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Cinéclub PodcastAuthor: Joe Tindall
Film podcast based in Brighton, UK. cineclub.substack.com Language: en Genres: Film Interviews, TV & Film Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Episode #20 - A Ghost Story for Christmas B-sides w/ Ray Newman
Sunday, 7 December, 2025
The BBC’s A Ghost Story for Christmas series ran from 1971 to 1978, and there are just eight episodes. But there is also a whole constellation of other films that have a similar strange, unsettling atmosphere. This episode explores three such examples.My guest is Ray Newman, and our conversation was prompted by a blog post he wrote, listing a series of these A Ghost Story for Christmas-esque films. From this post we chose three films: 1979’s Casting the Runes, directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark, the main man behind the BBC series; Baby, an episode of Nigel Kneale’s 1976 series Beasts; and The Woman in Black from 1989, also written by Kneale and directed by Herbert Wise.Ray really knows his ghost stories, and recently published a second collection of his own, Intervals of Darkness, which we discuss at the end of the episode. Links to book, along with Ray’s original blog post and more can be found in the shownotes below.You can also find this podcast on…* Apple Podcasts* Pocket Casts* I will no longer be uploading podcasts to Spotify and have removed all previous episodes of the podcast from that platform. It’s something I’ve been meaning to do for ages, because Spotify is a transparently evil company that delights in ripping off musicians, promoting AI slop, and enabling genocide in Palestine.Shownotes* Buy issue 2 of the Cinéclub fanzine* 44 pages w/ articles on Conrad Rooks’ bizarre, star-studded countercultural artifact Chappaqua, some shorter pieces on punk and film, and an essay linking Bertrand Tavernier’s 1974 film The Watchmaker of St. Paul (also known as The Clockmaker of St. Paul) to Paul Vecchiali’s La Machine from 1977. DIY and sold on a not-for-profit basis at a cost that just covers the cost of printing: £2.50 plus postage. Shipping internationally.* Ray’s website* The infinite supply of BBC ghost stories for Christmas (also here as a list on Letterboxd)* Info on Intervals of Darkness* Derek Johnson’s book chapter The British Ghost Story at Christmas from his book Haunted Seasons: Television Ghost Stories for Christmas and Horror for Halloween - the source I used for background reading on the association between ghost stories and Christmas This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cineclub.substack.com
