Gothic, silly and wonderful: "A Ghost Story for Christmas: Lot No 249"

Mark Gatiss is continuing the seasonal ghost story tradition with an Arthur Conan Doyle adaptation, starring Kit Harington and Freddie Fox.

Dec 26, 2023 - 14:06
Dec 26, 2023 - 15:26
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Gothic, silly and wonderful: "A Ghost Story for Christmas: Lot No 249"

You don't know what to watch, and you're not in the mood for the usual titles you spin every year this holiday season. Maybe we can help. We were actually preparing the Christmas list for today and as a result of searching for some information, we came across very good reviews for "Lot No. 249". As we are tired of the same or slightly expanded Christmas titles, we gave up this year's list and decided to write an announcement for "Lot No. 249".

If you have a question mark above your head, you don't need to worry, because this slipped under the radar for us too. And what is it actually about? It is about this year's BBC special "A Ghost Story For Christmas", which combines Christmas and the supernatural, as part of the long-standing anthology series. The series revives the Victorian tradition of telling supernatural stories to celebrate the holidays, but through the prism of TV instead of being whispered by the fire.

"Lot no. 249" is an adaptation of the short horror story of the same name by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The director and screenwriter of the special is Mark Gatiss (The League of Gentlemen, Sherlock), who has been adapting popular horror stories for "A Ghost Story for Christmas" since 2013. Before this latest special, he also adapted/created and directed five other series titles: 2013's "The Tractate Middoth", 2018's "The Dead Room", 2019's "Martin's Close", 2021 's "The Mezzotint", and 2022's "Count Magnus". All these titles, except for "The Dead Room", are taken from the original works of MR James, while "Lot No. 249" is  Doyle's first story as part of an anthology series. The production team for "Lot No. 249" reunites director of photography Kieran McGuigan of Mezzotinta and composer Blair Mowat of Mezzotinta.

"Lot no. 249" follows a group of Oxford students, one of whom embarks on an investigation into the secrets of ancient Egypt and becomes the main topic of conversation at college. Could these experiments breathe life into the hideous bag of bones that is the mysterious "Lot. But. 249"?

The main roles are played by Kit Harington as Abercrombie Smith, Freddie Fox as Edward Bellingham and Colin Ryan as Monkhouse Lee, while other roles include John Heffernan (Dickensian) as The Friend, James Swanton (Stopmotion) as The Mummy, Jonathan Rigby (Father Brown ) as Styles and Andrew Horton (Jupiter's Legacy) as Long Norton.

The special premiered on December 24 on the BBC Two channel and the BBC iPlayer platform.

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Post By: Vanessa F.