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Spine Chillers
Spine Chillers
Dec 20, 2025 8:10 PM

Author:M.R. James,Derek Jacobi,Full Cast

Spine Chillers

Widely acknowledged as the master of the supernatural, M. R. James penned many of his classic ghost stories to be read aloud to friends, by candlelight, in his study on Christmas Eve. These five adaptations, originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4, perfectly capture the mood of nerve-jangling suspense that would surely have been present during those readings. In ‘Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad’, Professor Parkins embarks on a terrifying journey of discovery after he removes a curious artefact from the ruins of a Templar preceptory; while ‘The Tractate Middoth’ sees diligent curator David Garrett caught up in the machinations of the mysterious Dr Rant when he’s sent to retrieve an obscure manuscript from the library stacks. ‘Lost Hearts’ tells of a young boy haunted by two ghostly children, and in ‘The Rose Garden’, terrifying forces are unleashed when the Goodmans tear down their old summer house. Finally, ‘Number 13’ takes us to the Danish town of Viborg, where Dr Anderson puts himself in terrible danger as he investigates why the hotel he’s staying at does not contain a room 13. Starring BAFTA and Emmy-award winning actor Derek Jacobi, and with powerfully chilling music and sound effects, these rich, riveting dramatisations make for irresistible listening.

1 CD. 1 hr 5 mins.

Reviews

Stevenson's short stories are certain to retain their position in English literature. His serious rivals are few indeed

—— Arthur Conan Doyle

Mr Hyde's sordid and perhaps deviant excesses are rendered more suggestive through being left undescribed

—— Sarah Waters

A fable that lies nearer to poetry than to ordinary prose fiction

—— Vladimir Nabokov

Robert Louis Stevenson...was a storyteller, that's what I'd like to be, that's what I'm trying to be

—— Quintin Jardine

Jekyll and Hyde, in particular, is such an important novel in terms of suspense and setting a perfect scene for crime

—— Alanna Knight

Writers I love: Ellroy, Larry Block, Robert Louis Stevenson, Muriel Spark, Anthony Burgess, Chandler... '[Edinburgh] was the city of Jekyll & Hyde, where the template for that story was a real-life Edinburgh character named Deacon William Brodie, who was a gentleman by day and a burglar and murderer by night. He gave Stevenson his story

—— Ian Rankin

Another genius Scottish take on the theme of split personalities. Needs no further introduction

—— Maggie O’Farrell

Charming and compelling

—— Big Issue

Each character is a world, a story marvellously integrated into the whole...A master storyteller has become a fabulous chronicler of reality. If Obabakoak charmed us, The Accordionist's Son charms and moves us

—— La Vanguardia

This is a richly textured, beautifully-written glimpse into a world that makes its otherworldliness felt

—— Sunday Business Post

I've recorded all the Jeeves books, and I can tell you this: it's like singing Mozart. The perfection of the phrasing is a physical pleasure. I doubt if any writer in the English language has more perfect music

—— Simon Callow

The greatest comic writer ever

—— Douglas Adams

Wodehouse was quite simply the Bee's Knees. And then some

—— Joseph Connolly

I constantly find myself drooling with admiration at the sublime way Wodehouse plays with the English language

—— Simon Brett

Quite simply, the master of comic writing at work

—— Jane Moore

To pick up a Wodehouse novel is to find oneself in the presence of genius - no writer has ever given me so much pure enjoyment

—— John Julius Norwich

Compulsory reading for anyone who has a pig, an aunt - or a sense of humour!

—— Lindsey Davis

The funniest writer ever to put words to paper

—— Hugh Laurie

P.G. Wodehouse should be prescribed to treat depression. Cheaper, more effective than valium and far, far more addictive

—— Olivia Williams

My only problem with Wodehouse is deciding which of his enchanting books to take to my desert island

—— Ruth Dudley Edwards

The Wodehouse wit should be registered at Police HQ as a chemical weapon

—— Kathy Lette

Witty and effortlessly fluid. His books are laugh-out-loud funny

—— Arabella Weir

P.G. Wodehouse wrote the best English comic novels of the century

—— Sebastian Faulks

Sublime comic genius

—— Ben Elton

Wodehouse's idyllic world can never stale. He will continue to release future generations from captivity that may be more irksome than our own. He has made a world for us to live in and delight in

—— Evelyn Waugh
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