The Conception of Terror: A Modern Twist on Classic Tales

The Conception of Terror, A collection of four ghostly tales inspired by M. R. James.

For many horror fans, A Ghost Story for Christmas is an essential part of the holiday season, and each series has been closely associated with MR James. The first BBC series, back in the 1970s, adapted five MR James short stories before moving onto a Charles Dickson story then  two original screenplays. Between 2005-2010, another three stories were adapted and filmed for the Christmas season, and then three years later, Mark Gatiss took on the mantle.

For his part, Gatiss has so far adapted four Jamesian stories. He chose an Arthur Conan Doyle story last year. This year, he has written and directed Woman of Stone, an adaptation of “Man-Size in Marble” by Edith Nesbitt.

For many of us, MR James is the epitome of the Christmas ghost story, but given the limited number of tales he’s written, there’s going to come a point when we know each one inside out. We crave the essential Jamesian nature but with something fresh to enjoy. Thankfully, there are writers out there willing to take old tales and give them a new twist. 

If you’re a member of Audible, then you can have access to a free Audible original drama called The Conception of Terror [https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/The-Conception-of-Terror-Tales-Inspired-by-M-R-James-Volume-1-Audiobook/B07MDLB1Y8]. Across 4 hours and 13 minutes, you can listen to four modern stories based on some of MR James’s most famous tales. 

I’m a huge fan of MR James, and his stories have greatly inspired my own work, so I was excited to hear how he’d inspired other writers. There’s a pleasing distance to the horrors presented in MR James’s work. No matter how terrifying, they belong to a bygone age. But these reinventions set the stories in modern times, and in some of them, the threat feels far too real. The collection is marked as “Volume 1” and I sincerely hope there is a Volume 2 (although since this production dates from 2019, that seems unlikely now).

Stories included are:

• The Casting of the Runes by Stephen Gallagher
• Lost Hearts by AK Benedict
• The Treasure of Abbott Thomas by Jonathan Barnes
• A View from a Hill by Mark Morris

The first story is The Casting of the Runes, in which a disgruntled academic takes a particularly nasty form of revenge on a peer reviewer but then finds that he might finally have met his match in the dead woman’s husband. 

Anna Maxwell Martin is already one of my favourite actresses, and it’s no surprise that she manages to portray Joanne Harrington really well here as a woman cursed. I like how Stephen Gallagher creates a relationship between the characters of Harrington and Dunning; it really gives the story greater depth.

Reece Shearsmith does a stellar turn as Anton Carswell, managing to convey a supercilious charm that masks a vindictive yet cowardly murderer. There are moments of really black humour in here, such as the wonderfully flippant comment made by Dunning that Carswell casts the runes in his own book because it’s the only way he can shift copies. 

The ending has a dark sting in the tail that is wonderfully macabre. I can’t listen to it without being chilled all over again.

Lost Hearts is the next tale, and while I never cared much for the original story, author AK Benedict has created a tale I really enjoyed. An incredibly sinister atmosphere is evoked, preyed on how isolated you can feel when you’re a teenager, especially one in foster care. I love how Aswarby House is not the ancient and rambling English country house that shows up so often in James’s work but an exclusive tower block with a sinister secret. Teenager Stephanie Elliot is placed at Aswarby House with a new foster mother. From the residents, she receives an effusive welcome, but the young girl also encounters a dire warning from children who used to live there but have now disappeared. 

The supporting cast is good, but I found their dialogue a little too chipper at times. However, Rosa Coduri does a wonderful turn as the teenage Stephanie, who manages to be vulnerable without being whiney. Another one with an ending that will bring you out in goosebumps.

The Treasure of Abbot-Thomas takes us back to a very Jamesian setting:

a public school. We follow old boy Greg Parsbury as he tries to track down treasure hidden by an old schoolmaster, Sam Abbot-Thomas, enlisting the help of new history teacher Mika Chantry.

I enjoyed the relationship between Parsbury and Chantry (played by Robert Bathurst and Pearl Mackie respectively). Initially, Parsbury carries the enthusiasm for the treasure hunt. Then Chantry takes over when sinister happenings make Parsbury uneasy. It was the secondary characters of Parsbury’s wife and Chantry’s girlfriend that added extra veracity. They acted as sounding boards for why Parsbury and Chantry were doing this. These characters also indicated what personal elements were at stake. 

