A View From A Hill

The penultimate entry in the 'Ghost Story for Christmas' BBC series is about, of all things...a bewitched pair of binoculars! A museum curator uses these binoculars to see scenes from the past. Its quite a good idea, although these newer digital instalments, with their sharper image, do lack the fuzziness of the older shot-on-film entries and have a slightly more sterilized feel, while they also seem to be operating on a tighter budget. Still, the basic idea of the piece is distinctive enough.

This latter-day entry in the British TV horror series is actually not too bad, though its style is essentially flatter than previous vintage ghost stories. It is yet another M.R. James adaptation which sees a young man staying at an inn who happens upon an old pair of binoculars among the bric-a-brac in a closet; the landlord, knowledgeable of a curse attached to them, attempts to dissuade him from keeping the 'relic' but, as always in such tales, the hero has to find out for himself – and to his ultimate dismay – just what possessing the binoculars entails. In fact, watching through them allows an old cathedral (which has been torn down over the years, possibly in view of its evil influence) to 'materialize'; at first, he is intrigued by this curious occurrence…but it all turns serious very soon when a shadowy figure he notices within the 'scene' begins to move about and is apparently out to get him!

This was clearly made for the fans, with 'nods' towards Lawrence Gordon Clark. It would be churlish to complain about the production being too respectful. It does fit nicely into the old series and the formulaic aspect can to some extent be laid at the door of James himself. Having said that, If the BBC were to make more I hope they don't fall into the trap they did before by moving away from MR James to contemporary stories that fail to resonate. There are plenty of his works still left to adapt.

Some have complained of the modern editing of this new edition to the series, but I liked the way it made me jump. It is beautifully shot and kudos to Pip Torrens as the supercilious Squire Richards, who in looks and words reminded me of Hugh Laurie's great turn in 'Sense and Sensibilty' as Mr Palmer.

I must confess to not having read the original M R James story although I have read many of his other supernatural tales. I've also seen most of the previous BBC Christmas Ghost Stories and this one, in my opinion, surpasses most of them, only equalling The Signalman.

I can't really fault A View From a Hill - the direction and 'mood' is perfect, as is the acting, lighting and, of course, the story and writing. I thoroughly enjoyed this and can only hope for more of this quality from the same director and production team. I understand that the BBC plan to make some more (not necessarily based on M R James stories) so that's promising.

10/10

In 2005 the BBC revived A Ghost Story for Christmas that were so effective in the 1970s.

Dr Fanshawe an archaeologist arrives at the home of Squire Richards (Pip Torrens) and his surly butler Patten (David Burke.) He is meant to catalogue some items that the squire is selling off.

He borrows a pair of binoculars that were made by a strange local man called Baxter. Patten tells Fanshawe that Baxter became obsessed with an old Abbey and dug up the bones of the hanged men in Gallows Hill next to it.

The Abbey is now a ruin but Fanshawe can see the Abbey when looking through the binoculars.

He later thinks that a shadowy figure is haunting him. Fanshawe certainly becomes haunted for an inexplicable reason.

Bristling with atmosphere. The colour is supplied by the performances of Torrens and Burke. Apart from the eeriness, it does not amount to anything more. It is almost there was a pattern to these MR James stories.