General Witchfinders
41b - BBC Ghost Stories for Christmas: The Treasure of Abbot Thomas
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Episode notes
The Treasure of Abbot Thomas is a supernatural drama produced by the BBC as part of the A Ghost Story for Christmas series. Once again, directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark, the screenplay was written by John Bowen (Writer of the Series’The Guardians’ In a declining England of the 1980s, the UK has broken up and England is ruled by a fascist military force), with an atmospheric musical score by Geoffrey Burgon (Who also created the music for the BBC Narnia series and Monty Python’s the Life of Brian). It is based on the 1904 short story "The Treasure of Abbot Thomas" by M.R. James, the drama was originally broadcast on December 23, 1974.
The drama starred Podcast Hero, Michael Bryant as Rev. Justin Somerton. As listeners will remember, Bryant was one of the stars of the classic BBC television play The Stone Tape (made only two years previous to his appearance in this film), in which he played the leader of a team of scientists who investigate ghost sightings in a brooding Gothic mansion.
The film also features:
Paul Lavers as Peter, Lord Dattering, who appeared in the Fourth Doctor adventure "The Androids of Tara."
Frank Mills as Mr. Tyson, known for being considered for the role of one of the security guards in the film "Lifeforce."
John Herrington as Abbot Thomas, who had small roles in the television versions of "Quatermass 2" and "Quatermass and the Pit," as well as two Doctor Who television stories: as Rhynmal in "The Daleks' Master Plan" and Jim Holden in "Colony in Space."
Sheila Dunn as Mrs. Tyson and Virginia Balfour as Lady Dattering also appear in the film.
Although James's original story was set in Germany, for budgetary reasons, the television version was relocated to England. Clark used the grounds of Wells Cathedral in Somerset for the entrance to the well where Abbot Thomas hid his treasure. Wells Cathedral Chapter House and its adjoining steps were also used in various scenes.
Regarding "The Treasure of Abbot Thomas," Clark recalls John Bowen's script "took some liberties with the story—which made it for the better, I think...It's really quite a funny story until it gets nasty, although the threat is always there. James has a mordant sense of humour, and it's good to translate that into cinematic terms when you can. I'd always wanted to do a medium scene, and John came up with a beauty."
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