*Casting the Runes is a supernatural television drama produced by ITV in 1979. Running at 50 minutes, it was based on the ghost story Casting the Runes by British writer and academic M. R. James, first published in 1911 as the fourth story in More Ghost Stories, which was James' second collection of ghost stories. Originally, a film version of the story was made in 1957, called "Night of the Demon." This play version was directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark for the series Playhouse, produced by Yorkshire Television. It was first broadcast on ITV on April 24, 1979. Adapted by Clive Exton, it reimagined the events of James's story taking place in a contemporary television studio.*
M R James based Karswell on Aleister Crowley who was more or less his contemporary, and also a Cambridge University graduate. Karswell was Abbot of Lufford. Crowley rented out an old abbey in Cefalu in Sicily where he was called the Abbot of Thelema after his weird new religion, of New Age magic. Crowley has been vastly influential, with his saying "Do what though wilt" inspiring not just L Ron Hubbard to found the church of Scientology, and Anthony LaVey to start the Church of Satan in California, but a huge influence on the 60s rock generation. He appears on the Sergeant Pepper Album cover, Jimmy Page was a follower and bought Crowley's old Boleskine House on Loch Ness. He has appeared in song lyrics by Ozzy Osborne and David Bowie and others. Crowley was certainly into sex and drugs and had many women, wives and followers. He predated rock n roll though.
@@AndriyValdensius-wi8gw That's so interesting....I did actually imagine Karswell as Crowley in the written story {scaring the local children away from his orchard by a terrifying magic lantern show &c. That's astonishing that M.R James actually based the character on Crowley...I'd not made the connection. Rightly or wrongly, I saw Crowley as rather a rebel, a rich child who kicked against his upbringing and who probably liked to shock- and was a bit selfish in his relationships. Would he be such a shocker if he was to have been born nowadays? Possibly not.
I have them all on betamax and no way to play them. The tapes might have degraded somewhat now but I was glad to find this here because I can't seem to find them on streaming or dvd/Blu-ray.
@@incredibleflameboy Oh! I know that you can find people (possibly even locally, but definitely online) that will convert them/copy them to dvd (or whatever format you'd like)! You can find someone, send it to them, arrange how to pay them and they'll send you the tapes and the new copies back again! Not sure if you're willing to deal with that or pay for that. I ave a VHS tape that I wanted to get converted to DVD and the last time I looked the nest option (with some auto-restoration) was around $45! (But that was BEFORE Covid...) Also -I'm not POSITIVE about betamax tapes, but I'm sure there is SOMEONE!
@@giraffebecky it's the betamax format that's the problem. I've looked to have them digitised but I can only find people that will use VHS. These days I would be able to do them myself because I've learned how to do it but my betamax player is broken and working ones are rare and expensive. If I ever manage to find one though I'll digitise and post them though.
@@incredibleflameboy Oh! I see! Yeah that is a danged shame! Too bad! I hope you can find one (that's GOOD and AFFORDABLE!) soon! I would love to see what you've got!
@@incredibleflameboy Have you tried getting in touch with Doc at Old Time TV? Just pop those last three words in Google and you'll find his website. He's a great resource for rare TV shows, and if he hasn't already got the shows he may be able to help with your tapes.
Definitely. Well made to suit the era. And a convincing female protagonist, too. The actresses today keep telling us they are trailblazers, the first of their kind.
I absolutely love this and have watched the dvd about 50 times. I particularly like the snowy Yorkshire locations and the two actors waiting an eternity for the director to say cut at the second ad break.😂😂😂
It's okay for a low budget play version of the M. R. James story. But if you want to truly be creeped out and frightened, watch "Night of the Demon" with Dana Andrews. It's British and the best of the British creepy movies!
I think it's really very well done, all things considered. I'm usually wary of "updated" versions of classic stories, but this one works very well, with the television documentary maker background.
Made me remember my childhood and when tv wasn’t so ‘beige’ and actors n actresses could really act and the strange music was sinister (without sex 24/7)and made you feel scared in an odd way ... please keep posting these vids i only found these at 3am last night/this morning-waking up unable to go back to sleep trawling through utube as ya do but was born in Leeds brought back many happy memories of my parents n brothers and sister.... sweet nostalgia...almost innocent times compared to today’s World.... many thanks
I was just reading about this production. That library at Leeds University is beautiful. Also the modernist house of the character who lost his brother is really nice as well. I assume that house or building is in Leeds as well.
