A View from a Hill

A View From a Hill is a ghost story by M. R. James from his 1925 collection A Warning to the Curious and Other Ghost Stories. The story tells the tale of a historian who goes on holiday to visit his friend and has a disturbing experience after venturing up a notorious local landmark.

BBC Adaptation

In 2005, it was adapted by Peter Harness for BBC Four's revival of the Ghost Story for Christmas tradition. It stars Mark Letheren as Dr Fanshawe.

Plot

The film opens with historian Dr Fanshawe waiting at a railway station for his late train. He finally gives up and rides his bike to his friend, Squire Richards' house. On the way, one of his bags falls off his bike. When he unpacks his luggage, he finds his binoculars broken. Fanshawe borrows a pair from Squire Richards.

During a walk through the countryside, Fanshawe looks at a plain field through the binoculars and sees an abbey/monastery that is invisible to the naked eye. Next to it is the infamous Gallows Hill where evil people were hanged. Richards explains that it was the site of an abbey that was dissolved by Henry VIII and there is nothing left of it but a few stones. That night, Fanshawe goes alone to Gallows Hill. He hears rustling in the bushes and comes to the spot where the gallows were slid into the ground. Fanshawe finally comes home.

At dinner, Richards' butler Patten, explains to Fanshawe how their previous historian, Baxter, became obsessed with the old abbey and began sneaking off at night to dig up the bones of the hanged men and making the binoculars but bewitching them so that they show the abbey. And of how Baxter disappeared without a trace.

That night, Fanshawe has a nightmare where he goes to the bathroom to get a drink, only to find that the water in the cup is cloudy and full of bits. Hearing the water in the bathtub stop dripping, Fanshawe turns around, only to be scared by a shadowy figure lurking in the darkness wearing a skull mask.

The next day, Fanshawe goes back to the old abbey site with the boiled bones and sketches, only to be physically assaulted by the spirits. Fanshawe wakes up at night, being dragged up Gallows Hill by the spirits to be hanged. Richards, Patten and a search party go looking for Fanshawe, and find his abandoned bike and sketches. They also spot a flock of birds gathering on top of Gallows Hill. Venturing up Gallows Hill to investigate, they are met with the horrifying sight of Fanshawe hanging.

The next day, Patten burns all of the sketches and boiled bones in a bonfire and soon throws the binoculars in after them. Squire Richards accompanies Fanshawe to the railway station and then leaves. As Fanshawe sits on a bench waiting for the again-late train, he hears a loud rustling noise in the woods, implying that the ghosts are still after him. The film ends with Fanshawe breaking the fourth wall and giving the audience a shocked look before it fades out to black.

Cast

• Mark Letheren - Dr Fanshawe
• Pip Torrens - Squire Richards
• David Burke - Patten
• Simon Linnel - Baxter

External links

• A View from the Hill at bbc.co.uk.
• A View from a Hill at the Internet Movie Database