The Signalman

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Drama: The Signalman

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BBC Radio 4 - Drama on 4, The Signalman

Charles Dickens’ eerie tale of isolation, dread and supernatural occurrences.

Charles Dickens' eerie tale. A stranger on a walking holiday comes across a solitary railway signalman and they exchange truths that will profoundly affect them both.

In Jonathan Holloway’s newly imagined adaptation of Dickens' popular short story, The Visitor on a recuperative walking holiday in the Sussex countryside happens upon a solitary signalman in a dank, icy cold railway cutting where the sun never shines, and unexpectedly finds himself part of a spooky tale of spectral, supernatural occurrences.

Charles Dickens wrote this much-loved ghost story in 1866 following his own experience of being involved in a train crash at Staplehurst in Kent when he was travelling with his mistress Ellen Ternan and her mother. He helped rescue fellow passengers and was deeply affected by the experience, possibly suffering from what we could now call PTSD, losing his voice for two weeks after the event and then becoming ever more frightened of railway travel.

He took a keen interest in railway safety and the lives of the railway workers. These themes have inspired this new adaptation in which Jonathan Holloway adds an additional, unexpected twist to this classic short story.

At the centre of it is the railway tunnel with its hellish mouth, humming telegraph wires infused with the voice of prehistoric evil, an environment full of dread in which it is difficult to tell night from day, a constantly startled railway signalman, and The Visitor who is driven to ask more and more questions - all of which receive alarming answers. 

Cast: 
The Signalman – Samuel West
The Visitor – James Purefoy
Mrs Carter – Sally Orrock
Train Driver – Nicholas Murchie

Music specially composed by Sarah Llewellyn
Strings, musical saw and waterphone performed by Francesca Simmons 
Sound Design: David Thomas
Production Co-ordinators: Sarah Tombling and Sarah Wright 
Director: Andy Jordan
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4

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