The Exorcism: A Christmas Ghost Story (Radio play by Don Taylor)

A modern Christmas ghost story in the style of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol".
Dan and Margaret have come to spend Christmas with their friends Rachel and Edmund in their renovated eighteenth-century labourer's cottage. Later, as Rachel plays the harpsichord, she suddenly gets a sinister feeling of déjà vu. Shortly afterwards, the electricity fails and the phone fails. It is the start of a series of macabre events which mount relentlessly to a bizarre and terrifying climax.
Originally aired in 1992.
Before anyone asks about the image I made for the video: Yes, I did enjoy the movie "The Witch" very much. ;)

[@tonicastel5933]

BBC ghost stories are the best & the creepiest.

[@shakeybill82]

This folks, is probably as good as British Radio drama gets. Absolutely brilliant

[@frogsgottalent1106]

Tainted byCommunist subversion........standard from TheBolshevist Broadcasting Commissariat....

[@shakeybill82]

@@frogsgottalent1106 Leave the tin foil hat off, it's clouding your brain 🧠 🥴

[@sheshahayat5117]

I’ve heard better ones in different languages in other countries….

[@shakeybill82]

@@sheshahayat5117 I doubt it

[@jacquiadams863]

I'm sure this was also a TV drama. Excellent.

[@obsidiandwarf]

Wow! Powerful. Meaningful. Especially when you think that somewhere, someone, even in our modern 'civilized' world, is feeling this despair. I don't know wether to wish I hadn't listened to it or not. That speech at the end, by the... spirit? Yes, we know it used to happen, '... praying for transportation...' as an alternative to death. 'Hunger is no excuse for theft...' Words spoken by a lawyer in, I think, the late 1800's. A lawyer with a full belly, no doubt. And still today...

[@cantankerousters]

One of the best radio dramas I’ve heard. Felt a little scared towards the end but also empathy for that poor family.

[@catherinedoyle1194]

The quality of this radio drama is the very best. thanks for this beautifully performed radio drama 👍

[@kathleenw]

An astonishingly good performance by all but Susan Fleetwood as "Rachel" is unforgettable, a brilliant drama, I wish the calibre of this play was easier to find these days, brilliant 👏 👏

[@carmaaa8508]

This is a story a Play that I have listened to many times. This basically is a masterpiece that will never get old. Not in my memory bank and I'll wind up. Listening to It many other times

[@itallia666]

I was utterly riveted by susan fleetwoods performance as rachel, iv never heard such a brilliant heart wrenching & genuinely believable portrayal of a soul in anguish. This was acting above & beyond professionable, it was one of th best iv heard in a play, ever. Incomparable! Truely brilliant

[@halterrill9475]

I will listen to it again and weep at the end .

[@catherinedoyle1194]

You put it so well, and I so agree with your comments

[@BenjaminBartle-li3pc]

Here here

[@kateh8845]

Saw this play on tv years ago and always thought it was the best ghost story I'd ever seen. This radio version is equally as good especially Susan Fleetwood's performance when possessed.

[@TheSashapooch]

I remember seeing this too. It terrified me! Still does ;-) Will we ever learn the lesson of the evil that is Man's inhumanity to Man? I fear not.

[@carolinelarkin4614]

I have this on DVD, as part of the remaining "Dead of Night" TV series...It is a favourite I watch every Christmas. Rachel is played by Anna Cropper, Edmund played by Edward Petherbridge, Margaret played by Sylvia Kay and Dan played by Clive Swift. Both versions are haunting and deliciously creepy.

[@michellebucci3748]

This was the scariest ghost story I have ever heard . The English ones are the best .

[@halterrill9475]

I had to fight back tears of anguish and rage at the end . This story profoundly effected me

[@rutheglin-pugh2320]

Social commentary at its best....those that prefer it kept wrapped up in its Christmas paper represent....! Excellent play..never saw the tv version but often radio lends an edge in the wilding of imagination. Good to be able to hear it again and live your choice of engraving.

[@jaceek2030]

Wow! What a terrifically creepy tale. Thank you for sharing.

[@mrbazzabee4013]

I played Edmund many years ago in our December Play for my local Ham Dram Society here in Colne. Loved doing it......and so did the rest of the cast and our Director 'JC'.

