Have You Been Watching...? BEASTS: Baby (1976)

 

“Baby” is either the first or the fourth episode of a short lived anthology series called Beasts, from the pen of Quatermass scribe Nigel Kneale. Why the confusion? Several online sites list “Baby” as episode 4, but the official DVD lists it as episode 1. Fortunately, as with other anthologies, there’s no running theme, so it doesn’t matter which order you watch them in. According to the information booklet in the DVD set, Baby is officially designated episode 1. Watching it as the first helps, and I will explain why later.

Beasts was broadcast in 1976 and ran for only 6 episodes. The series came about on the back of a one-off play Kneale had written for another series called “Against the Crowd” in 1975. Kneale’s episode, called “Murrain” told the story of a supernatural event in a very rural setting, something Kneale excels at: making the ordinary downright terrifying. If you haven’t seen any of Kneale’s work, he created the legendary BBC science-fiction series Quatermass, which ran for 3 series on the BBC (later a 4^th on ITV) and 3 successful Hammer horror movies which were based on the BBC serials. He also wrote the intriguingly titled “Year of the Sex Olympics” and the Jane Asher starring BBC horror story “The Stone Tape”.

Murrain was so successful, Kneale was able to pitch the idea of an anthology series with a unique theme, mankind versus the primeval raw state: Beasts, if you will. Each episode ran for 1 hour, including adverts.

“Baby” tells the story of a well-to-do young couple, Jo Gilkes (played by Poldar star Jane Wymark) and Peter Gilkes (played by pre-Manimal and Holby City regular Simon McCorkindale). Other roles include Irish actor (and another Dr Who and Blakes 7 alum) T.P. McKenna.

Jo and Peter have moved from the city to the countryside, where they are renovating an old farmhouse. Jo is heavily pregnant and Peter, a successful vet, has joined a practice with TP McKenna’s Dick Pummery. Of course, the eerie is never too far away and the first indication is Jo’s cat, which goes berserk when it enters the house in it’s travel cage. As soon as it gets a chance, it runs out of the house, never to be seen again (alive, anyway). As the work is taking time, Peter decides to have a go himself and takes a chisel and hammer to one of the internal brick walls. It’s quite the scene as it does indeed appear to be real cemented bricks he is chipping away at, and the scene seems to take longer than it should! Eventually, he discovers a concealed alcove, containing an old jar. Peter and Jo take the jar from the alcove and eventually unseal it. Peter then removes a “thing” from inside. I refer to it as a thing as it’s not clearly discernible. Peter thinks it’s the remains of a pet.

As the story progresses, Jo becomes more and more disturbed by the jar and thing. I mentioned above that being episode 1 helps the series because this uses so many of Kneale’s tropes, it eases the viewer into the series. The building/renovation work, the finding of a concealed area and a container that contains a “thing” are very reminiscent of Quatermass and the Pit. Jo becomes increasingly deranged, but Peter is no help. McCorkindale is always good in whatever he is in, but he plays Peter as a total brute, having little to no consideration for Jo. Jo clearly needs help and support but she gets neither from Peter, indeed he just gets drunk and lies to her.

The intriguing aspect of Baby, is whether the events occur at all. As Jo begins to see shadows and a physical form, nobody else seems to.  Is this down to her pregnancy as Peter suggests, and she is over-reacting, seeing things that aren’t there? Have they unleashed something supernatural from the jar? I won’t spoil the exceptionally creepy ending, but even as the credits roll, the viewer is left with no answers to those questions. Are we watching a supernatural drama or a phycological one where we watch a hormonal and heavily pregnant woman have a breakdown? Is man’s fear of the unknown resorting to folklore and horror to fill in the gaps where we have no answers? The “primeval” side of man?

It's a very good, if slow burner this one and might not be to everyone’s taste. The cast are very good, and as someone who only knows McKenna from Blakes 7 and Dr Who, hearing him with a strong Irish accent is quite strange. I can’t say it sets the series up well as each episode is tonally different, but it is a good example of 70s folklore horror.

Year – 1976

Series count – 1

Episode count – 6

Availability - DVD

 

Have You Been Watching...? 2022

 

This blog began life in the summer of 2022, so I would like to thank you all for reading my little essays on what I’ve been watching and hopefully you have discovered some new gems from what I have been blogging about..

