Mark Gatiss brings his seventh A Ghost Story for Christmas, adapting E. Nesbit’s Man-Size in Marble into Woman of Stone.
Festive chillers are once again a Christmas tradition, with director Mark Gatiss crafting annual treats for the last seven years.
The Christmas Eve offering for 2024 draws on Man-Size in Marble and features statues of knights which come to life.
Once again, Gatiss has marshaled an impressive cast. Woman of Stone stars Éanna Hardwicke (The Sixth Commandment) as Jack Lorimer; Phoebe Horn (The Motive and the Cue) as Laura Lorimer; Celia Imrie (The Thursday Murder Club) as Edith Nesbit; Monica Dolan (Sherwood) as Mrs Dorman; and Mawaan Rizwan (Juice) as Dr. Zubin.
Mark Gatiss has spoken about the story:
“E. Nesbit’s Man-Size in Marble was the first ghost story I ever read, and it left a profound impression on me. I even referenced it in an episode of Doctor Who which I wrote for Peter Capaldi! I’ve wanted to adapt it before but the cost of constructing the marble tomb effigies was always slightly beyond us. Happily, this year we got a little cash injection which made it possible. Also, because last year’s story by Arthur Conan Doyle was entirely and deliberately male I wanted a stark contrast. Nesbit was an incredible woman and a fascinating writer. The adaptation is called Woman of Stone as I’ve tried to draw out what I think are the themes of the story.”
He also talks about the writer, best known for her children’s stories like The Railway Children
“E. Nesbit was a remarkable woman. A founding member of the Fabian Society, bohemian and free-thinker she was a formidable and eccentric presence in many people’s lives, including H. G. Wells and George Bernard Shaw. I devoured Eleanor Fitzsimon’s brilliant biography and this gave me the idea of bookending the story with Edith Nesbit herself, telling the story somewhat more from her own perspective. There’s an extraordinary real-life incident in which the young Edith was taken to see some ‘mummies’ in France and the horror of it never left her. In fact it left her with a fear of inanimate things coming to life which is at the heart of the story.”
Here’s the synopsis for Woman of Stone
In her final days, author Edith Nesbit recounts the chilling tale of newlywed Victorians Jack and Laura. The couple are settling into a small cottage in a quiet village when their idyll is overshadowed by the superstitious warnings of their housekeeper, Mrs Dorman, and the legend of the village church’s tomb effigies – a pair of marble knights who are said to rise from their slabs on Christmas Eve…
Jack dismisses this is as mere folklore. But as the fateful night draws near, he feels drawn to the church, leaving Laura at home, all alone.
Written and directed by Mark Gatiss, A Ghost Story for Christmas: Woman of Stone is an Adorable Media production. The Producer is Isibeal Ballance.
It airs at 10:15 pm on Tuesday, December 24th on BBC Two and the iPlayer.