The Ash Tree

12/28/2024

"Sir Richard" (Edward Petherbridge) arrives at his recently inherited stately home and almost instantly decides that he and his bride-to-be (Lalla Ward) need to have a new pew in the parish church. Warned by the vicar (Preston Lockwood) that he cannot build on consecrated ground he sets about relocating another grave - and that's his first mistake. With flashbacks galore to a previous, somewhat tragedy-stricken, lord of the manor ("Sir Matthew") we begin to learn of the history of this house, it's church, it's occupants and - of course the mysticism of the solitary ash tree and it's associated witchery that continues to make it's presence felt. It's tough to try and squeeze all of the superstitiousness of the original MR James story into half an hour, but I thought that this BBC television