@@matthewgabbard6415 think it is yes 👍 ... good memories I was lucky I lived in a small village outside of the centre of Leeds and still dream of my life there...
I think it’s rather good. I happen to really enjoy the style. I’m thankful for you uploading it. Considering this was done before many of us were even born, on a very low budget with different styles of acting, no way of editing or immediately viewing and doing as many takes as it took to make it perfect and film and the talent to record and edit was very expensive then. I don’t see the need for criticism of acting when the actors are all retired and most of the actors are no longer even living… maybe it wouldn’t hurt to give them a little grace and to be grateful for the person who took the time to share it with us all. They didn’t have any control over the show production or acting or anything. As for the actors, their family members may see this and they should be allowed to appreciate the life’s work of their loved ones. In other words, if you have nothing nice to say, why say anything at all?
Love Jan Francis. Watching this in the year of Our Lord 2024. Remember 1979 very well, the year this was produced. I was 16 in 1979 and wore those fashions and had my hair cut exactly like Jan Francis in this. Great burst of nostalgia and good adaptation of MR James....very 70s , progressive, early feminism...Good to see a female protagonist ; a good contrast to the rather stuffy male protagonists of the world of the MR James ghost story. Thanks, I enjoyed this, love S, x
Why I so adore these old British TV dramas I don't know. Can somebody explain to me what it is that gives them that particular atmosphere that results in being so appealing to some of us?
If you ever find out let me know! Cuz it hooked me like a drug from the 1st time I saw a show like this when I was 8…..I’m 52 and I so much prefer ANYTHING British or Irish UK basically…..the writing and acting and all of it is so so much better than we have in the states. But i have never been able to put into words the “vibe” or aesthetic ……or energy of a show or movie..so frustrating…..
For me it's a combination of things -the use of silence and near silence, the discreet use of music in the sense that it's not deployed to 'guide' the viewer, but merely to enhance the visuals, and the acting, often naturalistic and understated. Are you familiar with A Warning To The Curious, the BBC's Christmas Ghost Story from around 1971, the version directed by Max Stafford-Clark? That's a prime example of what I mean.
I'm the same. I think it's that everything is simpler. There's no pulling a mobile out and googling answers, no one pulls a gun and supernatural elements aren't turned into some mundane answer, ghosts are just ghosts. Production is totally different too and doesn't spend ages trying to wiggle preestablished tropes into it, it just tells the story. this isn't perfect but I've always felt that casting the runes was James's most "modern" feeling story with central heating and electricity explicitly mentioned in the text so the update is forgiveable. You might feel the same as I do and feel like you were born too late.
No, it wasn’t in the original story, it was a bitter twist typical of a late 70s adaptation. Karswell had been beaten but he was going to make sure a lot of innocent folk died with him and that Prudence would be too guilt-ridden to continue her ‘investigative journalist’ career!
It fits karswell as a character who doesn't care for anyone but himself and having him know about the runes being returned to him gives a more visual conclusion but in James's story they pass it on without his knowledge and try to warn him. There's no real collateral outside of the villain getting his cummupance.
There was an earlier version I watched years ago, it was much more atmospheric and the runes were passed on a train, not plane. This version is ok, but I prefer the earlier version.
@@glennrowland8724 There is a Tales the unexpected ''The flypaper'' {1980} that is {to me at least }really horrible.. It features a child leaving school to go home, and a creepy man on a bus. don't read the comments before watching, spoiler alert.
@@Oakleaf700I remember the tha tales of the unexpected episode you refer to, but I found the landlady episode much creepier. I won't spoil it for you by revealing the outcome incase you haven't seen it
Edward Petheridge also appeared in the most excellent Dead Of Night episode "The Exorcism". It also features the plot device of a newsreader divulging the conclusion via a television screen.
I've been listening to Quintessence lately. I went and forgot them for years but finally getting online after years of refusal has afforded me the luxury of finding literally anything from the past, music-wise. And a happy reunion it has been for me in my middle-age.
