Number 13

A visiting scholar lodges at an ancient inn while he trawls the manuscript collection of the local cathedral, only to find a connection that puts him in a deadly bind.

I'm in two minds about this: it elaborates on the original story to give a more joined up drama, but it loses much of the uncanny alienation that is the hallmark of M R James. The protagonist is loaded with characterisation and yet he's unlikeable, his task is given more detail and that sets up plot points that come to fruition later on, and the haunting is more conventional than the original, with a cheesy shadow passing across the unnecessary print of Bosch's painting The Garden Of Earthly Delights - I much prefer the weird shadow dancing cast by the light of the bedroom window in James' story.

It's well acted and well paced, and the post script is satisfying.

Overall - well done, but although the drama is improved it's an adaptation too far for fans of the author.