Martin's Close

I like the idea that ghost stories and Christmas are intertwined and I was looking forward to this version of M.R James' story written and directed by Mark Gatiss. I watched "The Dead Room" last year and found that a passable short - but this one didn't work for me.

John Martin (Wilf Scolding) is on trial for the murder of village girl Ann (Jessica Temple) with whom he's being spending his time, at the expense of his reputation. Up before Judge Jeffreys (Elliot Levey) and already fearing the outcome, his case take a turn for the bizarre when the Prosecutor (Peter Capaldi) professes that the victim has been seen, since the murder.

What can I say, the performances were fine and the setting was OK. But I don't feel like the story was scary, funny or clever enough to warrant its telling. I assumed the meta element of having Simon Williams telling the story contemporarily was going to pay back into it somehow, but it didn't..

Nothing technically wrong, just a little underwhelming.

John Martin is up before a Judge, and twelve good men and true, for the murder of Ann Clark, a poor woman and easy target.

Nicely made, very well acted, just a bit on the slow side. In the same style as the great stories from yesteryear, just lacking the depth and shock factor of say, The Signalman.

Peter Capaldi was of course a big draw, and does indeed have star quality, Wild Scolding I thought was terrific as the man on trial.

I did enjoy it, if I'm honest I would say it was just a little dull, they could have added some horror, or even a few minor scares.

Enjoyable though. 6/10

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.

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.

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.