For the last entry of the year, I wanted to do a little “review of the year” but I didn’t want to just repost things that have already been blogged about. So here we go with a brief mention of some of the movies and programmes from 2022 that haven’t been covered so far, but did catch my attention for good or bad. Read on to find out!

GHOSTS (US) – I adore the BBC comedy from the Horrible Histories team, but this is the American adaptation of the BBC1 sitcom about ghosts occupying a decaying property that has been inherited by a young woman and her partner. She has a fall and finds she can see and communicate with the ghosts haunting the property. The BBC1 version has run for 4 seasons so far, and the same team are behind the US version. Sometimes, the British sense of humour gets lost in the translation, but credit where it’s due, the US version of Ghosts is a rare example of where it works. Once the viewer gets past the similarities, GHOSTS US takes on its own identity and is all the better for it. Season 1 is currently streaming on BBC Iplayer. Each episode runs for just over 20 minutes (with adverts that’s a full half hour in the states) so they are in easily digestible chunks.

SMILE – not based on the Dr Who episode of the same name, this horror movie has similarities to the indy-horror “It Follows”, in that the horror can be anyone, anywhere. A doctor witnesses a traumatic moment for a patient and begins to see people smiling and death following soonafter. Whereas It Follows is a thrill-ride on a low-budget, Smile begins to lose the plot very quickly resulting in a dull movie, where it could have been tighter and possibly shorter, allowing for a genuinely frightening movie. Sadly, this feels like a missed opportunity. I say this as it was one of the few movies I was really looking forward to this year! Available to rent from major online retailers.

TROLL – Not a remake of the 80s horror flick with a character called Harry Potter (it’s true, look it up). Imagine a Godzilla movie but set in Norway. This is it. A ridiculous plot but with some great special effects and a genuinely fun approach, I thoroughly enjoyed this romp. A large-scale disaster movie, just set somewhere other than the USA. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this one, but I certainly wasn’t disappointed. Running on just the right side of an almost parody of American action movies, this one gets a thumbs up from me. Available to stream on Netflix.

PREY – dropping on Disney+, this took me completely by surprise as a new entry in the “Predator” franchise. With repeated outings for the alien hunters running out of ideas and credibility, this one takes place in Earths past and with a hard-as-nails female protagonist, this movie is a great yet stripped back entry for the franchise and allows us to see what can happen when a civilisation armed only with spears comes up against the intergalactic terrors. Available to stream on Disney+

STAR TREK – STRANGE NEW WORLDS – Yes, I posted a whole entry about one episode of the serials inaugural season, but the pre-Captain Kirk and “Discovery” spin-off is one of the true success stories of 2022. Unshackled from Discovery’s season-spanning epic adventures, this allows for a return to the days of “adventure of the week”. At only 10 episodes long, it goes by very quickly, but it’s a fun return to the days of weekly sci-fi and with a talented cast and great writing, it’s one of the best things on TV this year. Available to stream on Paramount+ and is due for release on DVD/Blu Ray in 2023.

Of course, there have been LOADS more. Highlights include the movies Bros, Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Adam Project, Spiderhead and Knives out sequel Glass Onion, and serials like 1899, All Of Us Are Dead, Obi Wan Kenobi, Peacemaker and so on but I won’t write about these here. They may receive their own entries as 2023 goes on. 

As I sign off 2022 with this final entry of the year, I would like to wish you all a very happy new year and hope you'll drop in on this blog again in 2023!

Have you got a suggestion I should review? Let me know in the comments: 

Have You Been Watching...? Wednesday (2022)

 

The Addams Family has been around for ages. Firstly, a comic, then a fondly remembered 1960s sitcom, two amazing 90s feature films (less said about the third, the better) two recent animated features (which I’m not too bothered about) and now this, a spin-off centred around Miss Wednesday Addams.

When I heard of this project, I was wasn’t sure it would worth my time, but then Tim Burton was linked to it and Christina Ricci (who played Wednesday in the 90s movies), Catherine Zeta Jones and Gwendoline Christie all attached to it. This began to sound like something special.

The 8 part limited series, “Wednesday”, is a triumph. The new Addams family cast are wonderful. Catherine Zeta Jones is truly a great luscious and mysterious Morticia, and Luis Guzman is literally perfect as Gomez, not as traditionally handsome in the mould of Raul Julia, but more in keeping with the comics. Their insane lust/love for each other makes for great comedy. Isaac Ordonez as Pugsley brings a sweet vulnerability to the role that was missing from the movies and he’s a very sympathetic character. As great as they are, it’s Jenna Ortega’s show as the new Wednesday. She is magnetic to watch. Dour, but full of humour and she doesn’t blink in her scenes, adding a great otherworldliness to Wednesday. The “internet” was full of criticism for some of the casting choices, but needless to say, don’t believe all you read on the web.

