor Who— as I'm sure James is dying to know, we can tell you she played Sorasta in Planet of Fire and was considered for the role of Tanha in Snakedance… but that’s enough Doctor Who for now…

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The Dæmons is the final story in the eighth season of Doctor Who, with Jon Pertwee playing the eponymous hero (see episode 48 covering The House That Dripped Blood for some fantastic Pertrivia). It aired over five weeks on BBC1 from 22 May to 19 June 1971.

In The Dæmons, the Master, played by Roger Delgado, awakens the ancient horned alien Azal, hoping to gain his immense power. Delgado, a close friend of Pertwee, worked extensively on stage, TV, film, and radio. His work included the BBC’s Quatermass II, Battle of the River Plate, Hammer's The Mummy's Shroud, and English dubbing for The Horror Express (see episode 7). He often played villains in British action-adventure series like Danger Man, The Saint, The Champions, and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). Tragically, Delgado died in a car accident in Turkey while filming a Franco-German mini-series. He was only 55 years old.

The Dæmons began as an audition scene for Jo Grant, played by Katy Manning, and was later reworked into episode four. Manning attended Miss Dixon and Miss Wolfe's School for Girls, becoming close friends with Liza Minnelli. She socialized with stars like James Mason, Dirk Bogarde, and had tea with Noël Coward at The Savoy. As a teenager, she modeled for Biba and dated Jimi Hendrix, Richard Eyre, David Troughton, Derek Fowlds, Stewart Bevan, and Peter Bardens, Rod Stewart’s keyboard player.

Manning had a close bond with Pertwee, who would pick her up daily for filming, either in his car or on his motorbike, where she would ride pillion. They even raced with Dick Emery and Sir Ralph Richardson to see who could reach the BBC studios first. After three years on Doctor Who, Manning left to pursue other acting work. Pertwee was saddened by her departure, citing her exit and Delgado’s death as two major reasons for leaving the show a year later.

Producer Barry Letts wanted to write a story about black magic to tap into the zeitgeist of the Age of Aquarius and frighten young viewers. However, script editor Terrance Dicks had concerns it might be seen as Satanist. The story was revised to focus on a scientific threat with occult themes. Originally, the Master was to worship the demon in a church, but to avoid offending religious viewers, the scenes were moved to a crypt, later referred to as a cavern (though the set remained crypt-like). Letts co-wrote the script with playwright Robert Sloman under the pseudonym Guy Leopold, as the BBC frowned on production staff writing for their own shows.

Much of the serial was filmed on location in Aldbourne, Wiltshire, with two weeks allocated for filming—more than double the usual time—leading to more outdoor scenes.

The cast included comedy actress Damaris Hayman, who starred as Miss Hawthorne. Hayman had an interest in the supernatural and served as an unofficial adviser on the production. Her friend, a practicing witch, praised the accuracy of the scripts. Future Sooty puppeteer Matthew Corbett had a brief role in the final episode as a hooded coven member who objects to Jo’s sacrifice. Corbett, whose great-uncle was Harry Ramsden of fish-and-chip fame, had to change his name when joining the actors' union Equity, as there was already a Peter Corbett registered.

Studio taping for The Dæmons was completed on 16 May 1971, just weeks before the final episode aired. This episode included footage of a model church being blown up, which was so realistic that it prompted viewer complaints. If the clip of the Brigadier's helicopter crashing into the heat shield looks familiar, it was borrowed from the James Bond film From Russia with Love.

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Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter is a 1974 British swashbuckling action horror film, written and directed by Brian Clemens in his directorial debut. Clemens was celebrated for his work as a screenwriter, particularly for his contributions to British television series. Prior to Captain Kronos, he wrote and produced Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde for Hammer. Other films he wrote that fall into and circle around our areas of interest include And Soon the Darkness (which he wrote with Dalek creator Terry Nation), See No Evil (the 1971 Mia Farrow film,), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, The Watcher in the Woods (one of Disney's forays into horror and one of Ross's all-time favorites), and one of the most bizarre sequels of all time—Highlander II: The Quickening. According to his son Samuel, Clemens' last words were, "I did quite a good job," spoken after watching an episode of The Avengers.