It wasn't made for schools. It was shown as an episode of ITV Playhouse in 1979. It's true that there was an earlier version from 1968, part of the 'Mystery and Imagination' series, of which only a short excerpt has survived. There was a 17-minute adaptation of the M. R. James story 'Mr Humphreys and His Inheritance' made as an ITV schools programme in 1976.
It's obviously a short remake of that great1957 classic, night of the demon, I've often wondered if a colour version of this brtish classic could work, but I think ITV playhouse did a good job, well done, great cast, and a great entertaining episode, Steve, lonewof
Just got the DVD for Xmas. It works better than I thought it would. Although the production values don't stand any comparison with the 1957 Jaques Torneur classic Night Of The Demon. Mainly because the outdoor scenes are shot in 16mm and the indoor shots (in rather wobbly sets) are on video tape. Still it's very watchable with a horrific twist at the end.
I see it’s an edited version of the film night of the demon with Dana Andrew’s good adaption as at the end carswell is killed by a demon who rips him apart but in the film a train runs him over so same sort of effect but this tv show very good creepy effect
Pity nobody could be bothered to research what runes look like. The letters on the slip of paper are Greek and runes have nothing to do with the Greek language as claimed in the programme.
"The Mezzotint" conveys the same sorrowful horror as "The Haunted Doll House", when innocence has to pay for culpability. I consider THDH as M.R. James' best.
after he fainted, he moved his right hand around the begging of the movie, i pay attention to such errors in the movies. i hope im not mistaken. because boogyman is involved, i watch to the end..
I love Casting The Runes in all's its myriad of incantations, this version however is one of my least favourites. It feels a little all over the place and unfocussed, there's not enough of Karswell, the flute is very annoying, we only glimpsed the demon once, and to kill all the innocent passengers on the place at the end was a bit much for me ;-). Thanks for the upload though, great to see it.
Very slapdash adaption by Clive Exton. In the original M.R. James story there was zero collateral damage and Kaswell remained unaware that the runes had been handed back to him.
Disappointing. I get changing the setting and era, but I couldn't give this more than ten minutes, during which I wouldn't have known it was the same story.
Definitely not the same story but a 'classic' 1970's adaption- See it for what it is, and not as the more traditional ''Night of the Demon'', and it's far more enjoyable..{I didn't like the ending though}.
Very slapdash adaption by Clive Exton. In the original M.R. James story there was zero collateral damage and Kaswell remained unaware that the runes had been handed back to him.
With the amount of industrial strikes going on in the country at the time this was made, many in the Royal Mail, he would only have received it last week.
My mum & stepdad used to watch 'Just Good Friends' which in olden times when there was but one TV in the house, meant you watched all their favourite programs too. Anyhow...I liked the show and the Penny/Vince relationship was good fun. Plus...Jan is a pretty lady and easy on the eyes.
This story could have been done a lot better!,,the acting is really bad in places,God knows what the director was thinking must have been his first job!😂
A waste of a commendable castle, the events are on a train not a plane,the Protagonist is a man not a woman,:Alow budget enterprise,spoilt by annoyingly, smart mouthed ,writers whom think they. Can improve on genius,Inthe actual story numerous people did not die for one person,'s salvation
This is one of the Worst versions of M.R.James wonderful creepy play. Even the audibles I have are much better than this. A shame because this is a great creepy piece of writing full of feeling and fear and done correctly, is a great scary creepy story, visually as well as audibly. This is just far too much talking with nothing happening as well as many bare looking large scenes.
