A Ghost Story for Christmas: Woman of Stone Review: "A satisfying twist in the tale"

Monica Dolan in 'A Ghost Story for Christmas: Woman of Stone'. | BBC/Adorable Media/Kieran McGuigan

While Reece Sheersmith was doing his best demented robot impression as Norbot the gardening gnome in Wallace and Gromit:Vengeance Most Fowl on Christmas Day his former The League of Gentlemen workmate Mark Gatiss was delivering another highlight of the festive season with A Ghost Story for Christmas: Woman of Stone (BBC2, Christmas Eve, 10.15pm).

Ghosts and Christmas go together like cheese and Port, as the numerous adaptations of Dickens spectre-infected classic A Christmas Carol can attest to (The Muppet Christmas Carol being the best, obviously). In his sixth spooky story, Gatiss takes on E. Nesbitt’s short story Man-Size in Marble in a half hour guaranteed to get you hiding behind the cushions.

Celie Imrie stars as the author famed for The Railway Children telling an altogether darker tale on her death bed. “One final imperishable tale from the old nib”, as she puts it. It concerns a newly-married couple in the 1880s who move to a cottage for a new start. Unfortunately there’s a local legend that says two life-size effigies of knights perched atop graves in the local church have a habit of coming to life on Christmas Eve to march to their new abode. Certainly one to complain to the etate agents about. It’s a tale of toxic masculinity through the ages, with the true monster being the jealous and abusive husband who you pray will get his just deserts from the first time he calls his partner ‘wifey’. No spoilers, but safe to say it’s a masterful exercise in creeping dread, with a great performance from Monica Dolan as the couple’s cook, and a satisfying twist in the tale.

Four stars