Episode 97 – Mark Gatiss’s Lot 249

A Podcast to the Curious - The M.R. James Podcast

Hold on to your mummy! This episode Mike and Will discuss Mark Gatiss’s recent Ghost Story for Christmas TV adaptation Lot 249, as well as the Arthur Conan Doyle short story it is based on.

Show notes:

• Watch it online! (BBC iPlayer)
  If you are in the UK you can watch it on BBC iPlayer until the end of 2024. If you are outside the UK, you may be able to watch if you have a Britbox subscription.
• Read the original story (www.gutenberg.org)
  You can read the original story on Project Gutenberg.
• Filming location (Wikipedia)
  Almost all of Lot 249 was filmed at Rothamsted Manor in Hertfordshire.
• The cast (IMDB)
  Find out more about the cast of Lot 249 at IMDB.com.
• Egyptomania (britannica.com)
  Lot 249 reflects the Victorian obsession with everything to do with ancient Egypt. This story was set in 1884, two years after the Anglo-Egyptian war, a conflict which perhaps had an influence on the tone of this story.
• Victorian garrotting panics (wikipedia)
  The Victorian fear of being randomly garrotted is reflected in the reaction to a mummy attack in Lot 249.
• Sidney Paget’s illustrations of Sherlock Holmes (www.arthur-conan-doyle.com)
  The character of ‘The Friend’ in Gatiss’s adaptation is clearly Sherlock Holmes. If the dialogue doesn’t give it away, his appearance bears unmistakable similarity to Sherlock Holmes in the classic Strand Magazine illustrations by Sidney Paget, particularly this one.
• Tales from the Darkside (youtube.com)
  Lot 249 was featured in the 1990 comedy horror anthology Tales from the Darkside. Starring Christian Slater and Steve Buscemi, the scene in which Smith finally confronts Bellingham is on Youtube, and makes quite a watch!