The Stalls of Barchester

Fun to see this. A Warning to the Curious and Lost Hearts were the masterpieces of the series. This entry is dour and a little plodding but has a palpable tension and dread. It boasts a memorable shock a good five years before DePalma's Carrie, although my memory of it was a little different. It will still make you jump and your blood run cold. 'Stalls' was the series finding its feet. The structure, with two lots of voice-overs is somewhat awkward and unwieldy. The academic inquiry is dry and your attention may wander, forcing you to backtrack. It is the antecedent of The Treasure Of Abbott Thomas, which was similarly scholarly, although not ruinously. It is M R James approach and you can take it or leave it.