Mar 24, 2025
Shades of Darkness: Seaton's Aunt (1.6, Granada, 1983)
"I was telling our friend that when you are gone, I shall be a very lonely old woman."
"Oh, I don't think so."
"He means, Mr. Withers - he means, dear child - I shall have memory for company. The ghosts of other days. Sentimental boy."
#shades of darkness#seaton's aunt#1983#granada#horror tv#single play#walter de la mare#ken taylor#brian parker#mary morris#paul herzberg#peter settelen#emma jacobs#adam lal#joshua de la mere#alexandra wilkie millar#leslie clark#altho this is admittedly an obscure entry in the pantheon of brit anthology shows‚ it did receive a dvd release once: almost 20 years ago#now and long out of print‚ and also seemingly a North American release (tho idk if it was region locked). they sell for a respectable sum#these days. the release collected 6 of the 7 episodes making up the first series; for unknown reasons (certainly unknown to me) this was#left off the set. it is available on Yoot Oob with the rest of s1‚ but in a notably inferior quality: it looks to be a vhs rip and has#subtitles in a foreign language over the image. still‚ I'm immensely grateful just to be able to see this.#the play itself is fine enough‚ tho certainly not the series at its best; it has the traditional shape of a golden age ghost story‚ with#its elements of reminiscence‚ childhood encounters remembered and illuminating narration. de la Mare was known chiefly for his literature#for children and for his comparatively few (but highly regarded) ghost stories. in some ways this connects those two elements‚ with a#significant portion of the tale given over to the characters' childhood experiences with the supernatural. oddly (SPOILERS incoming) the#most obvious interpretation of the second half of this play‚ the part set in the 'now' (early 20th century) with these characters now adult#is there there is no ghost at all... depending on how you read the final scenes‚ the 'ghost' is explained away as a manifestation of one#man's mental illness (connected to a traumatic childhood). I'm not saying it's a bad ending or the wrong ending (and again you could just#as easily read in a supernatural influence for his behaviour) but it's an oddish choice for what is very much a ghost story anthology