In Captain Kronos, the titular character is played by Horst Janson, famous in Germany for his role in Salto Mortale, where he portrayed a trapeze artist. He later became familiar to younger audiences as "Horst" in Sesamstrasse, the German adaptation of Sesame Street, which he hosted from 1980 to 1983. The Captain's voice was dubbed in this film due to Janson's strong German accent, with Julian Holloway taking on the task. Holloway, who featured in eight Carry On films before moving into voice-over work, has recently voiced Prime Minister Almec and Admiral Kilian in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. He also appeared in Doctor Who's last story of the classic era, Survival. In 1976, he had a brief relationship with Tessa Dahl, daughter of Patricia Neal and Roald Dahl, which produced one daughter, the author and former model Sophie Dahl, who was born the following year.

The supporting cast includes John Carson as Dr. Marcus, a physician who enlists Kronos's help to investigate strange deaths in his village. Carson, often noted for his voice that bears a striking resemblance to James Mason’s, was a Hammer regular with appearances in Taste the Blood of Dracula and The Plague of the Zombies.

Caroline Munro appears as Carla, a Romanian girl who becomes Kronos's feisty sidekick. Known for her glamorous looks, Munro rose to fame as the "Lamb's Navy Rum" poster girl, a role she held for ten years. She initially caught Hammer’s attention through her work on The Abominable Dr. Phibes, where she played Vincent Price's silent, deceased wife, and its sequel Dr. Phibes Rises Again (check out episode 10 for our review of the first of those two "classics"). As well as this film, she of course appeared in the subject of our very first podcast episode, Dracula A.D. 1972. Outside Hammer, Munro went on to play the slave girl Margiana in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, the princess in At the Earth's Core, and the deadly Bond girl Naomi in The Spy Who Loved Me, turning down the role of Ursa in Superman to accept it.

The film’s score was composed by Laurie Johnson, who, from the 1960s to the 1980s, composed over fifty themes and scores, including the theme used on This Is Your Life (entitled "Gala Performance"), The Avengers (from 1965), Animal Magic (entitled "Las Vegas"), Jason King, The New Avengers, and The Professionals.

Though Captain Kronos was shot in 1972, it was delayed and eventually released in 1974. The film was intended to kick off a series featuring Kronos and his companions, but no sequels were made—although there have been a number of follow up comic book adventures.

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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 podcast (though perhaps less happily for James), Lalla Ward as Lady Augusta.

Barbara Ewing had an impressive career on the small screen, appearing in shows like Peak Practice, Casualty, The Bill, an episode of Hammer House of Horror, and even the Pertwee-fronted game show Whodunnit?. She also appeared in Chiller, a British horror/fantasy anthology series from 1995 that Ross has somehow never seen but seems to pop up constantly on people’s CVs. are you two aware of this and should we be covering it?) Beyond acting, Ewing is also an accomplished novelist, with nine books to her name. Her novel A Dangerous Vine even made the long list for the Orange Prize.

Lalla Ward had a fascinating career trajectory. Her first film after leaving the Central School of Speech and Drama was Hammer’s Vampire Circus. She was close friends with Douglas Adams, who famously took her as his date to a screening of The Empire Strikes Back in the early 1980s. Adams also introduced her to her second husband, Richard Dawkins (for whom she would later provide illustrations for his controversial books), at his 40th birthday party—they were the only two who showed up on time! Of course, her first husband was Tom Baker, with whom she starred in Doctor Who as the second incarnation of the Time Lady Romana from 1979 to 1981.

There really should be a General Witchfinders drinking game where you take a sip every time we mention someone in this next bit: In 2019, a modern-day audio adaptation of The Ash Tree was released by Bafflegab Productions. Written by Matthew Holness, it starred Amanda Abbington, Reece Shearsmith, and John Sessions.