[@ClassicGhost]

Brilliant acting and sound design

[@SamuelBlack84]

When Margaret was describing her experience in the dark bedroom upstairs holding the candlelight facing the cupboard and sensing other people all around her I could see it in my mind Especially picturing whoever it was lying on the bed behind her breathing with a raspy breath I'm all alone in the middle of the night right now in darkness and silence....

[@helenalyons4107]

I only listen /watch these during the daytime! Impossible at night 😬

[@pegleg747]

I saw the BBC Dead of Night teleplay of this back in the early nineties and it always stuck with me. This is the first time listening to this radio drama version and it was quite great. Thank you, for keeping such ghostly treasures alive 🎃!

[@0tt0z]

Thanks for uploading this story so that it isn't lost in time. Well done.

[@hisime13]

Thank you! But we pour one out for all the stories none of us got up onto the internet. ;___;

[@rosiemcnaughton9933]

Wow, what a riveting performance by the woman who played Rachel! Terrible story, very well acted.

[@divaden47]

Absolutely riveting. So well acted too.

[@rhondaroberts9581]

Sooo good! We truly need more as good as this!

[@FromNo19]

I stumbled upon this by chance but I believe it’s a story my mother told me about many years ago... she couldn’t remember the title and I unsuccessfully looked everywhere for it. Thank you very much for sharing 😊

[@angiewatkins7488]

Bloody hell ,this is good !!!

[@luciacurtis2381]

Oh corks 😮I have loved this it's been so gripping. Thank you so much

[@stevetheduck1425]

The TV version is also here on YT. Worth finding, and watching, and 'inwardly digesting' as my teachers used to say.

[@alexandrastevens8892]

Not often I post to say this was amazing, couldn't turn it off and couldn't sleep LOL

[@alexandrastevens8892]

PS on a par with SK

[@evegusman7626]

Made a great Saturday afternoon.

[@tennkenobi]

Wonderful haunting tale, this and the TV version are 10/10

[@pattigracewillman4932]

The Exorcism - BBC Dead of Night on youtube you can watch this play as well. it is haunting.

[@gerry5134]

I thought I recognised the story. Many years ago i watched it on tv with my parents. Scared the bejezuz outta me !

[@graz9990]

Ohhhh....You took me to the The Exorcism on tv at midnight. Arghhhh...thank you very much :0(

[@alannoakes2068]

The exorcism Bec dead of night

[@cindyhilt9371]

Thank you for uploading. More please. Great quality.

[@danielmelehi2627]

Absolutely fine story every time my wife and I listen to it we thoroughly enjoy it. Just brilliant

[@wendymonette8484]

Excellently done. Thx for posting 😊

[@FIONA21ful]

Lovely to hear this again, it's a great story and very well acted .

[@johnturner1073]

I once saw this done by an amateur dramatics company in a small, old theatre in Swinton, near Manchester. It was memorable because it was a very windy night and it was whistling around outside, adding extra spookiness!

[@ArtKrikorian]

This was excellent, though disturbing. It reminded me of the drama An Inspector Calls.

[@briandouglasahern7067]

I'm crushed that the spirit chose the path it did rather than use the people to spread the story far and wide.

[@feralbluee]

incredible play - the soliloquy was perfect - she did an amazing piece of acting. . .

[@hisime13]

Man, wasn't she amazing? I'm really glad you liked it!

[@Merlin-lc4zu]

Really enjoyed this.Many Thanks.

[@mouthymunchkin2243]

This is really rather creepy, obviously 🙄 lol. But,this reminds me of an experience I had year's back. I was browsing in a shop, I used to buy Crystal's etc there. When a couple came in, suddenly I had trouble breathing, and I had to leave,really worried me. I went back and spoke to the shop owner, she noticed me leaving and how I looked frightened, the couple who came in had a house fire,their daughter died from it. I literally felt like I was choking. Horrific for that poor couple.

[@danielmelehi2627]

Simply brilliant

[@robertdiamond2830]

Loved this Christmas ghost story, gave me the creeps. Thank you.

[@lesleymarriott9076]

Such a captivating story. Thank you

[@bluebird4903]

Fantastic!!! Every bit.

[@damnablethackeray]

Thank you so much for uploading this. If anything even more powerful than the TV original.

[@tobobobo2842]

That was simply brilliant.

