A tale of the supernatural by Stephen Sheridan. What terrible secret lies hidden in the library at Cranleigh Hall, and why is old Uncle Magnus so afraid of the night?
Director David Blount

Just what is it that Uncle Magnus is so afraid of? MR James tells a tale about his own experience of the supernatural

The House at World's End

2.15pm R4 What are you up to, Radio 4 schedulers? We're two weeks away from Halloween, two months away from Christmas, and here you are placing a perfect example of your network's fine output of atmospheric supernatural stories in a week when nobody's expecting to hear one! So, for anyone who likes to settle down to a chilling listen (in the middle of the afternoon), Stephen Sheridan's drama has the master of the ghost story MR James describing an incident in his life that is "far more substantial than a work of fiction." James is taking a break at a university chum's uncle's house in Cornwall. But Uncle Magnus is keeping a lamp burning all night and muttering about how very, very frightened he is. The combination of a misshapen figure scuttling through the undergrowth, a rare book on the occult going missing, the sickly sweet odour of rotting flesh and a sudden death, makes for a wonderfully dark drama (in a wonderfully inappropriate week).