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The original run of A Ghost Story for Christmas aired on the BBC from 1971 to 1978, bringing classic ghost stories to television and keeping alive the tradition of sharing supernatural tales during the Christmas season. 

In our journey through the series, 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 alongside The Treasure of Abbot Thomas in Episodes 41a and 41b. 

Just five days ago, on Christmas Eve, we delved into The Ash Tree. If you missed it, you can find it in our podcast feed. And tonight, as we stand on the brink of the space year 2025, we’re excited to bring you Lost Hearts. 

Written by Robin Chapman, produced by Rosemary Hill, and directed by the series' creator Lawrence Gordon Clark, Lost Hearts is based on the 1895 ghost story of the same name by M.R. James. It first aired on BBC1 on December 25, 1973, marking the first installment in the series to be broadcast on Christmas Day itself—and one of only three to ever air on that date. 

Robin Chapman also wrote 30 episodes of Tales of the Unexpected. (Seek out episode 29, where good old Bernard Cribbins makes an appearance.) 

The film features Joseph O’Conor as Mr. Abney. O’Conor lent his voice to the narrator in (the best Muppet movie) The Dark Crystal, played Mr. Brownlow in Oliver! (cue James mentioning the exclamation point here), and portrayed the Coroner in The Gorgon—but more on that soon. 

Simon Gipps-Kent plays Stephen, the young protagonist. Tragically, Gipps-Kent passed away at just 28 years old. However, in his brief career, he appeared in several notable films and TV shows of interest to our listener. He played Paul in The Tomorrow People, had a brief role in Quadrophenia, portrayed Seth in the Doctor Who serial The Horns of Nimon, and starred in something called A Traveller in Time from 1978. which was filmed at Babington House, a farmhouse owned by the parents of Blue Peter presenter Simon Groom. 

In 2018, Severn Film Productions released a new adaptation of Lost Hearts, directed by Max Van De Banks. This version updated the story to the 1940s (and later 1953). After the death of Stephen’s parents, the young boy is evacuated to the countryside during World War II. Unusually, this production was filmed in two parts: the main elements were shot in 2005, while the beginning and ending scenes were filmed in 2016. Louis Newton, who played Stephen in 2005, returned to portray him as a young man recounting the events to his bride-to-be ten years later.

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It’s 17th February 1964 – You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ by The Righteous Brothers is at number one in the UK. Sir Alec Douglas-Home is Prime Minister, Beatlemania has erupted in the United States, Southampton has been granted city status (can you tell this script was running short?), and the Channel Tunnel Agreement was signed, with an estimated completion time of five years (though it would actually take 30). Meanwhile, at the cinema, released as a double feature with The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb, is today’s topic – The Gorgon.    

Anthony Nelson Keys, one of four filmmaking sons of comedian Nelson "Bunch" Keys, is well-known in this parish for a number of topics we’ve discussed before, including Quatermass and the Pit (Ep 34) and The Reptile (Ep 19). He joined Hammer in 1956 as an associate producer, later becoming a producer and occasional screenwriter. Keys also served as General Manager of Bray Studios in the 1960s and eventually co-founded Charlemagne Productions with Christopher Lee—or should that be production (singular)? As we know, they managed only one film together: Nothing but the Night (covered in Episode 42).     

Richard Pasco plays Paul Heitz. Late in his career, he starred as Tom Colley in The Watcher in the Woods, a favorite film from Ross’s youth that we must cover one day. Before that, he played Cardinal Richelieu in the 1966 TV adaptation of The Three Musketeers and Dr. Boris Zargo in Rasputin: The Mad Monk.    

#BigChrisLee appears as Professor Karl Meister, while his best buddy Peter Cushing plays Dr. Namaroff. Despite popular belief that they always worked together, the pair hadn’t shared the screen in four years before this production began.    