*Casting the Runes is a supernatural television drama produced by ITV in 1979. Running at 50 minutes, it was based on the ghost story Casting the Runes by British writer and academic M. R. James, first published in 1911 as the fourth story in More Ghost Stories, which was James' second collection of ghost stories. Originally, a film version of the story was made in 1957, called "Night of the Demon." This play version was directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark for the series Playhouse, produced by Yorkshire Television. It was first broadcast on ITV on April 24, 1979. Adapted by Clive Exton, it reimagined the events of James's story taking place in a contemporary television studio.*
M R James based Karswell on Aleister Crowley who was more or less his contemporary, and also a Cambridge University graduate. Karswell was Abbot of Lufford. Crowley rented out an old abbey in Cefalu in Sicily where he was called the Abbot of Thelema after his weird new religion, of New Age magic. Crowley has been vastly influential, with his saying "Do what though wilt" inspiring not just L Ron Hubbard to found the church of Scientology, and Anthony LaVey to start the Church of Satan in California, but a huge influence on the 60s rock generation. He appears on the Sergeant Pepper Album cover, Jimmy Page was a follower and bought Crowley's old Boleskine House on Loch Ness. He has appeared in song lyrics by Ozzy Osborne and David Bowie and others.
Crowley was certainly into sex and drugs and had many women, wives and followers. He predated rock n roll though.
@@AndriyValdensius-wi8gw
I would have liked to see Crowley dance to "Rock Around the Clock."
@@AndriyValdensius-wi8gw That's so interesting....I did actually imagine Karswell as Crowley in the written story {scaring the local children away from his orchard by a terrifying magic lantern show &c.
That's astonishing that M.R James actually based the character on Crowley...I'd not made the connection.
Rightly or wrongly, I saw Crowley as rather a rebel, a rich child who kicked against his upbringing and who probably liked to shock- and was a bit selfish in his relationships.
Would he be such a shocker if he was to have been born nowadays? Possibly not.
Fuck me, it's lecture time. 😳
curse of the demon and utube has pulled it now good film
How great is Iain Cuthberson in many of these 70s plays, The Stone Tape, Children of the Stones etc. Great upload, many thanks.
and , ahem, Supergran
Aye, the Scunner Campbell!
I wish you had more of these ITV PLAYHOUSE plays! I like them!
I have them all on betamax and no way to play them. The tapes might have degraded somewhat now but I was glad to find this here because I can't seem to find them on streaming or dvd/Blu-ray.
@@incredibleflameboy Oh! I know that you can find people (possibly even locally, but definitely online) that will convert them/copy them to dvd (or whatever format you'd like)! You can find someone, send it to them, arrange how to pay them and they'll send you the tapes and the new copies back again! Not sure if you're willing to deal with that or pay for that. I ave a VHS tape that I wanted to get converted to DVD and the last time I looked the nest option (with some auto-restoration) was around $45! (But that was BEFORE Covid...) Also -I'm not POSITIVE about betamax tapes, but I'm sure there is SOMEONE!
@@giraffebecky it's the betamax format that's the problem. I've looked to have them digitised but I can only find people that will use VHS. These days I would be able to do them myself because I've learned how to do it but my betamax player is broken and working ones are rare and expensive. If I ever manage to find one though I'll digitise and post them though.
@@incredibleflameboy Oh! I see! Yeah that is a danged shame! Too bad! I hope you can find one (that's GOOD and AFFORDABLE!) soon! I would love to see what you've got!
@@incredibleflameboy Have you tried getting in touch with Doc at Old Time TV? Just pop those last three words in Google and you'll find his website. He's a great resource for rare TV shows, and if he hasn't already got the shows he may be able to help with your tapes.
Always a pleasure to see the beautiful Jan Francis :)
Those eyes!
A VERY good version of an excellent M.R.James story!
Definitely. Well made to suit the era. And a convincing female protagonist, too. The actresses today keep telling us they are trailblazers, the first of their kind.
I absolutely love this and have watched the dvd about 50 times. I particularly like the snowy Yorkshire locations and the two actors waiting an eternity for the director to say cut at the second ad break.😂😂😂
It's okay for a low budget play version of the M. R. James story. But if you want to truly be creeped out and frightened, watch "Night of the Demon" with Dana Andrews. It's British and the best of the British creepy movies!
I prefer _Night of the Eagle_
Is that the film where Dana Andrews eats prunes, gets the runes and passing them used lots of skill?
I think it's really very well done, all things considered. I'm usually wary of "updated" versions of classic stories, but this one works very well, with the television documentary maker background.
It reminds me of the awful winter of 78/79 and it gains from the Leeds locations!
Night of the Demon is a little longer (less edited) than Curse of the Demon. I agree with you that the Night version is better, if you can find it.
