Thursday 17 October 2013

What would you put on the telly?

Someone on Facebook (it was Paul Finch) came up with a good idea, which I am course stealing. He suggested a list of six classic stories and six contemporary stories that would make good TV shows for a late night horror slot. And his choices for the classics were pretty good, I'd say:
1 The Room In The Tower – E.F. Benson
2. Squire Toby’s Will – Sheridan Le Fanu
3 The Two Vaynes – L.P. Hartley
4 The Mezzotint – M.R. James
5 Mansize In Marble - E. Nesbitt
6 Thurnley Abbey – Perceval Landon
Interesting that they're all supernatural (or at least, I think the Hartley is, it's a long time since I've read it). I've been pondering some supernatural tales that might make good television. A lot depends on the script, direction, actors etc, so it's hard to say whether they would work. A story that leaps off the page might well resist adaptation. But for me these would be worth doing. 

1. 'Count Magnus' - M.R. James
2. 'Ancient Sorceries' - Algernon Blackwood
3. 'Blackham's Wimpey' - Robert Westall
4. 'Ringing the Changes' - Robert Aickman
5. 'The Mark of the Beast' - Rudyard Kipling
6. 'Carmilla' - Sheridan Le Fanu

What do you think? What stories, old or new, would you really like to see adapted for television?

3 comments:

Oscar Solis said...

Classic stories off the top of my head:

1. The Empty Schoolroom - Pamela Hansford Johnson
2. Wailing Well - M.R. James
3. The Hound - H.P. Lovecraft
4. An Episode of Cathedral History - M.R. James
5. Smee - A.M. Burrage
6. Revelations in Black - Carl Jacobi

I would have put in Casting the Runes but it's pretty hard to top Night of the Demon.

MRCosby said...

1. Three Miles Up by Elizabeth Jane Howard
2. The School Friend by Robert Aickman
3. The Shouting by LTC Rolt
4. Brenner's Boy by John Metcalfe
5. Three Degrees Over by Brian Aldiss
6. The Shadowy Third by Elizabeth Bowen

What a creepy lot!

valdemar said...

I recently re-read 'The School Friend'. How would you make that work on TV, I wonder? Intriguing...

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