The Signalman (film)

The Signalman
Title screen, showing the cutting and the signal box.
Based on"The Signal-Man"
by Charles Dickens
Written byAndrew Davies
Directed byLawrence Gordon Clark
Starring
Production
ProducerRosemary Hill
Running time38 minutes
Original release
Release22 December 1976 (1976-12-22)
Related
A Ghost Story for Christmas
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

The Signalman is a short film which is part of the British supernatural anthology series A Ghost Story for Christmas. Written by Andrew Davies, produced by Rosemary Hill, and directed by the series' creator, Lawrence Gordon Clark, it is based on the ghost story "The Signal-Man" (1866) by Charles Dickens, and first aired on BBC1 on 22 December 1976, the earliest airdate in the series relative to Christmas.

It stars Denholm Elliott as a lone signalman who is visited by a traveller (Bernard Lloyd). The signalman reveals that he is being haunted by a spectre which has appeared at the entrance of the tunnel next to his signal box, and these visions begin to likewise trouble the traveller in his sleep.

"The Signalman" is the first instalment in the series not to be based on a story by M. R. James, and the last of the original run to be based on a pre-existing work. For this reason it is the first in which the series' title appears on-screen before the episode title, despite having been used in the Radio Times listings since the series' inception. Producer Rosemary Hill hoped to move the series in a more contemporary direction as opposed to the period settings of the James stories, though "The Signal-Man" was a story both she and Clark enjoyed, and so was picked as a compromise.

SInce airing it has received critical acclaim, being widely regarded as the best episode in the series and one of the greatest works of horror television ever made.[1][2]

  1. ^ Rolinson, Dave, The Signalman at the BFI's Screenonline. Retrieved 2010-07-07.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference farquar was invoked but never defined (see the help page).