[@1pussychicken]

Quite terrifying. A well written and brilliantly acted ghost story with a social conscience. Thank you for up loading.

[@canman5060]

That spooky harpsichord music !

[@simonmcgrath4112]

I heard this about a year ago and it's a great little play. It sounded to me like it was recorded in the 1970's but it was aired in 1992 which surprised me. You'll enjoy this guys n girls!

[@afzals2007]

A fantastic radio version. Better than the earlier version on TV, IMHO....

[@cathydoyle8804]

I agree with you, this radio drama is much better than the TV telly version!! I just think this radio drama is a brilliant story, full stop!!!!!

[@susansherlock7474]

This is on KZbin as a play from the 1970s.... I watched it a year or so ago... brilliant visually....

[@RedcoatsReturn]

Thats the one I remember too, great BBC drama I was about 14 or 15 at the time.

[@markhonerbaum9874]

Very interesting and moving to the deapth of the soul.

[@sweets4mimi]

WOW I have no words for this Drama. Excellent.

[@mariarobinson4787]

Absolutely amazing

[@sarahboundy1428]

This is fab!

[@karenwedemire6093]

I got chills listening really enjoyed listening.

[@pariscribe5245]

A riveting play with above excellent acting in a gruesome story of times now gone but representing a true picture of many a countryside of western europe around 150 - 250 years ago ... I know for a fact that this was the case in places of southern Sweden at the time and drove the great migration of the day , towards the U.S. . So was the case in many a country : Ireland , Italy, Poland and so on ! A perfekt Christmas reminder of the "privilege" so many of us have nowadays , not forgetting that we are a minority as such in the world at large... Whithout mentioning that todays caravans of migrants who are of the same stem as our ancestors should be met like they were ! I must again praise the acting , especially the performance of Susan Fleetwood as Rachel . The New broadcast at the end is remarcable in only one sense and that is that it could have been broadcast 50 years ago or yesterday , sadly enough !

[@esterherschkovich5002]

Wow wow excellent acting...got my attention..and a good story but sad ending...😦

[@susanhawkins5914]

👏👏👏 I am not an avid fan of ghost / horror/ supernatural stories and had stumbled on this purely by chance- so good, 👍🙏👏 well worth your time to listen… and I am sure you may have fleeting thoughts of it during your next Christmas feast.

[@stephencorbett2862]

Just listened to this on headphones.....this is one scary story with fabulous cast.

[@catherinedoyle1194]

Agree

[@timgalway9960]

loved the tv adaptation but this is so much better. thank you

[@paulharris1504]

Enjoyed every frightening minute

[@mirandacampbell6740]

Scary 🙀 xx I love it though. Thank you

[@petramaes]

Geweldig... Hoewel ik luisterde om in slaap te vallen ben ik het hele verhaal wakker gebleven! 🙄 Top 👍

[@hisime13]

Hope you get to sleep eventually! 😅

[@petramaes]

@@hisime13 yes... With the Lights on! 😂

[@edithscott7715]

Lord have Mercy.

[@mojofilter2285]

Brilliant

[@christopherpeden547]

Seen the great tv episode several times this is dare I say even better v creepy good stuff

[@suZanna20]

Just found this. Wow fantastic first time for me 👌❤

[@aftonair]

Timely.

[@feralbluee]

incredible acting and direction - incredible. and so well written as we’re drawn more and more into the spell. the last monologue is so very deeply emotional. she becomes that poor woman and all women who watch their children starve. i can’t imagine what it would have been like if we hadn’t had FDR and Eleanor in the ‘30’s. (idiot throws a roll of paper towels in Puerto Rico - i just can’t get over that.) this did happen. this is happening. in Africa over twenty years ago, there was a photographer who took photos of the people being starved to death. one was of a skin and bones little child with the round belly. the photographer committed suicide a few ago. when he took that picture, there was an African soldier with a huge gun who said he’d kill him if he helped the child. he couldn’t live with that kind of horror going on as he got older. Humans think they’re above the animals, but they’re not. you see caring amongst animals and you see “the horror”. chimps can rip apart a lone male. monkeys mourn a death. our young people protest for gun control. our young people are sent to murder murderers and innocents. their lives are often ruined. what’s the difference between humans and animals? i don’t see any.

[@SamuelBlack84]

What makes them so terrified of those they condemn to death?

