Whistle and I'll Come to You

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"Whistle and I'll Come to You" is a 1968

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television drama adaptation of the 1904 ghost story

'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad' "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad" is a ghost story by British writer M. R. James, included in his collection ''Ghost Stories of an Antiquary'' (1904). The story is named after a 1793 poem of the same name penned by Robert Burns. Plot ...

M. R. James Montague Rhodes James (1 August 1862 – 12 June 1936) was an English author, medievalist scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–1918), and of Eton College (1918–1936). He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambrid ...

. It tells of an eccentric and distracted professor who happens upon a strange whistle while exploring a Knights Templar cemetery on the East Anglian coast. When blown, the whistle unleashes a frightening supernatural force. The production starred

Michael Hordern Sir Michael Murray Hordern Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (3 October 19112 May 1995)Morley, Sheridan"Hordern, Michael Murray (1911–1995)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, online e ...

and was adapted and directed by

Jonathan Miller Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE (21 July 1934 – 27 November 2019) was an English theatre and opera director, actor, author, television presenter, humourist and physician. After training in medicine and specialising in neurology in the late 1 ...

. It was broadcast as part of the BBC arts

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'' Omnibus''David Kerekes, ''Creeping Flesh: The Horror Fantasy Film Book''. London: Headpress, 2003. . 42–44. and inspired a new yearly strand of M.R. James television adaptations known as ''

A Ghost Story for Christmas ''A Ghost Story for Christmas'' is a strand of annual British short television films originally broadcast on BBC One between 1971 and 1978, and revived sporadically by the BBC since 2005. With one exception, the original instalments were direc ...

'' (1971–1978, 2005–2006, 2010, 2013, 2018-2019, 2021- ).

Plot summary

Professor Parkin, a fussy Cambridge academic, arrives for an off-season stay at a hotel somewhere on the English east coast. Preferring to keep to himself, Parkin spends his stay walking along the dunes and beach rather than golfing. He visits an old graveyard, abandoned and overgrown. Spotting a small object protruding from a grave which is partly undermined by the edge of the cliff he discovers it to be a bone whistle and stuffs it into his pocket. Walking along the shore, he turns twice into the setting sun to see a dark silhouetted figure standing alone in the distance. Back in his hotel room, he cleans and inspects the whistle, revealing a carved inscription: "Quis est iste qui venit" ("Who is this who is coming?"). He blows the whistle and soon a wind storm rises outdoors. Later that night, Parkin is kept awake by mysterious noises in his hotel room. At breakfast the following morning, another guest at the hotel, a retired colonel, asks Parkin if he believes in ghosts. Parkin responds in an academic fashion, dismissing such beliefs as philosophically incoherent. (He even reverses

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

's famous line, saying that "There are more things in philosophy than are dreamt of in heaven and earth".) That night, Parkin appears to have disturbing dreams of a

spectre Spectre, specter or the spectre may refer to: Religion and spirituality * Vision (spirituality) * Apparitional experience * Ghost Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Spectre'' (1977 film), a made-for-television film produced and writ ...

pursuing him on the beach. His nerves are not helped when, the following morning, he is informed by the maids that both of the beds in his room have been slept in – although Parkin only slept in one. Increasingly disturbed, he searches a book on spiritualism for answers. That night, he is awakened by a nearby sound of rustling. As he sits up in bed, the sheets from the opposite bed rise and stretch into the phantom from the dream. Parkin is too terrified to speak, emitting only frightened noises as he begins sucking his thumb. The disturbance wakes the colonel, who comes to investigate. Parkin sits in stunned terror at what he has just witnessed, repeating only the words, "Oh no."

Cast

– Professor Parkin * Ambrose Coghill – Colonel * George Woodbridge – Hotel Proprietor * Nora Gordon – Proprietress * Freda Dowie – Maid

Production

Jonathan Miller adapted his 1968 version as part of the BBC arts strand '' Omnibus'', which consisted mainly of arts documentaries so the dramatic adaptation was an unusual move; David Kerekes notes that this probably explains Miller's documentary-like introduction to the film. Ian McDowell notes that the adaptation itself changes a number of aspects of James' story, turning the academic, described as "young, neat and precise of speech" into a bumbling, awkward, middle-aged eccentric. This adaptation was filmed on the

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

coast, at Waxham and nearby.

Reception

This version is highly regarded amongst television ghost story adaptations and described by Mark Duguid of the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...

as "A masterpiece of economical horror that remains every bit as chilling as the day it was first broadcast". A BBC Press Release for its repeat showing in 1969 stated that it was an "unconventional adaptation...remarkable, both for its uncanny sense of period and atmosphere, and for the quality of the actors' performances".Helen Wheatley, ''Gothic Television'' Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2006. . 42. The performance of Michael Hordern is especially acclaimed, with his hushed mutterings and repetition of other characters' words, coupled with a discernible lack of social skills, turning the professor from an academic caricature into a more rounded character, described by horror aficionado David Kerekes as "especially daring for its day". The stage journal ''Plays and Players'' suggests that Hordern's performance hints that the professor suffers from a neurological condition called the "idea of a presence". Much of the script was improvised on location with the actors.

Home media releases

The television adaptation survived

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and was first released in the UK on DVD by the

in 2002.Eddie Dyja, ''BFI film and television handbook'', Issue 2002,

, 2002 , 11 The BFI later released both the 1968 and the 2010 version in a single volume DVD, and as part of an M. R. James boxset in 2012. Both versions were released in Australia by Shock DVD in 2011 as part of a five-disc DVD set of the BBC's M.R. James TV adaptations. The BFI issued a new HD remaster from the original negative on Blu-ray in 2022, in a set with the first three episodes of ''

'' and with the 2010 version as an extra.

References

External links

* * {{Screenonline TV title, 1155174 Adaptations of works by M. R. James British supernatural television shows British television films Television shows based on short fiction Films based on short fiction British horror films Films directed by Jonathan Miller