The final tale, A View From a Hill, is the one that I found most effective, and because of that, I can’t listen to it without a great deal of discomfort. The way in which Mark Morris deals with the grief of parents Paul and Sarah Fanshawe over the death of their child is so poignant and realistic that it can actually make uncomfortable listening.

Of all the stories adapted, this is the one that deviates most from the original tale.

The story follows not one man on a brief sojourn with his friend but a married couple on holiday in the Cotswolds trying to escape the aftermath of the death of their child. And the “technology” of the day has moved away from binoculars to a voice recorder, providing an interesting update to the story.

Andy Nyman and Alice Lowe are two amazing actors, and it’s no surprise that they bring the bickering Fanshawes to life for the listener. The opening scene where Paul is driving and Sarah is navigating is going to be familiar to so many spouses. 

On a minor note, I particularly liked the bit where the barmaid is taking a phone call from a Mr Montgomery, a certain nod to Montgomery Rhodes James himself. 

If you enjoy MR James’s work and are looking for “more of the same but different” then you’re really going to enjoy these four reinventions. Many elements from the original stories are incorporated but all them feel fresh and new, with distinctive character voices for the modern listener.

The Conception of Terror, A collection of four ghostly tales inspired by M. R. James.

Casting the Runes – adapted by Stephen Gallagher

When academic Jo Harrington (Anna Maxwell Martin) is sent a paper – The Truth of Alchemy, by Anton Karswell – for peer review, she pulls no punches. It has no place in a serious academic publication, and Karswell is a half-bright fool. However, when the editor writes a rejection note to Karswell, he inadvertently includes her entire email. Occultist Karswell (Reece Shearsmith) doesn’t take kindly to criticism.

On the tube home with her partner Edward Dunning (Tom Burke), Jo spots a poster with her name on it. It reads: ‘In memory of Joanne Harrington, M.Litt, PhD, died September eighteenth, three days were allowed.’ Is there anything that Edward can do to save Jo from this curse?

Lost Hearts – adapted by A. K. Benedict

Teenager Stephanie Elliot (Rosa Coduri) is taken to Aswarby House to be fostered by Mrs Bunch (Susan Jameson). Stephanie strikes up a friendship with Ben (Bill Milner), the adopted son of charismatic community leader Mr Abney (Jeff Rawle). He tells her that Mr Abney is a good man: he even took in a child refugee last year, but she ran away and stole from him. Stephanie is troubled by voices and visions of a dead girl clutching at her chest, and when Ben disappears she begins to suspect that all is not right in Aswarby House.

The Treasure of Abbot-Thomas – adapted by Jonathan Barnes

Former Somerton school pupil Greg Parsbury (Robert Bathurst) meets history teacher Mika Chantry (Pearl Mackie) at a memorial service for schoolmaster Sam Abbot-Thomas. He begs for her help. He has been sent a postcard by the estate of the mysterious and charismatic Abbot-Thomas. On it is a strange inscription in Latin, which he believes is a starting point in a treasure hunt. This is similar to the elaborate treasure hunts Abbot-Thomas organized back in the 1970s. There were rumours that Abbot-Thomas possessed a hidden fortune, and Parsbury and Chantry set out to find it.

A View from a Hill – adapted by Mark Morris

Comedian and podcaster Paul Fanshawe (Andy Nyman) and his wife, Sarah (Alice Lowe), visit the Cotswolds on holiday. They are trying to rebuild their lives after the death of their young son, Archie. Whilst out walking, they spot a beautiful abbey across the valley on Gallows Hill. When they reach it, they find the building is little more than rubble. While Sarah explores, Paul records commentary for his podcast. Sarah thinks she hears children’s laughter, but there’s no-one there. Later that night she listens back to the recording and hears a child’s voice whisper, ‘Mummy.’ Sarah is convinced that Archie is trying to reach them and wants to return to the ruins. But something far worse is waiting for them on Gallows Hill.

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