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grondficIt's been a season full of rich and varied fare on tv this Yule. In fact, so packed were the schedules that there was stuff we had to abandon or miss; and there's still a lot that we have to catch up on via recording or iPlayer.
So here is the pick of what we saw, starting with the plethora of Christmas Ghosts that were on offer. There were indeed so many of THEM that I've had to divide them; and take the formidable contributions of Mark Gatiss first:
A Ghost Story for Christmas: Count Magnus (BBC2)
WARNING FOR SPOILERS if you intend to catch up on this one
This was one of Gatiss' two seasonal offerings; this one being his increasingly-regular M R James adaptation.
Whilst last year's Mezzotint suffered from excess-Gatiss/insufficient-James, this one was curiously gutless, in spite of sticking fairly straightly to the original plot. Ironically, my main complaint about last year (cf. A Christmas Carol below) was the overegging of the 'fright-factor'; whereas this year, my main beef has been that the denouement fizzled out after a creepy buildup, and the Gatissian Twist was shoehorned in so rapidly that it was easily missed!
To be fair, some of the lacklustre-ness can be laid at M R James' door. It's not one of his best efforts; and his denouement is a bit of a fizzle too. Even so - his words speak horrors more succinctly than the adaptation's visuals.
As per usual, none of this is the fault of the actors. Jason Watkins is perfect as the fussy, sneakily-inquisitive antiquarian Wraxall. MyAnna Buring is suitably melancholy but mysterious as the last widow of the last De La Gardie, whose ancestor, Count Magnus, is the subject of so much fear and speculation; and Jamal Ajala is subtly unnerving as her solitary deaf servant.
The innkeeper where Mr Wraxall is staying reluctantly contributes his Count Magnus story. Herr Neilsen (Max Bremer) does his best to deter his guest by describing the awful death of a local disbelieving youth who had gone into the forest to challenge the Count Magnus 'myth'. We are shown the scene from Neilsen's story; and this provides the one Shock! Horror! of the piece. The impetuous youth's face is revealed as totally devoid of skin. Eek!
In spite of everyone's efforts, Wraxall continues his research; discovering that the Count had undertaken a 'black pilrimage' to Chorazin; returning with a mysterious 'companion'. The unheeding antiquary then breaks into Magnus' mausoleum and discovers that there are three heavy padlocks around the tomb to prevent anything erupting from it. On subsequent visits he notes that, one by one, the padlocks are falling off...
So on now to the Gatissism!
Krister Henriksson is listed as the Narrator of the piece. At the end, after poor old Wraxall has paid the horrid price for his nosiness and tomb-trespass (presumably face-de-skinning at the tentacles of the mysterious 'companion', partially revealed after the fall of the third padlock), we return to the Count's mausoleum to see a modern setting, with two naive backpackers breaking in. The Narrator continues his commentary, and, as the piece ends he indicates that HE has been Count Magnus throughout, telling us his own tale from the grave. He has, after a fashion, achieved eternal life via the 'companion'; but to do that - to keep them both 'alive', there has to be a steady stream of over-inquisitive idiots to de-face! Blink (or close your ears) and you'll miss this vital piece of information!
A Christmas Carol, a Ghost Story (BBC4)
This Christmas Carol, adapted by Gatiss, and featuring him as Marley, was live-filmed at Alexandra Palace where it played pre-Christmas 2021. We saw it onstage at the time; and my review is below (also one of The Mezzotint, cf. Count Magnus above). Just for the record, it's one of the best interpretations of Dickens' original that I've ever seen:
https://grondfic.dreamwidth.org/31739.html
Whilst doing these linked write-ups, I've just realised that Gatiss has used the same trope in both the play and the story! In both cases the 'Narrator' turns out to be a vital player in each plotline - Tiny Tim in the play, and Count Magnus himself in his own tale.
So good he did it twice? In my opinion it worked well ONCE! No prizes for guessing ...
So here is the pick of what we saw, starting with the plethora of Christmas Ghosts that were on offer. There were indeed so many of THEM that I've had to divide them; and take the formidable contributions of Mark Gatiss first:
A Ghost Story for Christmas: Count Magnus (BBC2)
WARNING FOR SPOILERS if you intend to catch up on this one
This was one of Gatiss' two seasonal offerings; this one being his increasingly-regular M R James adaptation.
Whilst last year's Mezzotint suffered from excess-Gatiss/insufficient-James, this one was curiously gutless, in spite of sticking fairly straightly to the original plot. Ironically, my main complaint about last year (cf. A Christmas Carol below) was the overegging of the 'fright-factor'; whereas this year, my main beef has been that the denouement fizzled out after a creepy buildup, and the Gatissian Twist was shoehorned in so rapidly that it was easily missed!
To be fair, some of the lacklustre-ness can be laid at M R James' door. It's not one of his best efforts; and his denouement is a bit of a fizzle too. Even so - his words speak horrors more succinctly than the adaptation's visuals.
As per usual, none of this is the fault of the actors. Jason Watkins is perfect as the fussy, sneakily-inquisitive antiquarian Wraxall. MyAnna Buring is suitably melancholy but mysterious as the last widow of the last De La Gardie, whose ancestor, Count Magnus, is the subject of so much fear and speculation; and Jamal Ajala is subtly unnerving as her solitary deaf servant.
The innkeeper where Mr Wraxall is staying reluctantly contributes his Count Magnus story. Herr Neilsen (Max Bremer) does his best to deter his guest by describing the awful death of a local disbelieving youth who had gone into the forest to challenge the Count Magnus 'myth'. We are shown the scene from Neilsen's story; and this provides the one Shock! Horror! of the piece. The impetuous youth's face is revealed as totally devoid of skin. Eek!
In spite of everyone's efforts, Wraxall continues his research; discovering that the Count had undertaken a 'black pilrimage' to Chorazin; returning with a mysterious 'companion'. The unheeding antiquary then breaks into Magnus' mausoleum and discovers that there are three heavy padlocks around the tomb to prevent anything erupting from it. On subsequent visits he notes that, one by one, the padlocks are falling off...
So on now to the Gatissism!
Krister Henriksson is listed as the Narrator of the piece. At the end, after poor old Wraxall has paid the horrid price for his nosiness and tomb-trespass (presumably face-de-skinning at the tentacles of the mysterious 'companion', partially revealed after the fall of the third padlock), we return to the Count's mausoleum to see a modern setting, with two naive backpackers breaking in. The Narrator continues his commentary, and, as the piece ends he indicates that HE has been Count Magnus throughout, telling us his own tale from the grave. He has, after a fashion, achieved eternal life via the 'companion'; but to do that - to keep them both 'alive', there has to be a steady stream of over-inquisitive idiots to de-face! Blink (or close your ears) and you'll miss this vital piece of information!
A Christmas Carol, a Ghost Story (BBC4)
This Christmas Carol, adapted by Gatiss, and featuring him as Marley, was live-filmed at Alexandra Palace where it played pre-Christmas 2021. We saw it onstage at the time; and my review is below (also one of The Mezzotint, cf. Count Magnus above). Just for the record, it's one of the best interpretations of Dickens' original that I've ever seen:
https://grondfic.dreamwidth.org/31739.html
Whilst doing these linked write-ups, I've just realised that Gatiss has used the same trope in both the play and the story! In both cases the 'Narrator' turns out to be a vital player in each plotline - Tiny Tim in the play, and Count Magnus himself in his own tale.
So good he did it twice? In my opinion it worked well ONCE! No prizes for guessing ...