Barbara Shelley stars as Carla Hoffman. Born Barbara Teresa Kowin in 1932, Shelley appeared in over 100 films and TV series. She’s celebrated for her roles in horror classics like Village of the Damned, Dracula: Prince of Darkness, Rasputin: The Mad Monk, and Quatermass and the Pit.    

For the role of the monster, former ballerina Prudence Hyman was cast, as the creature was intended to float gracefully, almost like a wraith. (Spoiler alert!) Shelley had hoped to play her character’s Gorgon form herself for continuity and even suggested using a special wig with live green garden snakes for realism. Unfortunately, the idea was rejected due to budget and time constraints. After seeing the disappointing Gorgon effects in the final cut, Keys admitted to Shelley that her suggestion might have been the better choice. As #BigChrisLee quipped, “The only thing wrong with The Gorgon is the Gorgon!”    

Visually, this film is stunning, so let’s give a shoutout to Michael Reed’s cinematography and Bernard Robinson’s production design. Michael Reed’s CV includes Dracula: Prince of Darkness, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and five episodes of CITVs Press Gang. Meanwhile, Bernard Robinson designed some of Hammer’s greatest productions, spanning from the very first to the last of their classic horror films.    

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Bear with us this month, listeners, as we take a left turn down Duckett's Passage to talk about something a little different from our usual classic British horror.

Nicholas Simon Lyndhurst, born April 1961, is an English actor who began his career as a child actor and is best known for his role as Rodney Trotter in the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses, which ran from 1981 to 2003.

PART ONE:

Tonight's first topic covers his role as the time-travelling bigamist Gary Sparrow in the British sitcom Goodnight Sweetheart. Created by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran and produced by the BBC, Goodnight Sweetheart ran from 1993 to 1999, broadcasting a total of six series.

The sitcom follows Gary Sparrow, an accidental time traveller living a double life through a time portal that connects 1990s London with 1940s wartime London. While the show's creators, who also made Birds of a Feather and The New Statesman, wrote most of the episodes, we chose to watch series six, episode one ("Mine's a Double") and episode five ("The 'Ouses in Between") because they had at least a tenuous link to our podcast's premise. These episodes were written by Gary Lawson and John Phelps (as a writing team) and Geoff Rowley, respectively.

‘Sweetheart featured Victor McGuire as Ron Wheatcroft, Gary's best friend in every episode of the show. McGuire is best known for playing Jack Boswell in Carla Lane's Bread. Related to our areas of interest, he appeared in an episode of Chernobyl, was a bar patron in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, played Police Officer No. 1 in 2005's Hellraiser: Hellworld, and portrayed Gerald Hardy in the 2012 Daniel Radcliffe version of The Woman in Black.

Dervla Kirwan played Gary's wartime love interest and later wife, Phoebe, in the first three series before being replaced by Elizabeth Carling. Carling was briefly engaged to Neil Morrissey, whom she met while both were in the oft-mentioned Boon; she also appeared alongside him in an episode of the BBC sitcom Men Behaving Badly. After ‘Sweetheart, she released an album of wartime covers, also titled Goodnight Sweetheart.

Similarly, the role of Gary's modern-day wife, Yvonne, was initially played by Michelle Holmes, who rose to prominence as Sue, one of the babysitters in Rita, Sue and Bob Too. After three seasons, she was replaced by Emma Amos, who appeared in Vera Drake, Bridget Jones's Diary, and an episode of Murder Most Horrid with Dawn French (cue Jon singing the theme tune). We've mentioned "Rear of the Year" a few times on this show, so it's worth noting that Amos was (according to Wikipedia — although Ross can't verify this) voted as having "TV's Best Legs" by readers of The Economist.

PART TWO:

We also listened to Channel Crossing by Rosemary Timperley. This was an episode of Haunted: Stories of the Supernatural, which ran for several years on the BBC World Service in the early 1980s and has since had a second life on Radio 4 Extra (thanks to Mysterious Magpie on YouTube for sharing some of these stories so we count listen to review it today).

