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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Entertainment
Sean O'Grady

A Ghost Story for Christmas: The Room in the Tower review – Joanna Lumley does not hold back

I have to admit I’ve been enthralled by the BBC’s wonderful A Ghost Story for Christmas series ever since I was old enough to stay up to watch, and to be troubled by, “The Signalman”, a relatively early edition broadcast in (looks it up on Wikipedia) crikey, 1976. Compared with the Hammer movies that were shown so often on late-evening telly at the time, these adaptations of classic ghost stories were infinitely more chilling than the various antics of Frankenstein’s monster, the Mummy, and dear old Count Dracula. It’s the difference between horror and terror, I suppose – camp versus insidious.

“The Signalman” is a tale I only vaguely recall, but have never completely forgotten. Nigel Farage, I might add, isn’t the only one to find himself haunted by nasty things that happened (or not) some 49 years ago.

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