''Spine Chillers'' was the name of two separate supernatural television series, broadcast on the BBC.

1980s series

''Spine Chillers'' was a 1980 British children's supernatural television series produced by the

Jackanory ''Jackanory'' was a BBC children's television series which was originally broadcast between 1965 and 1996. It was designed to stimulate an interest in Reading (activity), reading. The programme was first transmitted on 13 December 1965, and the ...

team and broadcast on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

. It featured readings of classic ghost and horror stories aimed at older children, and ran for 20 episodes of 10 minutes each.

Episodes and air dates

#" The Red Room" by

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...

, told by

Freddie Jones Frederick Charles Jones''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916-2005.''; at ancestry.com (12 September 1927 – 9 July 2019) was an English actor who had an extensive career in television, theatre and cinema productions for ...

(17 November 1980) #"The Yellow Cat" by Michael Joseph, told by

John Woodvine John Woodvine (born 21 July 1929) is an English actor who has appeared in more than 70 theatre productions, as well as a similar number of television and film roles. Early life Woodvine was born in South Shields, the son of Rose (née Kelly) ...

(18 November 1980) #"The Music on the Hill" by

Saki Hector Hugh Munro (18 December 1870 – 14 November 1916), popularly known by his pen name Saki and also frequently as H. H. Munro, was a British writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes macabre stories satirise Edwardian society and ...

, told by

Jonathan Pryce Sir Jonathan Pryce (born John Price; 1 June 1947) is a Welsh actor. He is known for his performances on stage and in film and television. He has received numerous awards, including two Tony Awards and two Laurence Olivier Awards as well as nom ...

(20 November 1980) #" The Mezzotint" by

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

, told by Michael Bryant (21 November 1980) #"The Treasure in the Forest" by H. G. Wells, told by Freddie Jones (24 November 1980) #"The Devil's Ape" by Barnard Stacey, told by John Woodvine (25 November 1980) #" Sredni Vashtar" by Saki, told by Jonathan Pryce (27 November 1980) #" A School Story" by M. R. James, told by Michael Bryant (28 November 1980) #"In the Avu Observatory" by H. G. Wells, told by Freddie Jones (1 December 1980) #"The Running Companion" by

Philippa Pearce Ann Philippa Pearce OBE FRSL (22 January 1920 – 21 December 2006) was an English author of children's books. Best known of them is the time-slip novel '' Tom's Midnight Garden'', which won the 1958 Carnegie Medal from the Library Associati ...

, told by John Woodvine (2 December 1980) #"The Penance" by Saki, told by Jonathan Pryce (4 December 1980) #"The Well" by

W. W. Jacobs William Wymark Jacobs (8 September 1863 – 1 September 1943) was an English author of short fiction and drama. He is best known for his story "The Monkey's Paw". Early life He was born in 1863 at 5, Crombie's Row, Mile End Old Town (not Wappin ...

, told by Michael Bryant (5 December 1980) #"The Stolen Bacillus" by H. G. Wells, told by Freddie Jones (8 December 1980) #"A Sin of Omission" by Ronald Chetwynd-Hayes, told by John Woodvine (9 December 1980) #" Gabriel-Ernest" by Saki, told by Jonathan Pryce (11 December 1980) #" The Diary of Mr Poynter" by M. R. James, told by Michael Bryant (12 December 1980) #"The Flowering of the Strange Orchid" by H. G. Wells, told by Freddie Jones (15 December 1980) #"More Spinned Against" by

John Wyndham John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris (; 10 July 1903 – 11 March 1969) was an English science fiction writer best known for his works published under the pen name John Wyndham, although he also used other combinations of his name ...

, told by John Woodvine (16 December 1980) #"The Hounds of Fate" by Saki, told by Jonathan Pryce (18 December 1980) #"Jerry Bundler" by W. W. Jacobs, told by Michael Bryant (19 December 1980)

2003 series

''Spine Chillers'' was also the name of a British series aimed at older viewers, a

comedy horror Comedy horror (also called horror comedy) is a literary, television and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as having three types: "black comedy, parody and spoof." Comedy horror can a ...

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

first shown on

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

in 2003. It comprised six episodes: # "Bradford In My Dreams" # "Goths" # "Fairy Godfather" # "Intuition" # "Lose Weight... Ask Me How" # "Love Gods" In 2005, a similar fourteen-part anthology series ''

Twisted Tales ''Twisted Tales'' was a horror comics comics anthology, anthology published by Pacific Comics and, later, Eclipse Comics, in the early 1980s. The title was edited by Bruce Jones (comics), Bruce Jones and April Campbell. Publication history ''T ...

'' premiered on the same channel.

References

External links

*http://www.mausoleumclubforum.org.uk/ClassicGhostStoriesReview.pdf
''Spine Chillers''
(EOFFTV). * * British supernatural television shows 1980s British children's television series British children's fantasy television series 1980 British television series debuts 1980 British television series endings {{UK-kids-tv-prog-stub