Crooked House – Three Ghost Stories for Christmas

[DB7]

Gatiss pens cursed house drama for BBC



Published Friday 3 October 2008 at 13:05 by Matthew Hemley



Exclusive: League of Gentlemen actor Mark Gatiss has scripted a drama for the BBC about a house that is cursed because it is made from the wood of old gallows.



Details of the plot for Gatiss’ latest drama have not yet been revealed, but it is understood it will focus on the people who live in the house over the years and the effect the curse has on them.

[Gypsy]

Mark Gatiss is a multi-talented god. Can't cope with his books as sadly I'm not into gay fiction. Would have his babies if only....

[jaycad]

sounds good-will look forward to that over christmas!

[Dr Amicus]

name='Gypsy']Mark Gatiss is a multi-talented god. Can't cope with his books as sadly I'm not into gay fiction. Would have his babies if only....

You're missing out on the wonderful Lucifer Box novels because of a bit of sex and some camp jokes? The Vesuvius Club and The Devil In Amber are both superb send ups of Boy's Own adventures (oo-er missus) and come highly recommended.



His Doctor Who books are a lot of fun too...

[Sleepin_Dragon]

Sounds good, he is a very talented guy :-)

[jaycad]

name='DB7']Gatiss pens cursed house drama for BBC



Published Friday 3 October 2008 at 13:05 by Matthew Hemley



Exclusive: League of Gentlemen actor Mark Gatiss has scripted a drama for the BBC about a house that is cursed because it is made from the wood of old gallows.



Details of the plot for Gatiss’ latest drama have not yet been revealed, but it is understood it will focus on the people who live in the house over the years and the effect the curse has on them.

more info on the plot for this is on a press release on bbc drama website

[DB7]

Derren Brown turns his sleight hand to acting



* Published: 08 October 2008 09:33

* Author: Robin Parker



Illusionist Derren Brown is to make his acting debut in BBC4's Christmas ghost story Crooked House.



Brown will play the mysterious Sir Roger Widdowson in the drama, which will jump between the 1920s and the present day to tell the story of a cursed Tudor manor.



The cast also includes Green Wing's Julian Rhind-Tutt, Philip Jackson, Lee Ingleby, Jean Marsh and the drama's writer Mark Gatiss, who will play a museum curator with an in-depth knowledge of the manor.



Crooked House follows a school teacher who finds an old door knocker in the garden of his new home, which belongs to a demolished house that was rumoured to be haunted.



The curator then tells him stories about his home's history, including a 1920s engagement party that is interrupted by the spectre of a ghostly bride.



BBC4 controller Janice Hadlow has ordered the drama from Tiger Aspect.



It will be produced by Paul Frift, executive produced by Richard Fell and directed by Damon Thomas. Jamie Laurenson is commissioning editor for BBC4.



"There's nothing quite like the thrill of a spooky yarn to warm up a chilly winter evening and BBC4 is the natural home for Mark's clever and witty story," said Hadlow.



Gatiss added: "Ever since I was a child and thrilled to the BBC's classic MR James adaptations, I've dreamt of sending a festive shiver down the nation's spine.



"I'm delighted to finally have the opportunity. A fantastic cast and crew have worked incredibly hard to fulfil this long held dream."



Laurenson said the drama "plays on the strange compulsion to watch or listen to stories that scare us."

[Aenima]

Janice Hadlow, Controller, BBC Four, has commissioned Tiger Aspect Productions to produce Crooked House, a haunting tale of three sumptuous ghost stories woven together for a spooky Christmas treat.



bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/10_october/07/crooked.shtml

[mrs_emma_peel]

Crooked House – Three Ghost Stories for Christmas

There's a ghostly Christmas in store for viewers this festive season in the form of Crooked House – a trilogy of haunting tales written by, and starring, Mark Gatiss.



Just watched the BBC4 trailer and it looked excellent – ingenious and terrifyingly ghostly …



Crooked House - The Wainscoting - Episode 1/3

BBC4 Monday 22nd December 2008 10.30-11.00pm



The first of these spine-chilling tales opens in the present day. Ben, a school teacher, has recently moved into a new house and found a door-knocker in his garden. The local museum curator identifies it as having once belonged to Geap Manor, a now-demolished Tudor mansion with a ghostly reputation. Intrigued, Ben asks if there are any "juicy stories" to be told, and the curator obliges. He begins to recount stories of the manor's curious past...