Made me remember my childhood and when tv wasn’t so ‘beige’ and actors n actresses could really act and the strange music was sinister (without sex 24/7)and made you feel scared in an odd way ... please keep posting these vids i only found these at 3am last night/this morning-waking up unable to go back to sleep trawling through utube as ya do but was born in Leeds brought back many happy memories of my parents n brothers and sister.... sweet nostalgia...almost innocent times compared to today’s World.... many thanks
I was just reading about this production. That library at Leeds University is beautiful. Also the modernist house of the character who lost his brother is really nice as well. I assume that house or building is in Leeds as well.
@@matthewgabbard6415 think it is yes 👍 ... good memories I was lucky I lived in a small village outside of the centre of Leeds and still dream of my life there...
I never that this version of the story existed. So glad you posted it.
The musicians playing with their first echo effects unit.
There’s an old Radio Four drama on RUclips, I think it’s called The Hex. Same basic story, well worth listening too.
I think it’s rather good. I happen to really enjoy the style. I’m thankful for you uploading it.
Considering this was done before many of us were even born, on a very low budget with different styles of acting, no way of editing or immediately viewing and doing as many takes as it took to make it perfect and film and the talent to record and edit was very expensive then.
I don’t see the need for criticism of acting when the actors are all retired and most of the actors are no longer even living… maybe it wouldn’t hurt to give them a little grace and to be grateful for the person who took the time to share it with us all. They didn’t have any control over the show production or acting or anything.
As for the actors, their family members may see this and they should be allowed to appreciate the life’s work of their loved ones. In other words, if you have nothing nice to say, why say anything at all?
Love Jan Francis. Watching this in the year of Our Lord 2024. Remember 1979 very well, the year this was produced. I was 16 in 1979 and wore those fashions and had my hair cut exactly like Jan Francis in this. Great burst of nostalgia and good adaptation of MR James....very 70s , progressive, early feminism...Good to see a female protagonist ; a good contrast to the rather stuffy male protagonists of the world of the MR James ghost story. Thanks, I enjoyed this, love S, x
Why I so adore these old British TV dramas I don't know. Can somebody explain to me what it is that gives them that particular atmosphere that results in being so appealing to some of us?
If you ever find out let me know! Cuz it hooked me like a drug from the 1st time I saw a show like this when I was 8…..I’m 52 and I so much prefer ANYTHING British or Irish UK basically…..the writing and acting and all of it is so so much better than we have in the states. But i have never been able to put into words the “vibe” or aesthetic ……or energy of a show or movie..so frustrating…..
For me it's a combination of things -the use of silence and near silence, the discreet use of music in the sense that it's not deployed to 'guide' the viewer, but merely to enhance the visuals, and the acting, often naturalistic and understated. Are you familiar with A Warning To The Curious, the BBC's Christmas Ghost Story from around 1971, the version directed by Max Stafford-Clark? That's a prime example of what I mean.
I presume it is just a Bo'Oh'O'Wa'er that invigorates you with the ecstasy!
i think a lot of time its the music.... it effects you more than what you think@@6Haunted-Days
I'm the same. I think it's that everything is simpler. There's no pulling a mobile out and googling answers, no one pulls a gun and supernatural elements aren't turned into some mundane answer, ghosts are just ghosts.
Production is totally different too and doesn't spend ages trying to wiggle preestablished tropes into it, it just tells the story. this isn't perfect but I've always felt that casting the runes was James's most "modern" feeling story with central heating and electricity explicitly mentioned in the text so the update is forgiveable.
You might feel the same as I do and feel like you were born too late.
Hard luck for everyone else on the plane.
the only flaw, but a major one. nothing like that was in the original story. i still love this though.
Yes, that was silly……
No, it wasn’t in the original story, it was a bitter twist typical of a late 70s adaptation. Karswell had been beaten but he was going to make sure a lot of innocent folk died with him and that Prudence would be too guilt-ridden to continue her ‘investigative journalist’ career!
I agree. 80 - 100 innocents were killed. 😥
It fits karswell as a character who doesn't care for anyone but himself and having him know about the runes being returned to him gives a more visual conclusion but in James's story they pass it on without his knowledge and try to warn him. There's no real collateral outside of the villain getting his cummupance.
