Mark Gatiss aims to scare us this Christmas with new festive ghost story and documentary...

Mark Gatiss is to write and direct a one-off drama based on MR James’ classic ghost story The Tractate Middoth, and to present a documentary on the English writer.

Both programmes will be aired in the UK this Christmas on BBC Two.

From the BBC Media Centre:

MR James: The Tractate Middoth [Drama] and Ghost Writer [Documentary]

Mark Gatiss writes and directs a new version of The Tractate Middoth, a classic chiller by MR James, England’s greatest ghost story writer. Gatiss will bring his distinctive wit and sense of the macabre to bear on one of James’s most thrilling tales, involving a disputed will, a race against time, and something very unpleasant lurking in the library.

And in the accompanying documentary, Ghost Writer [w/t], Gatiss steps into the mind of MR James, the enigmatic English master of the supernatural story. A long-time admirer of James, Mark will try to solve one of the great literary mysteries: how this donnish Victorian bachelor, conservative by nature and a devout Anglican, created tales that continue to chill readers a century on.

Viewers will join Mark on an atmospheric journey from James’s childhood home in Suffolk to Eton and on to King’s College, Cambridge, the two institutions where James spent most of his life, visiting ancient churches, moonlit quadrangles and echoing libraries along the way. By following in James’s footsteps, Mark will hope to uncover the secrets of his inspiration.

These two complementary films will reinvigorate the long and popular BBC Two tradition of a festive ghost story for audiences to enjoy over Christmas.

The executive producer is Michael Poole.