Tom Dooley Made by the BBC in 2006 this is a classic tale from legendary ghost story writer M.R. James. Professor Anderson is an ecclesiastical scholar and historian from Oxford University. He has come to a rural Cathedral town to examine the authenticity and worth of the Cathedral's papers and that of some recent finds.He is staying at a very old Hotel with wood panelling, beams some interesting guests and night noises that always seem to emanate from the next room. Then he discovers that the town has a secret past in which one very unpopular Bishop was accused of being in league with Satan and operating from a particular house. He finds it intriguing but hardly anything to be taken seriously – or so he thinks...Now this is just creepy enough to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. It uses noise and shadows to conjure up the requisite fear and is done so in a way that belies the less than subtle approach. Still I much prefer techniques like this than modern slasher or scream ones that seem to be so popular. The period detail and acting is all top notch and I wish we still made them like this – completely recommended.

begob A visiting scholar lodges at an ancient inn while he trawls the manuscript collection of the local cathedral, only to find a connection that puts him in a deadly bind.I'm in two minds about this: it elaborates on the original story to give a more joined up drama, but it loses much of the uncanny alienation that is the hallmark of M R James. The protagonist is loaded with characterisation and yet he's unlikeable, his task is given more detail and that sets up plot points that come to fruition later on, and the haunting is more conventional than the original, with a cheesy shadow passing across the unnecessary print of Bosch's painting The Garden Of Earthly Delights - I much prefer the weird shadow dancing cast by the light of the bedroom window in James' story.It's well acted and well paced, and the post script is satisfying.Overall - well done, but although the drama is improved it's an adaptation too far for fans of the author.

jc-osms M.R. James is considered the best ghost short-story teller of all so that all it takes to tell an effective tale is to follow the source and that's just what is done here. Period detail, interior sets, costumes and language are all intact here in this spooky teller of the mysterious room 13 in a small hotel the dark secret behind which flares up into life when an innocent ecclesiastical scholar comes across a secret note in his research. The other-worldly effects aren't overdone, with no great special effects employed to convey the other-worldly visitation, merely some shadow-play, lighting effects and off- camera sound effects, but this is in keeping with the general, unspectacular tenor of the piece, saving the viewer's imagination to do its own work, which is as it should be. My only carp with the story is that in the end-up three parties enter the foreboding Room 13 at once, when any horror scholar will tell you that this should be done by one party acting alone. All of the acting was solid and without histrionics and the neat twist at the end which explained the sudden disappearance of a previous scholar at the same hotel was a good finishing touch.

keysersoze13 BBC Four continue their excellent form in drama with an adaptation of this MR James short story. This was a Christmas treat that perhaps continues a new tradition for the channel's Christmas output, after last year's MR James adaptation 'View From A Hill'.'Number 13' was simple, pleasurable entertainment; delivered in 40 minutes of suspenseful storytelling. The story was simple, with he mystery coming from the fact that room 13 does not exist, but can be heard by Greg Wise, in the lead role.There was very little to 'Number 13'. It was a short and enjoyable Victorian ghost story, something that should be welcome as an annual fixture for BBC Four.