Thank you for posting this
There was an earlier version I watched years ago, it was much more atmospheric and the runes were passed on a train, not plane. This version is ok, but I prefer the earlier version.
apart from the excellent film night of the demon I remember a verdion on a series called mystery and imagination on tv very creepy
@@glennrowland8724 There is a Tales the unexpected ''The flypaper'' {1980} that is {to me at least }really horrible..
It features a child leaving school to go home, and a creepy man on a bus. don't read the comments before watching, spoiler alert.
@@Oakleaf700I remember the tha tales of the unexpected episode you refer to, but I found the landlady episode much creepier. I won't spoil it for you by revealing the outcome incase you haven't seen it
@@johncarlisle621 Oh I know that. landlady one!!!!! Creepy!
Night of the Demon had the runes passed on a train.
Edward Petheridge also appeared in the most excellent Dead Of Night episode "The Exorcism". It also features the plot device of a newsreader divulging the conclusion via a television screen.
There's was a third film version of the story apart from this & "Night/Curse of the Demon".
The music appears to be influenced by Quintessence.
I've been listening to Quintessence lately. I went and forgot them for years but finally getting online after years of refusal has afforded me the luxury of finding literally anything from the past, music-wise. And a happy reunion it has been for me in my middle-age.
Jan Francis,
such a British beauty !
This is the made for schools version from 1978. The ITV version was made for Tales Of Mystery and Imagination, and only a small clip remains.
I can't imagine a subject like this being a production for schools now, all the religious patrents would complain.
It wasn't made for schools. It was shown as an episode of ITV Playhouse in 1979. It's true that there was an earlier version from 1968, part of the 'Mystery and Imagination' series, of which only a short excerpt has survived. There was a 17-minute adaptation of the M. R. James story 'Mr Humphreys and His Inheritance' made as an ITV schools programme in 1976.
Love this thanks.............🤠
It's obviously a short remake of that great1957 classic, night of the demon, I've often wondered if a colour version of this brtish classic could work, but I think ITV playhouse did a good job, well done, great cast, and a great entertaining episode, Steve, lonewof
Not a remake of "Night of the Demon," but a television drama inspired by the same M.R.James story.
Very enjoyable, thank you 👏🥂
Just got the DVD for Xmas. It works better than I thought it would. Although the production values don't stand any comparison with the 1957 Jaques Torneur classic Night Of The Demon. Mainly because the outdoor scenes are shot in 16mm and the indoor shots (in rather wobbly sets) are on video tape. Still it's very watchable with a horrific twist at the end.
Iain Cuthbertson. Fondly remembered. 'HEEY BUDGEEE!!!"
This is why you should always read your library books.
Ochh, Budgie!
Real Good Adaptation.
I see it’s an edited version of the film night of the demon with Dana Andrew’s good adaption as at the end carswell is killed by a demon who rips him apart but in the film a train runs him over so same sort of effect but this tv show very good creepy effect
@jamie … oh thanks ! That’ll save me watching it 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️
David calder in there as well saw him as king Lear superb
Pity nobody could be bothered to research what runes look like. The letters on the slip of paper are Greek and runes have nothing to do with the Greek language as claimed in the programme.
MR James is always good.
not bad, see also night of the Demon, black and white film same story. very good
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (9/10)
I called my pedigree pointer trosnant casting the runes ❤
A different take on the movie of the same name, very good, based on a true story, i remember that snow. Juhaptergee
There's nothing wrong with flower power and psychedelic pseudo mystic manuscripts circa 1968, in my humble opinion.
💪🌼🤙
You want horror? Read MR James' " The Mezzotint"
Thanks for the tip. Will try and get round to it
"The Mezzotint" conveys the same sorrowful horror as "The Haunted Doll House", when innocence has to pay for culpability.
I consider THDH as M.R. James' best.
37:40
Notice the black candles
34:53 - it's upside down
after he fainted, he moved his right hand around the begging of the movie, i pay attention to such errors in the movies. i hope im not mistaken. because boogyman is involved, i watch to the end..
ive always liked Jan Francis' acting.
What if the demon from the Night of Demon was a Weeping Angel but in an awesome way
Very Gestapoid the Carswell character.
