These days Christmas TV isn’t scary. It’s all willowy-voiced renditions of classic anthems and children dressed like millionaires using iPads as sledges. There’s no fear to cut through the festive treacle.

Yet a ghost story at Christmas is as traditional as a crowd of villagers gazing at a convoy of lorries filled with fizzy pop. So it’s a thrill to see BBC Two return the ‘Ghost Story for Christmas’ to the schedules, and that horror aficionado Mark Gatiss is the man behind the resurrection.