Count Magnus

This adaptation did not have the tone or atmosphere of an M. R. James ghost story. It's very disappointing from Mark Gatiss.

I like Jason Watkins as an actor and have been impressed with him in other things, but his performance here is mostly phoned in. I also thought he gave too much of a comedic performance. Whilst in the original story Mr Wraxall does sing to himself, I never thought the story was meant to be light-hearted.

There was a complete lack of suspense or danger due to the way this was written and directed, and it also did not evoke the appropriate feeling of the time it was set in. The characters seem like people playing dress up for fun.

There was one character invented - a mute black man. Why on earth? He looks so conically out of place. In fact he looks ridiculous, and it completely ruins any immersion, but there was barely any to begin with. His role added nothing to the story, but I suspect the BBC required it.

I would give this a miss, it really is a waste of time and not even remotely scary or eerie. Better to watch one of the original run of A Ghost Story for Christmas from the 1970s.