BBC’s classic M.R. James ghost stories coming to BritBox this Christmas

BritBox is adding a collection of spooky Christmas dramas next month.

The subscription streaming service from BBC Studios and ITV offers viewers in the US and Canada the biggest collection of streaming British television.

This festive season BritBox in North America will be getting us in the Christmas “spirit” with a look back at the BBC’s classic A Ghost Story for Christmas adaptations.

Ghost stories at Christmas have been a tradition in the UK dating back centuries, most famously with the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present & Future in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

In the 1970s, the BBC used to make A Ghost Story for Christmas each year, adapting haunting stories based on the works of M.R. James.

Born in 1862, the English author redefined the ghost story genre and many of his tales were specifically written to be read aloud on Christmas Eve!

Sherlock and Dracula writer Mark Gatiss has revived the Ghost Story for Christmas tradition for the BBC in recent years, with several of his own M.R. James adaptations airing over the festive period.

Following his previous adaptations of Martin’s Close, The Dead Room, and The Tractate Middoth, Gatiss returns soon with another haunting tale for 2021.

The Mezzotint will have it’s North American premiere exclusively on BritBox.

Rory Kinnear (Skyfall) leads the cast, alongside Robert Bathurst (Downton Abbey), Frances Barber (Doctor Who), John Hopkins (Poldark), Emma Cunniffe (Unforgotten), Nikesh Patel (Indian Summers), and Tommaso Di Vincenzo (Dracula).

The official synopsis for The Mezzotint reads: “It’s 1922 and in the heart of an old English college, Edward Williams receives an engraving of an unknown country house. An imposing facade. A sweeping lawn. And, just perhaps, something else…?”

BritBox’s A Ghost For Christmas collection also includes ITV’s 2015 drama Midwinter of the Spirit, starring Anna Maxwell Martin (The Bletchley Circle), and three-part drama the BBC’s 2015 mini-series The Secret of Crickley Hall, starring Surrane Jones (Gentleman Jack).

Here’s the complete list of titles in the collection when it launches on Monday 20th December:

Martin’s Close
The Dead Room
The Tractate Middoth
A Ghost Story for Christmas: A View from a Hill
A Ghost Story for Christmas: A Warning to the Curious
A Ghost Story for Christmas: Lost Hearts’
A Ghost Story for Christmas: Number 13
A Ghost Story for Christmas: Stigma
A Ghost Story for Christmas: The Ash Tree 
A Ghost Story for Christmas: The Ice House
A Ghost Story for Christmas: The Signalman
A Ghost Story for Christmas: The Stalls of Barchester
A Ghost Story for Christmas: The Treasure of Abbot Thomas
A Ghost Story for Christmas: Whistle and I’ll Come to You
Bedlam
Midwinter of the Spirit
The Secret of Crickley Hall
The Small Hand: A Ghost Story
The Blue Boy

The Mezzotint will be added later in December.

Featuring the latest hits from the UK and much-loved telly classics from the past, BritBox is available for just $6.99 per month.

Amazon Prime members can also watch BritBox as an Amazon Channel and you can sign up for a free trial here!