Rosemary Timperley was an author of over sixty novels and hundreds of short stories and feature articles, best known for her classic ghost stories The Mistress in Black and Christmas Meeting. Although primarily a mainstream writer, Timperley wrote numerous short stories that explored different aspects of the supernatural. She was well known for editing five volumes in a series of ghost story anthologies. Timperley also wrote several acclaimed radio and television scripts, and her short story Harry has been adapted to film multiple times.

This episode featured Nicholas Lyndhurst as Jack, Peter Sallis as Edward, Patsy Rowlands as Frances, Gregory de Polnay as Gregory, and Sonia Fraser as Annabelle.

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Join us for Hammer’s Hands of the Ripper, a 1971 British horror film released as the second half of a double feature with Twins of Evil. Directed by Peter Sasdy, produced by Aida Young, and written by L.W. Davidson from a story by Edward Spencer Shew.

Making good use of the large Baker Street set at Pinewood Studios—left over from The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes—the production was denied permission to film its final scenes at St. Paul's Cathedral, so a replica was constructed instead. If the Pritchards' home and staircase look familiar, it’s because Hammer’s ever-resourceful set designers reused elements from The Curse of Frankenstein years earlier (see episode 2 of our podcast for more on that classic).

Director Peter Sasdy, who cited Hands of the Ripper as his favourite film, also directed the original Adrian Mole TV series (both The Secret Diary and The Growing Pains), three episodes of Hammer House of Horror, and two other Hammer features: Countess Dracula and Taste the Blood of Dracula (the latter coming to the podcast later this year, hopefully). Most monumentally, he directed the legendary BBC sci-fi thriller The Stone Tape (definitely check General Witchfinders number 5—our third most popular episode to date!).

Eric Porter stars as Doctor Pritchard. Renowned for his work in film, television, and theatre, he famously played Professor Moriarty opposite Jeremy Brett’s Sherlock Holmes and Soames Forsyte in The Forsyte Saga.

Angharad Rees plays Anna, the daughter of the Ripper. She appeared in Boon (take a drink), starred as Demelza in 28 episodes of Poldark, and, the year after Hands of the Ripper, featured in Under Milk Wood alongside Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole, and Elizabeth Taylor. She was made a Fellow of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, had a pub named after her in Pontypridd (sadly now a card shop), and founded a Knightsbridge jewellery company, Angharad. Pieces she designed were featured in Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Wikipedia also notes she was once in a relationship with Alan Bates, which we mention only to plug episode 35, where we talked about The Shout.

Lynda "Nurse Gladys Emmanuel" Baron appears as Long Liz—a curious name choice considering Long Liz was an actual canonical Ripper victim. Here, she’s depicted alive and well (at least initially), years after Saucy Jack's supposed demise.

Baron appeared as a recurring character in both Coronation Street and EastEnders, and played three different characters in Doctor Who across three Doctors.

Dora Bryan turns up as Mrs Golding, one of two clairvoyants in the film. You may know her from 50 episodes of Last of the Summer Wine, Boon (drink), or as Helen in A Taste of Honey (written by Jon's mum's mate Shelagh Delaney). She (Dora, not Shelagh) also appeared in both a Carry On and a St Trinian's.

Lastly, Norman Bird pops up as the Police Inspector. If he looks familiar, it's because he had over 200 TV and 60 film roles. He was in Spywatch (as Mr Jenkins), Boon (drink), Woof!, Whack-O!, and Help! (with Stephen Mangan). He also did a stint in Jim Davidson’s Up the Elephant and Round the Castle—only mentioned because Ross was convinced it was alongside Marina Sirtis, but IMDb says she was in just one episode?

Anyway, back to Norman Bird. He appeared in The Adventure Game, Whistle Down the Wind, Steptoe and Son, Fawlty Towers, Please Sir!, and The Medusa Touch (on our long list since day one). He was Mr Braithwaite, the farmer, in Worzel Gummidge and voiced Bilbo in the 1978 Ralph Bakshi Lord of the Rings.

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