General Witchfinders

41a - BBC Ghost Stories for Christmas: The Stalls of Barchester

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Episode notes

The Stalls of Barchester was first broadcast on BBC 1 at 11:00 pm on December 24, 1971. It is based on the story "The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral" from the 1911 collection More Ghost Stories by M. R. James, it was adapted, produced, and directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark, who directed every BBC Ghost Stories for Christmas between 1971 and 1977. Can you name them all, Jon?

  1. The Stalls of Barchester (1971)
  2. A Warning to the Curious (1972)
  3. Lost Hearts (1973)
  4. The Treasure of Abbot Thomas (1974)
  5. The Ash Tree (1975)
  6. The Signalman (1976)
  7. Stigma (1977)

The cast of The Stalls of Barchester includes several actors now better known for their roles in situation comedies or lighter dramas:

Clive (Richard Bucket) Swift as Dr. Black (a character who does not appear in the original story). As we have mentioned before, he has had two appearances in Doctor Who of which he was not particularly pleased, so we will only mention them again. Of his appearance in the 2007 Doctor Who Christmas special, Swift declared, "It wasn't until we'd been filming for two weeks that I realized that Mr. Copper is an alien!" And having been asked about his appearance in Revelation of the Daleks (1985), he said, "It was the most bizarre entertainment I have ever been part of."

Will Leighton as the cathedral librarian. He also appeared in the previously discussed film, An American Werewolf in London, as one of the Tramps that get killed by David.

Robert Hardy as Dr. Haynes. Hardy's birth name was Timothy Sidney Robert Hardy, his nickname being 'Tim'. He has played British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in six separate films, and has also twice played Winston Churchill's World War II ally and friend, American President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Thelma Barlow as Letitia Haynes. Famous for her part of Mavis Riley in Coronation Street, her first episode was transmitted in 1971, but her character only appeared regularly from 1973, when she joined the staff of "The Kabin". She remained in the series for 26 years, appearing in nearly 2,000 episodes.

Harold Bennett as Archdeacon Pulteney. Not Pountney as Ross kept hearing. Best known as the lecherous, octogenarian 'Young Mr. Grace' in the long-running comedy series Are You Being Served?, Bennett had a career as an architect and only became an actor when he retired.

Erik Chitty as the priest. Seen in Doctor Who: The Deadly Assassin as Engin the Time Lord Coordinator of the Matrix

David Pugh as John and Ambrose Coghill as museum curator

The adaptation was filmed on location at Norwich Cathedral and the surrounding cathedral close. Unusual for a BBC television drama of the 1970s, both interior and exteriors in The Stalls of Barchester were originated on 16 mm film, as opposed to the standard studio videotape for interiors.



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