The new series strips the show of the main family, although they appear throughout (one of the family is practically a regular), but moves Wednesday to the Nevermore Academy. This is a special school for special students of which Morticia and Gomez have been previous alumni. This is a home to werewolves, sirens, gorgons and all sorts of creepy and kooky monsters in the form of human teenagers. While I have little interest in teen supernatural dramas, this one has just the right blend of humour and horror to satisfy even the most ardent of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans.

Having watched Episode 1, directed by the legend that is Tim Burton and scored by Danny Elfman, I felt I had tired of Wednesday’s behaviour. I wanted more of the residents of Nevermore Academy, led by the delicious Gwendoline Christie as the head teacher Larissa Weem, an old rival of Morticia’s. I wanted to learn more about the town of Jericho and how they live side by side with this world of mythical creatures. However, as the story progresses, my appetite was well and truly fed.

The crux of the series is that having been dispatched to Nevermore, Wednesday finds herself caught up in a mystery and a number of deaths. The mystery isn’t the deaths themselves, its clear early on how they die, it’s the who and why that forms Wednesday’s investigation. Along the way we meet her fellow classmates including the impossible to dislike, permanently chipper Enid, a werewolf who hasn’t reached wolf-out stage yet.  Enid is played by Emma Myers who on the face of it should be an irritating character due to her constant perkiness, but really is a sweet and kind girl. Hunter Doohan  plays Wednesday’s “will they wont they” love interest Tyler, Joy Sunday plays Bianca, a siren who is keen to knock Wednesday down a peg or two and ex-Wednesday herself, Christina Ricci plays Marilyn Thornhill, one of the school staff, almost unrecognisable from her Addams Family days (I didn’t even realise who she played until episode 2).

Our mystery is evenly paced, and intricately plotted which, if the series ran for a longer run that 8 episodes, could have been a problem.  However, in this bite-size series, it just fits tidily, although the last episode does rattle along at an incredible pace.

As the Wednesday series is still incredibly current, this report will stay spoiler free. Is it worth almost 8 hours of your time to watch? Yes. You may be pleased to know in advance it IS a self-contained story. I don’t think that’s a spoiler, none of the pre-publicity suggested it was an on-going series. This new series has created such a great new world for the Addams’ that any further instalments need not even have to be centred around Wednesday at all. Die-Hard fans will enjoy all the subtle (and not to subtle) easter eggs littered throughout.

Year: 2022

Episode count: 8

Availability: Currently streaming on Netflix.

Have You Been Watching...? Out Of The Unknown: The Machine Stops

 

Out of the Unknown was a BBC sci-fi anthology series broadcast between 1965-1971, comprising 4 series. The first two in black and white and the last two in colour. As seems to be the case with numerous BBC gems, the series is mostly missing from the archives, but thanks to the BFI, we have a DVD set featuring all the surviving episodes, and a few reconstructions of others from remnants of footage, telesnaps and even scripts.

Fortunately, one of those episodes that survived the mass junking is The Machine Stops, adapted from the short story by EM Forster (better known perhaps, for Maurice, A room With a view, Howard’s End and A Passage to India) . I have selected this episode, which was from the second series, for inclusion on “Have you been watching…?” due to it’s pertinence to today’s society, even though the original story was first published in 1909.

The story apparently predicts numerous things we take for granted today, the internet being one, social media being another. In this story, and indeed episode, people live alone in pods, communicating via screen. They all live underground due to the inability to live on the surface. Everything is controlled and provided “The Machine”, a human made construct very similar to today’s World Wide Web. People’s only activity is learning from The Machine.  New ideas are few, indeed people take others ideas and pass them off as their own (sound familiar?). Travel is permitted, but no one likes to travel. Walking even seems to be a chore and their multi-useful chair moves around the pod for them.

The story concentrates on the relationship between Vashti and her son Kuno, who live on opposite sides of the world. The relationship is cold, and more functional than loving. Vashti appears to have children just to ensure the species continues, rather than to love and inspire.

However, Kuno is different. He is bored of their current existence and seeks more, even venturing outside. As time progresses, he comes to the knowledge that The Machine is breaking down, civilisation as they know it will come to an end.

