A Ghost Story for Christmas — Season 1
Classic adaptations from the BBC
About this season
A strand of annual British short television adaptations of classic ghost stories, referencing the oral tradition of telling supernatural tales at Christmas. First broadcast on BBC One from 1971 to 1978, and revived in 2005 on BBC Four.
Episodes (19)
1. The Stalls of Barchester
Aired 24 December 1971 • 45 min
An ambitious cleric murders an aged Archdeacon at Barchester Cathedral. However, he is soon being stalked by a sinister black cat and by a hooded figure both of whom seem to be embodiments of carvings on the cathedral's choir stalls.
2. A Warning to the Curious
Aired 24 December 1972 • 50 min
An amateur archaeologist travels to a remote seaside town in Norfolk to search for the lost crown of Anglia, but after unearthing it is haunted by a mysterious black figure.
3. Lost Hearts
Aired 25 December 1973 • 35 min
An orphan moves into the house of his uncle, but is disturbed by visions of a pair of ghostly children. Is their message a warning to be fearful of his uncle's obsession with immortality?
4. Treasure of Abbot Thomas
Aired 23 December 1974 • 37 min
A respected theologian and his protégé unearth clues to find the hidden treasure of a disgraced monk in an abbey library. Should he have heeded his own advice not to go treasure hunting?
5. The Ash-tree
Aired 23 December 1975 • 32 min
An aristocrat inherits his family estate and is haunted by visions of his ancestor's role in a witchcraft trial.
6. The Signalman
Aired 22 December 1976 • 38 min
A railway signalman tells a curious traveller how he is being troubled by a ghostly spectre that seems to predict calamity.
7. Stigma
Aired 28 December 1977 • 32 min
Whilst clearing the ground for a new lawn, a family find a huge flat rock in their garden. It is so heavy it needs a crane to remove it. In doing so, they release a spirit which has terrible consequences for the family.
8. The Ice House
Aired 25 December 1978 • 34 min
The story concerns a health spa visited by Paul (John Stride) , strange incidents occur with members of staff whom Paul notices are all icy cold to the touch. The Brother and sister owners seem otherworldly , as do the residents, and they have a strange relationship with two vines.......
9. A View From a Hill
Aired 23 December 2005 • 39 min
A historian has a disturbing experience after borrowing a pair of binoculars belonging to a missing outcast and venturing up a notorious landmark.
10. Number 13
Aired 22 December 2006 • 40 min
An academic researcher repudiates local superstitions surrounding a devilish house. However, repeated visions and noises during the night suggest he may be proved wrong.
11. Whistle and I'll Come to You
Aired 24 December 2010 • 52 min
Leaving his ill and ageing wife in a care home, a retired astronomer revisits one of their old coastal haunts, but after discovering a ring on the beach is soon haunted himself.
12. The Tractate Middoth
Aired 25 December 2013 • 35 min
A young librarian receives a request for an obscure Hebrew book from a sinister gentleman, unaware of its contents.
13. The Dead Room
Aired 24 December 2018 • 28 min
Aubrey Judd, veteran radio presenter of The Dead Room, soon realises that elements of his own past are not as dead and buried as he perhaps hoped.
14. Martin's Close
Aired 24 December 2019 • 31 min
Adaptation of a ghost story by MR James. 1684. John Martin is on trial for his life. Facing him, the infamous 'hanging judge' George Jeffreys. However, this is not a cut-and-dried murder case.
15. The Mezzotint
Aired 24 December 2021 • 29 min
1923. In the heart of an old English college, Edward Williams receives an engraving of of an unknown country house with an imposing facade, a sweeping lawn - and, just perhaps, something else.
16. Count Magnus
Aired 24 December 2022 • 30 min
The inquisitive Mr Wraxhall discovers that a long-dead Swedish nobleman does not lie easy in his tomb.
17. Lot No. 249
Aired 24 December 2023 • 29 min
An Oxford University student becomes obsessed with an ancient Egyptian mummy.
18. Woman of Stone
Aired 24 December 2024 • 30 min
Newlywed couple Jack and Laura move to a village where a legend says marble knight effigies in the church come alive on Christmas Eve. Jack dismisses it as folklore, but on Christmas Eve, he feels drawn to the church, leaving Laura alone.
19. The Room in the Tower
Aired 24 December 2025 • 30 min
For 15 years, Roger Winstanley has been haunted by an unsettling, recurring dream: an invitation to spend the night in the house of an acquaintance, where an unseen terror lurks and the figures who populate the dream seem to age in real time. Nightmare and waking life seem to finally collide when an invitation to the dreaded "room in the tower” becomes all too real…