It's 1786, and Joseph Bloxham Esq is a self-made man and something of a star in fashionable coffee-house society. But Bloxham has used his ill-gotten gains to buy Geap Manor, paying no heed to the warnings of Noakes and his friend, Duncalfe. When Bloxham starts to hear ghastly sounds in the newly installed panelling of his drawing room, it seems that he might have more than just a mouse hiding in his wainscoting...



Ben is played by Lee Ingleby, the curator by Mark Gatiss, Joseph Bloxham by Philip Jackson, Noakes by Julian Rhind-Tutt and Duncalfe by Andy Nyman.



Crooked House – Something Old - Episode 2/3

BBC4 Tuesday 23rd December 2008 10.30-11.00pm



The curator tells Ben about an incident at Geap Manor in the Twenties, as Crooked House, written by and starring Mark Gatiss, continues.



Lady Constance de Momery presides over a lavish, glittering costume ball, which she is hosting for her grandson. Bright young things throng the old manor house, but all is not quite as it seems. When young heir to the estate Felix de Momery announces his engagement to his sweetheart, Ruth, his grandmother seems uneasy about the match. Is her disapproval really a case of snobbery, as Ruth believes, or does the old lady have a more chilling reason to fear the prospect of a wedding at Geap Manor?



The curator is played by Mark Gatiss, Ben by Lee Ingleby, Lady Constance de Momery by Jean Marsh, Felix de Momery by Ian Hallard and Ruth by Jennifer Higham. This episode also features Samuel Barnett as Billy and Anna Madeley as Katherine.



Crooked House – The Knocker - Episode 3/3

BBC4 Wednesday 24th December 2008 10.30-11.00pm



Mark Gatiss's three-part ghost story for Christmas reaches its dramatic conclusion with The Knocker. Back in the present day, commitment-shy Ben begins to discover that, though demolished, Geap Manor still casts a shadow.



Having recently left his girlfriend, Hannah, for a life of freedom over cosy domesticity, Ben is captivated by the curator's stories and screws the ancient door-knocker to his new front door. But he soon finds himself getting more excitement than he bargained for as the past intrudes with a loud knock at the door and draws him back into Geap Manor's bloody past...



Ben is played by Lee Ingleby, Hannah by Daniela Denby-Ashe and the curator by Mark Gatiss. Derren Brown (magician and psychological illusionist) also makes a guest appearance in his debut dramatic role as Sir Roger Widdowson.



Crooked House Special

BBC4 Saturday 27th December 9.00-10.30pm



This Crooked House Special weaves together Mark Gatiss's spooky three-part tale into a single intriguing ghost story for Christmas.



When school teacher Ben unearths an old door-knocker in the garden of his new home, the curator suggests it may come from the now-demolished manor house – a house reputed to be haunted...



Intrigued, Ben prompts the curator to tell him some of the stories about the house, and so begins a journey through time.



As the drama begins, corrupt Georgian businessman Joseph Bloxham finds something unexpected in the woodwork of his new home.



Back in the Twenties, the happy engagement party of young couple Felix de Momery and Ruth is spoiled by the spectre of a ghostly bride.



And, back in the present day, Ben soon finds himself in darker, more dangerous waters than he could possibly have foreseen...



Ben is played by Lee Ingleby, the curator by Mark Gatiss, Joseph Bloxham by Philip Jackson, Felix de Momery by Ian Hallard and Ruth by Jennifer Higham. Crooked House Special also stars Julian Rhind-Tutt as Noakes, Andy Nyman as Duncalfe, Jean Marsh as Lady Constance de Momery, Samuel Barnett as Billy, Anna Madeley as Katherine, Daniela Denby-Ashe as Hannah and Derren Brown as Sir Roger Widdowson.

[jaycad]

good to see 'the crooked house special'-it'll save me the trouble of having to edit the three separate episodes!