The Out of the Unknown adaptation stars Yvonne Mitchell (Crucible of Horror/The Corpse, the Trials of Oscar Wilde) as Yashti, and Michael Gothard (For Your Eyes Only, Lifeforce and The Three Musketeers) as Kuno, and was directed by Philip Savile (Life & Loves of a She-Devil). It’s an absolute gem to watch. Given the clear budget restraints of 60s BBC, what they have managed to achieve with this one-off story is nothing short of phenomenal. It’s a work of art. The set designs are clever and multi-functional, if occasionally suffering from wobbly-set syndrome, and the outside location work wonderfully conveys Kuno’s reactions to this new world he has found. It’s movie quality stuff, coupled with 60s psychedelia. The script, with such few cast, is long and talky, but never boring and certainly worth paying attention to.

The episode was submitted to the fifth “Festival Internazionale del Film di Fantascienza”, the fifth International science-fiction film festival in Trieste in July, where it won first prize.

If you can look beyond the budget restraints, you will find here a film that will enthrall you and show you the perils of “online life” as predicted over 100 years ago.

Year – 1966

Series count – 4

Episode count – 20 surviving (including reconstructions) out of 49

Availability – DVD (7 disc boxset – deleted in February 2022)

Have You Been Watching...? Nope (2022)

 

There has been a lot written about the movie “Nope” since it’s release in August 2022. My intention is to try to write something different, to give a different perspective on it.

Nope is write/director Jordan Peele’s third horror movie outing, following the huge success of “Get Out” and “Us”. Both of those horror movies are firmly grounded in a believable reality. When I heard that Peele was doing a third movie, I wondered would it stand up to the other two? Would he go the way of other famed director M. Night Shayamalan, whose initial movies were equally well received but then  came “Lady in the Water” and it all went somewhat wrong. Can Peele avoid such a calamity?

In a word, yes. Nope is something special. In fact, I think I enjoyed it much more than Get Out or Us.

The movie is set in a rural area of the USA. Rancher OJ, played by Get Out’s Daniel Kaluua (Dr Who fans shouldn’t forget his turn in Planet of the Dead) and his dad run a range rearing horses for the entertainment industry. Within the first few minutes of the film, something occurs meaning OJ has to run the ranch himself and the story jumps forward six months. OJ’s feisty sister turns up and provides a wonderful dynamic with her brother. OJ, however, discloses that their father’s departure was not quite as initially made out. This results in the siblings recruiting Angel, a tech nerd from a local store and the involvement of TV’s Kid Sheriff child-star Jupe, played by the Walking Dead’s Steven Yeun, becoming involved in the increasing mystery of “something in the sky” above the ranch. Interspersed throughout the main narrative is Jupe’s childhood take from his own celebrity days leading to his own current circumstances. It seems irrelevant, and at times jarring with the ongoing bigger story, but it all makes sense towards the end.

I am certainly not going to spoil this movie for you, but as per Peele’s previous endeavours, circumstances are not quite what they seem, and it IS a horror movie so there are chills and screams aplenty.

Several reviews of the movie highlight the meaning of the film, being about the need for entertainment and spectacle, but even if you don’t “get” that from the film, it’s still an amazing piece of work, ranging from the long silence of a barren range in the style of Brokeback Mountain to the breath-holding nightmare of something like Spielberg’s Jaws. The movie is remarkably well cast and believable in their roles. When a movie is so well cast you forget to bother about “what have they bene in before”, then you know you’re onto a winner. So far, so good for Peele, this is definitely 3 out of 3 home runs. Much in the same way that “Signs” is my favourite Shayamalan movie, it’s these smaller stories that appeal to me more.

The story is immaculately well-plotted, even if you don’t think so to begin with. Each character has a back story and come across as rounded and believable individuals. The special effects, when they kick in, are astounding and I have to admit to having seen nothing quite like it in a movie of this nature.

I wrote this not long after seeing the movie, and some time has passed. It still haunts me even now.

Year – 2022

Availability – Still playing in cinemas and available to rent from online streaming services.

Have You Been Watching...? The Twilight Zone: To See The Invisible Man

 

The Twilight Zone needs no real introduction (if it does, it's an anthology series of sci-fi and horror tales). At the time of writing it has just completed it’s 4^th incarnation fronted by Jordan Peele. Originally, there was the 1960s run, with Rod Serling, the 1985-1989 run with Charles Aidman/Robin Ward as narrators, the 2002 run with Forrest Whittaker and the Jordan Peele 2020 run.

