Joanna Lumley Joins Mark Gatiss's Christmas Ghost Story—Chilling First Look Drops
Lumley stars opposite Tobias Menzies in A Ghost Story for Christmas: The Room in the Tower, promising frostbitten festive chills.
It is barely October, but the BBC has already lit a spooky candle for the holidays. Mark Gatiss is back with another of his wintry chillers, and this year he is going full dream-logic nightmare with a new A Ghost Story for Christmas.
The new one: The Room in the Tower
A Ghost Story for Christmas: The Room in the Tower lands on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer this Christmas. Written and directed by Gatiss and adapted from an E.F. Benson story, it is set in the uneasy calm of the inter-war years and follows Roger Winstanley, a man who has spent 15 years haunted by the same recurring dream. In it, he is invited to stay at an acquaintance's house, where something unseen waits in a particular upstairs room — and the people in the dream seem to age in real time, as if both the dream and the world outside are marching forward together. Then the invite shows up for real, and Roger is suddenly staring down the exact thing he has dreaded for years: the room in the tower.
"I have always wanted to adapt the great E.F. Benson's ghost stories and this is one of his chilling best. I am also very grateful to have been able to continue the most Christmassy of Christmas traditions. The Room in the Tower has been prepared for you — and with Tobias Menzies and the legendary Dame Joanna Lumley to boot."
Cast
- Joanna Lumley (Wednesday)
- Tobias Menzies (F1)
- Nancy Carroll (Father Brown)
- Ben Mansfield (Sister Boniface Mysteries)
- Polly Walker (Bridgerton)
Why this one matters (and the inside-baseball bit)
This is Gatiss's eighth entry in the BBC's Ghost Story for Christmas run, which has quietly become one of the most dependable festive rituals he keeps dusting off and making deliciously creepy again. If you have been keeping score, the previous seven are: The Tractate Middoth, The Dead Room, Martin's Close, The Mezzotint, Count Magnus, Lot No 249, and last year's Woman of Stone.
There is also a mini-reunion tucked in here: Polly Walker worked with Gatiss on his murder mystery series Bookish, which debuted on U&Alibi earlier this year. That one is already heading into a second season, so clearly the vibe is good.
"Mark and the team have gathered a wonderful cast for this atmospheric treat where dream meets terrifying reality. 'I have given you the room in the tower' is a sentence nobody will want to hear once they have experienced this festive haunting."
When and where to watch
A Ghost Story for Christmas: The Room in the Tower airs on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer this Christmas. File it under: fireside viewing, preferably with the lights low and the hallway door shut.