Martin's Close

Martin's Close is one of the weak M.R James stories. I've not found any of the Mark Gatiss adaptations to be of the same standard as the Lawrence Gordon Clarke productions. Despite having today's production technology, it fails to capture any atmosphere of the story.

Mark Gatiss has adapted another M R James ghost story for Christmas. Although BBC4 has had its budgets slashed and they announced several years ago they would make no new dramas.

Gatiss ensures that BBC4 do make new dramas even if it is on a micro budget. He even coaxes Peter Capaldi to make an appearance as the trial prosecutor.

There is a present day narrator who tells a story of the hanging judge Jeffreys. However in 1684 he was once involved in a trial of John Martin that had people spooked.

Martin was accused of murdering an innocent Anne Clark. Innocent is a loose word for slow. It is unclear why Martin was attracted to Clark. He was engaged to a pretty woman with prospects. He would get a large dowry and would be set for life. Yet he wooed the frumpy Clark and met up with her several times. Pretty soon, his engagement ended and Martin blamed Clark for his misfortunes.

However although Martin is accused of killing Clark, her spirit remains. There has been some kind of sightings of her. Even Martin sees a strange vision in the courtroom.

Gatiss only uses a few sets, he keeps it sparse. A small room acts as the courtroom very much in keeping with the period. It is more eerie than chilling. There is very little by way of jump scares but there is an unsettling atmosphere.

I watched this as I am a fan of M. R. James.

Boy I now know I should have not bothered. Yes this has a high score on here but it was awful.

I cannot think of one good thing that this had in it.

I have now only started to catch up with all the horror shows on television over the Christmas holidays as I work over them.

Got to now watch Susan Hill' s Ghost Story and A Christmas Carol with Guy Pearce.

See I told you I could not think of anything good to say about this.

This production stays with the style of the story, and without that there would be no production. M.R. James is amazing, his ghost stories can scare me out of the house in the middle of the night, but they never do. That's what I like about them. When I've read (or listened) to one of his ghost stories, I'm never left wanting more from the story. Ive been entertained & then I'm respectfully left to myself and my own thoughts. This production does just that. I'm influenced by the fact that I've read the story several times. I wasn't left wondering or wanting at the end of the episode. The story line was understood. The humor in this production was equal to that of the story. It worked out right, that rarely happens in the story to screen conversion. I find that commendable. A ghost story for Christmas... is not meant to stick around, making you sick and hollow with fear.... it's something else, and it requires balance. This production kept that balance, not an easy thing to do these days.

No atmosphere, no scares, bland. That says it all.