Supernatural (1977 TV series)
Supernatural is a British anthology television series that was produced by the BBC in 1977. The series consisted of eight episodes and was broadcast on BBC1. In each episode, a prospective member of the "Club of the Damned" was required to tell a horror story, and their application for membership would be judged on how frightening the story was. Applicants who failed to tell a sufficiently frightening story would be killed.
Overview
Series creator Robert Muller, who also wrote seven of the eight screenplays, said: "The idea was to tell the kind of Gothic tale that we don't have on television, something akin to the old horror films of the 1920s and 1930s. What we get now are thrillers set in modern times with lots of blood and violence. There is no blood and no violence in this series. They are tales about ghosts, vampires, werewolves, that sort of thing. Highly romantic and highly charged with fear and menace."Although each episode was a stand-alone story, episodes 2 and 3 shared a cast and linked plot. These two episodes starred English actress Billie Whitelaw, who was married to Muller. She said: "Robert wrote the story with me in mind, but I said I would not read it until it was sent to me by a producer or director. I wanted the thing kept on a professional footing. During rehearsals we never discussed the play at home, and in the rehearsal room I would never address Robert directly if I had any query or suggestion. I would always go through the director."
Vladek Sheybal won the Dracula Society's prestigious Hamilton Deane Award for the best dramatic performance or presentation in the Gothic horror/supernatural genres for his performance in "Night of the Marionettes". Sheybal played "Herr Hubert", an Austrian innkeeper with life-size puppets in a story based around Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
In 2014, episodes 6-8 were repeated for the Halloween season on BBC Four.
Episode list
DVD release
Supernatural was released on 18 November 2013 as part of the British Film Institute's Gothic: The Dark Heart of Film celebration. The 2-disc set contains four episodes on each disc, presented in the original transmission order.Companion book
A companion book, Supernatural: Haunting Stories of Gothic Terror, was published to coincide with the series, with each screenplay adapted as a short story. The cover of the first edition comprised a photograph of Whitelaw taken during the production of "Countess Ilona" and the tag-line "Now on BBC-TV." The adaptations are:| Title | Corresponding TV episode | Adapted by |
| Dorabella, or In Love with Death | "Dorabella" | Rosemary Timperley |
| Lady Sybil, or The Phantom of Black Gables | "Lady Sybil" | Mary Danby |
| Heirs, or The Workshop of Filthy Creation | "Night of the Marionettes" | Brian Hayles |
| Countess Ilona, or The Werewolf Reunion | "Countess Ilona" & "The Werewolf Reunion" | Roger Malisson |
| Viktoria, or The Hungarian Doll | "Viktoria" | Sue Lake |
| Mr Nightingale, or Burning Masts | "Mr Nightingale" | Robert Muller |
| Gall, or Ghost of Venice | "Ghosts of Venice" | Rosemary Timperley |