[Flossie 1]

It looks really good, thanks for that Mrs Peel, I look forward to watching it.

[Dandelion]

I shall look forward to watching these episodes. Thanks for the advanced notice.

[Caine]

Cheers Mrs Peel, I don't know what I'd do without you!



I'm looking forward to it.



Caine

[Chevyman]

Looks excellent and the cast list looks superb. I'll be looking forward to seeing Jean Marsh



Thank you

[faginsgirl]

Bumped reminder!



I`m looking forward to this



xx

[mrs_emma_peel]

In the early hour BBC4 repeats: 1.00-1.30am/1.00-1.30am/1.05-1.35am:

each episode of Crooked House is followed by three more classic ghost stories

A View from a Hill by MR James, The Signalman by Charles Dickens and Number 13 by MR James.



A View from a Hill – MR James

BBC4 Monday/Tuesday 22nd/23rd December 2008 1.30 – 2.10am



Adaptation of the classic ghost story by MR James in which Fanshawe visits his friend Squire and has an unsettling experience after borrowing some binoculars and venturing up Gallows Hill.

The classic MR James story, A View From a Hill, written in 1925, is steeped in Edwardian atmosphere ... Peter Harness's adaptation stars Mark Letheren as Fanshawe, on a visit to his friend Squire Richards (Pip Torrens); David Burke provides support as his faithful butler, Patten.



How different Fanshawe's holiday might have been had his trusty binoculars not broken. The Squire's archaic pair prove strangely bewitching, but is everything they see to be believed? And why does their very mention fill the elderly butler with dread? He looks like he's seen a ghost, or worse.



Perhaps Fanshawe should have consulted the old man before venturing up Gallows Hill. Some stones are better left unturned, and questions of the dead should remain the secrets of the past, because sometimes the dead answer back ...



The Signalman - Charles Dickens

BBC4 Tuesday/Wednesday 23rd/24th December 2008 1.30 – 2.10am



Denholm Elliott. Charles Dickens's ghost story in which a lonely signalman is haunted by a hooded figure who seems to warn of danger.



The Signalman is the first evidence of Andrew Davies' gift as an adaptor of literary fiction, as he transforms a Victorian page turner into the finest 40 minutes of supernatural drama television has ever produced. His script constantly refers back to the original story, tightening the screw by adding dream sequences, pindrop conversations and tantalising hints of the terribly inevitable climax.



Director Lawrence Gordon Clarke cast Denholm Elliott in the lead. "Denholm was so wonderful in that role, like a tightly coiled spring. There was such tension in the character: he was always only a step away from insanity."

The railway itself becomes a character in the story, Dickens somehow managing to spot that beyond the shock of the new, there was already something eerily antiquarian about this strange new mode of transport that was roaming through lonely corners of the countryside. And despite an extremely arduous shoot, Davies and Clarke's fog-wreathed, flame crackling masterpiece manages something the production team could never have imagined: it's better than the book.



Number 13 – MR James

BBC4 Wednesday/Thursday 24th/25th December 2008 1.35 – 2.15am



Dramatisation based on an M R James short story and in the tradition of the BBC's ghost stories for Christmas. Oxbridge academic, Anderson settles into The Golden Lion Hotel in a small cathedral city to research its ecclesiastical history, when the subject of his research begins to disturb his slumber.

Starring: Greg Wise, Paul Freeman, David Burke, Tom Burke, Charlotte Comer, Anton Saunders.

[thirdlady]

I watched the first one tonight it looks good!



I've met derren brown twice! he's a nice guy to talk too! that's my opinion of derren as I'm a fan of his tv shows and I send him postcards when I'm out of the country!



this is me with derren in glasgow as he signs my copy of his book

[faginsgirl]

Hi.



I have always been a fan of Derren!



Its good to put a face to your name too thirdlady!



xx

[faginsgirl]

I guess Derren will be playing the synic about the ghosts in `the crooked house` as thats what he is in real life!



xx

[nandywell]

Having not made the switch over to digital yet, I can't get BBC4. Is anyone going to record The Crooked House and if so, would you be willing to trade it in the new year?