It's about the year 1900, and Bernard Lloyd is walking in the country, after a long confinement. He sees Denholm Elliott a signalman on the Great Western line, below in a cut between a railroad tunnel and his signal house. When Lloyd calls out, Elliott is startled, a bit wary. He goes down to speak with the worker, and recognizes the man is troubled. After another visit, Elliott confides that he is haunted. There have been two visions, one foretelling a disaster that has already taken place, but the second still still to come. Lloyd urges him to rationality, and to simply do his duty, which the afflicted man finds comforting.
It's based on Charles Dickens' short story of the same title, first published in 1866, well produced, adapted by Andrew Davies, and with Elliott adopting a West Country accent well suited to a piratical role, and a demeanor that can aptly be described as "haunted." It's not a long piece, timing in at 38 minutes, but that's one of the things that TV can occasionally do that the movies cannot, now that a film "program" no longer exists: tell a short story without padding it out past all shape, like padding O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi" to 75 minutes with subplots, musical numbers and extraneous details, or W. W. Jacobs' "The Monkey's Paw" to 91. This one is told at the right length, with a good cast and crew.
It's based on Charles Dickens' short story of the same title, first published in 1866, well produced, adapted by Andrew Davies, and with Elliott adopting a West Country accent well suited to a piratical role, and a demeanor that can aptly be described as "haunted." It's not a long piece, timing in at 38 minutes, but that's one of the things that TV can occasionally do that the movies cannot, now that a film "program" no longer exists: tell a short story without padding it out past all shape, like padding O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi" to 75 minutes with subplots, musical numbers and extraneous details, or W. W. Jacobs' "The Monkey's Paw" to 91. This one is told at the right length, with a good cast and crew.