Between 1971 and 1978 the BBC used to dramatise a ghost story every year under the title "A Ghost Story for Christmas". The first five entries in the series were all based upon tales by that great master of the genre, M. R. James. The ghost story for Christmas 1976 was an adaptation of Charles Dickens's "The Signal-Man", and the offerings for 1977 and 1978 were original stories.
The television version of Dickens's story uses the variant spelling "The Signalman". Dickens wrote his story shortly after he had been involved in the Staplehurst rail disaster of 1865 in which ten people died. Although he survived physically uninjured, he was deeply scarred psychologically by the event. (Some people have found it significant that he died on 9th June 1870, the fifth anniversary of the disaster). Dickens may also have been influenced by another railway disaster of the 1860s, the Clayton Tunnel Crash of 1861.
An unnamed traveller meets a signalman (also unnamed) who works in a signal box close to a tunnel. Although the Signalman initially appears shy and strangely fearful, he invites the Traveller into his signal box and the two begin talking. During another conversation the following evening he eventually tells the traveller what is worrying him. He believes that his stretch of track is haunted by a ghostly figure who can be seen hiding his face with one arm and waving with the other. The ghost also has the power to ring his signal bell in a way which only he can hear. The Signalman believes that the ringing of the bell and the ghost's appearances foretell some coming disaster; it was seen shortly before a collision in the tunnel which killed several people, and again before an incident in which a young woman fell to her death from a train window. The ghost has now been seen for a third time, leaving the Signalman in a terrible dilemma. He fears that another catastrophe is imminent, yet knows that if he tries to warn the authorities they will regard him as a lunatic and dismiss him from his position.
An atmospheric setting was often an important element of the "Ghost Story for Christmas" series; in "The Stalls of Barchester" it was an English cathedral city, in "A Warning to the Curious" the wintry Norfolk countryside and in "Lost Hearts" an elegant Lincolnshire stately home. Here the Signalman's box is situated at the bottom of a deep railway cutting, giving a remarkably claustrophobic feeling to the story and emphasising his separation from the rest of society. Another excellent feature of "The Signalman" is the acting; Bernard Lloyd is good as the Traveller, and Denholm Elliott excellent as the Signalman, a decent but lonely and isolate figure, terrified by an approaching fate which he knows he cannot escape.
It is a long time since I last read Dickens's story, but I vividly remember the first time I came across it as a boy, when it struck me as one of the most frightening things I had ever read. The television adaptation succeeds in capturing a lot of what made it so frightening, especially the sense of impending doom hanging over the blameless Signalman. An excellent ghost story for Christmas.
The television version of Dickens's story uses the variant spelling "The Signalman". Dickens wrote his story shortly after he had been involved in the Staplehurst rail disaster of 1865 in which ten people died. Although he survived physically uninjured, he was deeply scarred psychologically by the event. (Some people have found it significant that he died on 9th June 1870, the fifth anniversary of the disaster). Dickens may also have been influenced by another railway disaster of the 1860s, the Clayton Tunnel Crash of 1861.
An unnamed traveller meets a signalman (also unnamed) who works in a signal box close to a tunnel. Although the Signalman initially appears shy and strangely fearful, he invites the Traveller into his signal box and the two begin talking. During another conversation the following evening he eventually tells the traveller what is worrying him. He believes that his stretch of track is haunted by a ghostly figure who can be seen hiding his face with one arm and waving with the other. The ghost also has the power to ring his signal bell in a way which only he can hear. The Signalman believes that the ringing of the bell and the ghost's appearances foretell some coming disaster; it was seen shortly before a collision in the tunnel which killed several people, and again before an incident in which a young woman fell to her death from a train window. The ghost has now been seen for a third time, leaving the Signalman in a terrible dilemma. He fears that another catastrophe is imminent, yet knows that if he tries to warn the authorities they will regard him as a lunatic and dismiss him from his position.
An atmospheric setting was often an important element of the "Ghost Story for Christmas" series; in "The Stalls of Barchester" it was an English cathedral city, in "A Warning to the Curious" the wintry Norfolk countryside and in "Lost Hearts" an elegant Lincolnshire stately home. Here the Signalman's box is situated at the bottom of a deep railway cutting, giving a remarkably claustrophobic feeling to the story and emphasising his separation from the rest of society. Another excellent feature of "The Signalman" is the acting; Bernard Lloyd is good as the Traveller, and Denholm Elliott excellent as the Signalman, a decent but lonely and isolate figure, terrified by an approaching fate which he knows he cannot escape.
It is a long time since I last read Dickens's story, but I vividly remember the first time I came across it as a boy, when it struck me as one of the most frightening things I had ever read. The television adaptation succeeds in capturing a lot of what made it so frightening, especially the sense of impending doom hanging over the blameless Signalman. An excellent ghost story for Christmas.