Can mistakes in the past be rectified?

I’ll admit freely to going into Mark Gatiss’ new version of Antonia Barber’s The Ghosts and its 1972 movie incarnation wanting it to be good – the original film came out when I was nine and I made the hell of a fuss to be able to go and see it at the local cinema. The original Puffin book is still up on the shelves (alongside the new edition prepared for the Second Sight release of the film a few years back) and having the chance to chat with Rosalyn Landor about the movie’s creation was one of the great treats of doing this job.

Having had the chance to see the 2021 version on the big screen at the BFI, the TL:DR of this review is simply, this is a marvellous combination of homage and reinvention, talking elements from Barber’s original novel that weren’t part of the Naismith film (the current day setting), using some very clever ways to tell parts of the backstory that there simply wasn’t time for (as with his Doctor Who script, The Crimson Horror, Gatiss showing his knowledge of and love for the medium), and giving it the necessary updates to make it still work for a 2021 audience.

One of its greatest strengths is the casting – all five of the young leads give strong performances, and Simon Callow gives a hard edge to the “original” Blunden that makes the solicitor’s behaviour towards the youngsters more credible. Gatiss and Tamsin Greig are just the right side of pantomime villainy – there’s a confrontation towards the end that did make me wonder if Gatiss had elected to make things even more different for the denouement. (For fans of the original, some familiar faces turn up in the church scene – and having sat in front of a very excited Madeline Smith at the preview, I know the original actors obviously enjoyed being involved.)

A word also about the score – Blair Mowat doesn’t have an easy job, following in Elmer Bernstein’s footsteps, but provides an underpinning that amplifies the mood without trying to force the emotions (and there’s a lovely nod to the original just at the end, appropriately enough alongside Gatiss’ own nod in the closing credits).

Verdict: A beautifully told ghost story for Christmas… and beyond. 9/10

Paul Simpson