In case you need an introduction, the series is an anthology of generally unrelated takes with a different cast each week. It mixed new stories with adaptations form genre authors such as Ray Bradbury. Some episodes were hour long (with ads) or 2-3 shorter stories in 1 hour long episode. These were then split in some territories to make shorter-run episodes.

The 80s series fascinated me and is the one I have most affinity with when it was screened on RTE in Ireland and ITV in the UK. Several episodes really stood out for me as thought-provoking and sometimes horrific.

“To See The Invisible Man” is one of the thought-provoking episodes that stuck with me for many years. Its from series one in the 1980s era, and in its original broadcast in the USA was part of episode 16, with “The Elevator” and “Tooth and Consequences”. I, however, only recall it as a stand-alone.

It’s based on a short story by Robert Silverberg, an award-winning American author of numerous short stories and novels. It takes place in an unnamed world not too dissimilar to ours and stars Cotter Smith (cult TV fans may remember him as President McKenna in XMEN 2, Tony Vincenzo in the short-lived Night Stalker remake and President Jack Davies in power-cut drama Revolution). He plays Mitchell Chaplin, a self-obsessed and obnoxious man. He is found guilty by an unseen court of the heinous crime of “coldness” (uncaring for others) and sentenced to one year of “invisibility”. This appears to amount to a blob of something stuck to his forehead. He, of course, laughs this off. As his punishment begins, he starts to realise what the blob actually means. As soon as people see the blob on his head, the instantly stop interacting with him, instructing others to cease interaction and all the time monitored by floating CCTV globes. Chaplin, as his obnoxious self, finds this great. He can roam like a ghost, go where he wants and do what he wants and people won’t stop him because they can’t. To reinforce this, he visits a spa and walks right into one of the ladies’ private rooms, where a group of ladies are naked in a hot-tub. Upon seeing him, they huddle together crying, as they feel violated and degraded by his presence. It’s a harsh moment in such a short story.

As the year progresses, he becomes more and more aware of the need to be a part of society, the human need to talk and companionship. He begins to see the error of his ways and tries to help a blind man who is initially thankful, until he is told by a sighted person that Chaplin is “invisible” and the blind man is disgruntled and angry at what he understands as being taken advantage of. Chaplin could interact with him because he couldn’t see the blob.

Chaplin is later seriously injured when some thieves try to run him over, but he can’t get medical help because he is “invisible” and endures the agonising pain. One morning, as he tries to cut his own hair, his apartment door is opened and two guards come in. With relief, Chaplin realises his year’s sentence is up, but the guards do not interact with him at all until the blob is removed. They then invite him out for drinks, initially Chaplin is reluctant, but in order to appear “caring” he accepts.

The story jumps forward a few months and after listening to one of his colleagues’ woes, he is told by her that the punishment work, he is a nice caring person now. She is right. H enow fully understands the need to be a part of a society and the pain at being excluded from it. As he walks by, he is confronted by a woman who is marked “invisible” that he had encountered previously when he too was. She begs him to notice her and when he ignores her, she accuses him of being cold. The very crime he had been sentenced for. In a moment of caring, compassion and defiance, Chaplin turns around and holds the woman in a big hug as the CCTV orbs warn him against doing so. His sentence had taught him about kindness and caring, and he is likely to face punishment again for doing exactly that, but this time, he will wear his invisibility with pride.

It’s a short episode on its own, running for around 20 minutes, and there are plot holes aplenty: If everyone knows about invisibility, why is Chaplin surprised when he is first given the blob? What if the invisible want to commit a crime? There’s questions abound, but we don’t need to ponder on those, this is the story of one person’s redemption, and it’s deep and memorable.

I have never read the original short story, but I almost think to do so would change the memory of this episode, so I’m happy to keep it this way. Cotter Smith plays the obnoxious Chaplin very well indeed and conveys the change from self-obsessed through despair to caring believably well and given such a short script and screen time, is a great feat.

It’s certainly one of the hundreds of Twilight Zone episodes to look out for, and I hope when you do see it, you enjoy it and remember it as well as I do.

Year: 1986

Episode count: Oh difficult, it’s officially listed as 65 for the 1980s run, but can be anything when they are split!

