The Room in the Tower: the ‘Real’ Hauntings that Inspired This Year’s BBC Ghost Story for Christmas Adaptation

The Room in the Tower: the ‘real’ hauntings that inspired this year’s BBC Ghost Story for Christmas adaptation

This year’s BBC Ghost Story for Christmas is an adaptation of E. F. Benson’s 1912 tale of vampiric horror and haunted sleep, The Room in the Tower. The unnamed narrator begins the story by relating a recurring nightmare he has suffered for 15 years. In the dream, he has been invited to the mansion of the Stone family. The dream begins pleasantly, with card games, cigarettes and light conversation. But it always takes a turn when the family’s fea…

The Room In The Tower: Inside the BBC's Ghost Story For Christmas 2025

Mark Gatiss looks splendidly dapper as he joins Empire for tea on the manicured lawn of Cobham Hall, Kent. Dressed in a light jacket, navy trousers and Colgate-white trainers, he strokes his closely clipped beard and removes his sunglasses to squint into the April sunshine. “It’s very spooky, ghastly,” he says with a mischievous grin. “E.F. Benson I was a big fan of. I read a lot of his as a child. And this one really scared me.” The English act…