Classic chiller The Tractate Middoth will be written and directed by Gatiss, bringing “his distinctive wit and sense of the macabre to bear on one of James’s most thrilling tales, involving a disputed will, a race against time, and something very unpleasant lurking in the library”.

The accompanying documentary, Ghost Writer, sees Gatiss step into the mind of MR James. A long-time admirer of James, Mark will try to solve one of the great literary mysteries: how this donnish Victorian bachelor, conservative by nature and a devout Anglican, created tales that continue to chill readers a century on.

Gatiss will journey from James’s childhood home in Suffolk to Eton and on to King’s College, Cambridge, the two institutions where James spent most of his life, visiting ancient churches, moonlit quadrangles and echoing libraries along the way.

Janice Hadlow, Controller of BBC Two, commented: “It’s a pleasure to bring Mark Gatiss back to BBC Two with a new look at one of Britain’s genre defining writers…”

Are you looking forward to The Tractate Middoth and Ghost Writer? Let us know below…