Season count: 3

Availability: DVD, labelled as “The New Twilight Zone”, 3 season boxset, 13 disc set (UK)

Have You Been Watching...? The Hammer House of Horror - The House That Bled To Death

 

It is hopefully clear by now that, not only will I be giving my thoughts on complete serials, but also individual episodes. When I first thought about doing this blog, there was one episode I knew I had to write about. This particular episode of a well-remembered horror series haunted me for many years (my own fault, having been far too young to watch it, but telling mum I was sick so I could “sleep” on the sofa and therefore watch this…).

The Hammer House of Horror is a 13 episode anthology series, first broadcast in 1980, and produced by ITC entertainment with Cinema Arts international and broadcast on ITV. Each 50 minute episode (1hr with ads) stood alone and there was no running theme through the series or host for that matter.

Each episode opened with a “teaser” (as short scene or two that set up the episode, then the opening credits. I mention this specifically as, for me, opening credits and theme tunes are just as important as the episodes themselves, for any series. Hammer house of Horror is no exception. The opening titles are a mixture of gothic eerie imagery, shadows in windows and help set up the creepiness of the series nicely, coupled with its amazingly atmospheric theme tune. There is no doubt watching these opening credits that you are in for a spooky ride.

Having nestled nicely in the back of my mind since 1980, my first recent exposure to this episode was on a VHS release, and then most recently, it gloriously remastered Blur-ray edition. Depending on the release, the episodes were issued in different orders, on VHS, The House that Bled to Death was episode one, but not on the blu ray. It does not matter, though, as running order doesn’t change the enjoyment.

So, the House that Bled to Death tells the story of the Peters, a small family comprising of Mum, Dad and their young daughter Sophie. They excitedly move into their new home in a nice residential area in the south of England. What they are unaware of, is the bloody history of the house. You, as a viewer, will be aware of this thanks to the “teaser” opening. Yes, we are into haunted house territory in contemporary England. As the episode rolls on, the house begins telling its horrific history through a series of pretty damn scary incidents. The one that lingered in my memory and secured it’s place in my history, was the scene that takes place at a party for Sophie. {spoiler coming} Sophie and a group of children are all enjoying themselves and the party is happily ticking along, when there is a banging sound and the creaking of pipes which dampens the party atmosphere. All of a sudden, the pipes burst and the party guests are sprayed with a bright vivid red blood. Cue screams and clearly distressed children and adults. The scene is quite unlike anything I had ever seen before or since.

The scares keep coming, until the truth of the episode is eventually revealed, and it is NOT what you would think. The entire haunted house story turns out to be a hoax, concocted by Mr Peters himself, as he was indeed aware of the history of the house. Indeed, there is a lot more to the Peters’ relationship than meets the eye! Having then been able to sell it to Mr AJ Powers, who then turned the Peters’ story into a book and film (in a way satirizing the Amityville Horror story, which was released in 1979), and he now is £1 million pounds richer. Powers’ part to play in the story is also more than the viewer might think. The family relocate to America, where they are living “the dream”. However, young Sophie soon discovers her part in the hoax and decides to take a bloody vengeance on Mum and Dad, using the same machete knives from the opening teaser.

It is a very clever script for the series, which relies on his horror, both in terms of storytelling, and from its legacy using the “Hammer” name. To then spin it around that the story is in fact a hoax, is very brave. The final denouement is interesting, Is Sophie acting out of revenge for her murdered cat? (yes, that happens) or is she in fact possessed by the spirits from the house? Has the hoax in fact had a truth behind it?

Nicholas Ball (whom sci-fi fans might recall as the Simulant from the “Justice” episode of Red Dwarf) and Rachel Davies (extra kudos to you if you remember her as Camilla in the Dr Who story  State of Decay, incidentally broadcast the same year) play the main couple, William and Emma Peters, while Milton Johns (mentioned in this blog having starred in King of the Castle and Dr Who) plays Mr Powers, the man who eventually writes a book about the Peters’ experiences in the house. Emma Ridley plays young Sophie while Blakes 7 star Brian Croucher makes an appearance as “George” one of the neighbours from across the road (whose introduction to the story is rather disturbing!).

It is a great “modern” horror yarn, and the lengths the couple go to to ensure the believability of the hoax wouldn’t go amiss with today’s Youtuber/tik tok fame seekers.

Year: 1980

Series count : N/A

Episode count: 1 (of 13) - depending which programme list you're following!

Availability: DVD/Blu Ray/streaming on Britbox