I love Casting The Runes in all's its myriad of incantations, this version however is one of my least favourites. It feels a little all over the place and unfocussed, there's not enough of Karswell, the flute is very annoying, we only glimpsed the demon once, and to kill all the innocent passengers on the place at the end was a bit much for me ;-). Thanks for the upload though, great to see it.
Snow on the ground on Guy Fawkes night in England?
I lived in Leeds in the early 1980s. It was bloody freezing later in the year!
@johnneville403 Later, I looked it up. Apparently this was made in 1978, when there was a very cold spell in autumn!
@@routeman680 There was genuinely a lot of snow in winter in Leeds, although it did usually kick off in earnest in December, to be fair.
That’s very much for uploading this. I love Jan Francis.
It does seem odd that a whole plane full was lost on account of one person.
Very slapdash adaption by Clive Exton. In the original M.R. James story there was zero collateral damage and Kaswell remained unaware that the runes had been handed back to him.
Not a patch on night of the demon .but still enjoyable.
Not to sure if M R James was alive today he would of written all the people on the plane suffered dreadful end to this classic tale
Lol, IKR? Definitely don't watch this version if you're going to be flying soon!
never heard of this series
Now we get crappy, fake reality shows. Iain Cuthbertson was brilliant. I remember him from “Budgie” with Adam Faith.
Interesting adaptation of Casting the Runes. But the person who wrote the music should be handed some runes themselves!
Disappointing. I get changing the setting and era, but I couldn't give this more than ten minutes, during which I wouldn't have known it was the same story.
Definitely not the same story but a 'classic' 1970's adaption- See it for what it is, and not as the more traditional ''Night of the Demon'', and it's far more enjoyable..{I didn't like the ending though}.
Weird. NOTHING LIKE James’ most excellent story….WHY write an inferior version of the original?
So she killed like 200 people to save herself? Awesome person!
She didn't. He chose to get on the aircraft.
Very slapdash adaption by Clive Exton. In the original M.R. James story there was zero collateral damage and Kaswell remained unaware that the runes had been handed back to him.
This Carswell character is extremely detestable.
Why not just post it to him.
That wouldn't work, it must be passed to him by hand.
@@moggie-wf5pg Yes i figured that out after pposting.
With the amount of industrial strikes going on in the country at the time this was made, many in the Royal Mail, he would only have received it last week.
@@yellowbelly06 🤣🎯 Brilliant!
@@Oakleaf700 In the original story, the victim has to willingly accept the note.
The main female actress played Penny in Just Good Friends, with Paul Nicholas playing Vince.
Jan Francis. She also played one of the resistance ladies in the BBC's Secret Army.
@@Westwoodii Yes! I knew I had seen her in something else too.
My mum & stepdad used to watch 'Just Good Friends' which in olden times when there was but one TV in the house, meant you watched all their favourite programs too. Anyhow...I liked the show and the Penny/Vince relationship was good fun. Plus...Jan is a pretty lady and easy on the eyes.
She was in the 1979 Dracula, with Frank Langella
This story could have been done a lot better!,,the acting is really bad in places,God knows what the director was thinking must have been his first job!😂
ADVERTS ALERT! Atmosphere destroyed at four minutes in by a gangster style advert for crisps featuring two losers mangling the English language!
Totally ruined by the constant switching between film and video tape.
Yeah, that was the way British TV was produced back in the 1970s.
That flautist needs to take some lessons.
More noise than Moyse LOL :)
A waste of a commendable castle, the events are on a train not a plane,the Protagonist is a man not a woman,:Alow budget enterprise,spoilt by annoyingly, smart mouthed ,writers whom think they. Can improve on genius,Inthe actual story numerous people did not die for one person,'s salvation
This is one of the Worst versions of M.R.James wonderful creepy play. Even the audibles I have are much better than this. A shame because this is a great creepy piece of writing full of feeling and fear and done correctly, is a great scary creepy story, visually as well as audibly. This is just far too much talking with nothing happening as well as many bare looking large scenes.
And music drowning out whatever they’re saying me. No atmosphere or landscape & very little history.
I hope the actual written story is better.
Rubbish.