Quarter 1 Reviews- 008 Horror- Old

008 Horror – Old

There were several good stories in the Ghosts from the Past series from 1992, so here are my two favorites.  “Black Stockings and Broken Mirrors” was Bernadette Crosthwaite’s first radio script. Maureen O’Brien is convincing as a young wife whose proximity to a house where a woman was murdered brings to mind immediately the claustrophobic suburbia of The Snowman Killing.  However, this character is not haunted by ghosts, as such; rather by the deeds she did, which manifest in her delusions surrounding her new neighbour (Margot Boyd). An effective and disturbing piece of drama.  It was directed by Martin Jenkins.  “A Warden for All Saints” was adapted by Gerry Jones from a story by HS Bahbra.  It was especially suited to an aural medium, nicely combining visual and tactile horrors with ones that were creepily aural.  What could be more quintessentially English than a ghost story set in an archaic Oxbridge college?  James Montague (Benjamin Whitrow) is a devoted member of his old college, All Saints, and when the election for a new warden takes center stage, he ensures that not only does it escape the tongue-wagging speculation of the gutter press but also throws his weight, finally, behind his friend, unassuming Simon Evans (John Rowe).  All of this voting, campaigning and manuevering has clear parallels with how Popes are elected, and as such is redolent of the otherworldly.  There is one female candidate for warden, but we never hear from her and indeed, I don’t think there’s a single female speaking role in this drama.  It’s a very old-fashioned world that nevertheless still existed in 1992 and must still do, in some pockets, to this day.  However, when Simon Evans wins the wardenship, he is unprepared for what his rival, Matthew Moors (Keith Drinkel), is willing to do to reclaim the job that he has been working his entire life towards. It’s well-written and plotted, giving a glimpse into a rarefied world that to most of us is as foreign as the Moon.  It’s also well-cast and quite scary in places.