[@hectorbrown656]

Fantastic

[@vintagespider5627]

So amazing ....

[@fionagregg7117]

I remember the tv version well. Very creepy when she plays the harpsichord 😨

[@ellenmendoza7246]

Been wondering about on KZbin found this happiness

[@lalalager21lovelyjubbly77]

Never heard before thought it was good not bad for audio

[@canman5060]

The ending of this radio play is great.

[@jum1801]

Merry Christmas, Comrade.

[@stevetheduck1425]

There's this bizarre idea that less poor people ( by the cruellest method possible ) means more money, freedom and food for those left. It's like these middle-class office workers know how to make food, or have never missed a single meal in their lives could possibly survive. This was only possible back when farmers actually owned their farms, and you two brothers were the judge and the religious rep for the area.

[@rekingcrew3245]

Wow, what performance.

[@chrisgreene2623]

Been looking for this for years. Radio plays at their best. One of them sounds like odious boozer Nigel Farge Brexit farce and emblematic of what this play is talking about.

[@pattersonparkin5262]

Please please please more.......

[@leescott2069]

Oh Good Show O'l' Boy!

[@shinywarm6906]

On the shortlist for the most histrionic melodrama ever written. Ghastly.

[@billybees3796]

That was gnarly

[@TheUncleRuckus]

It was really good but Exorcism is a weird name as there was no Exorcism.

[@nitrokid]

Worst Christmas ever.

[@jimmyjohnston8287]

AMAZING. Stick with it.

[@GEricG]

jimmy johnston Well acted and really creepy.

[@hisime13]

Wish I could take any credit for this, but I just posted the content so it didn’t get completely lost, since the archives of the podcast I originally heard this on seem to have been obliterated and I’ve been unable to find it anywhere else on the net. I love this radio play too much to let it disappear into obscurity.

[@vincentchavez2198]

I just love that harpsichord melancholic melody, Rachel only played a small part. Was it made only for the program or can one get the entire melody somewhere else?

[@Psymon-F-C]

A very good story dealing with a contemporary issue in the harsh setting of peasants enduring starvation in the 18th century... It's a pity that our politicians don't hear this... or it it just entertainment? No, it's a lot deeper than just a play... excellent!

[@mikewilliams258]

Ashphodelic Contemporary? Really? So, exactly how many people do you know enduring starvation?

[@GEricG]

@@mikewilliams258 the starvation of the peasants was a metaphor for people starving in other countries in then contemporary times.

[@sugarfoot1956]

Mike Williams working people using food banks at an all time high, children in school with no breakfast.....government austerity ensuring the poor stay poor. plenty of poverty & starvation in Britain 2019

[@davidgrahambrown3793]

@@sugarfoot1956 And yet we have an epidemic of obesity in both children and adults, the worse rates in Europe.

[@procinctu1]

Yeah, it’s basically propaganda.

[@claireclaire0166]

Wow… that is one creepy story… 😮

[@judithl.morton9178]

WoW!

[@avariceseven9443]

That ending...

[@user-lo1iz8tj1v]

😢

[@RedcoatsReturn]

This closely resembles a tv play back in about 1972, in the end they shared a common fate.....from 300 yrs ago! I think I recognise Kenneth Haig in this cast.

[@capersmith]

This play was done for tv as an episode of Dead of Night, air date November 5th, 1972, BBC.

[@jlb9368]

BRAVISSIMI tutti!

[@canman5060]

Is it from the BBC Radio Broadcast ?

[@eddiemunster2196]

If this really happened or happens it would be way more than just an exorcist or exorcisms this is something that you cannot fix or return from. If anyone out there believes in hauntings they do exist. And they do happen

[@SamuelBlack84]

I want to see them for myself

[@peggyb3150]

Wow.

[@asciisynth]

This sounds like The Archers but paranormal ;)

[@booshaboo1]

Spot on 😁

[@maisiesummerfield265]

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

[@elliemccarthy3487]

PLS ANYONE CAN RECOMMEND GOOD RADIO DRAMAS , really appreciate

[@tallpaska5913]

Is Rachel played by the great Carole Boyd?

[@thedativecase9733]

No, I thought it was Carole as well.

[@davidgrahambrown3793]

Susan Fleetwood and Sarah Kestleman.