Don't Open Till Christmas

Someone is offing Santas in this wonderfully terrible 1984 slasher directed by and starring Edmund Purdom.  

Featuring a brief cameo from Caroline Munro this is a low low budget, barely cohesive (or coherent) attempt at the video nasty market that is neither gory enough nor T&A enough to work.  Various Santas are subjected to some inventive ends whilst the murders are investigated by the most inept coppers this side of Keystone but uninspired acting and directing means it never really gets going although it does trigger some unintentional chuckles along the way.

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The Maze

Here we have another episode from the early 1980s ITV series 'Shades of Darkness' which featured elaborate period pieces adapted from ghostly tales from the heyday of the genre by authors such as May Sinclair, Agatha Christie and Walter de la Mare.  'The Maze' was written by the lesser known C.H.B. Kitchin and revolves around Catherine Frode (Francesca Annis), her husband Arthur (James Bolam) and her daughter Daisy (Sky Macaskill) and an unexpected visitor (Duncan Preston) from Catherine's past within the garden maze of the her childhood home.

Directed by Peter Hammond, who'd cut his teeth on shows such as 'The Avengers', 'Out of the Unknown', 'Tales of the Unexpected' and 'King of the Castle' and who would go on to direct a number of episodes of the various Jeremy Brett 'Sherlock Holmes' series, this is a sumptuous and subtle ghost story of love and redemption which along with 'The Intercessor' is one of the stand out episodes of the series.

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The Alchemists of Sound

Established in 1958 by Desmond Briscoe and Daphne Oram the BBC Radiophonic Workshop's purpose was to create innovative sounds to be used in radio and television shows. Now most widely remembered for it's groundbreaking work on Doctor Who  the Workshop provided startlingly innovative sounds and music for countless shows.

This documentary, first shown in 2003, gives a fascinating overview of this treasured institution and provided a timely celebration of the various talents that found a home there giving many of us a first glimpse of the people who had quickened our pulses and fueled our imaginations.

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If you enjoy what we do here on Wyrd Britain and would like to help us continue then we would very much welcome a donation towards keeping the blog going - paypal.me/wyrdbritain

Affiliate links are provided for your convenience and to help mitigate running costs.