Anoraks Assemble

The Signalman is a short film which was first broadcast on the BBC in 1976, as part of the broadcaster’s ‘A Ghost Story for Christmas’ strand. It was based on “The Signal-Man” by Charles Dickens, adapted for TV by Andrew Davies and directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark.

The film introduces us to The Signalman, played brilliantly by Denholm Elliot, a lonely railwayman working his shift at a remote signal box beside the entrance to a tunnel. He encounters the Traveller who is visiting the area. The Signalman is clearly distracted by something – he even describes himself as “troubled” – and eventually admits that he is being haunted by an apparition which appears at the tunnel entrance next to his signal box.

The Signalman agrees to meet The Traveller again the next night, when he starts his shift. But by then, the sounds of a mysterious train begin to haunt The Traveller’s dreams, and The Signalman’s fear and paranoia leads to a harrowing conclusion.

The BBC’s ‘A Ghost Story for Christmas’ is synonymous with M.R. James stories, but I do think that The Signalman is the absolute best.

The acting is just fabulous. Denholm Elliot is sublime as the terrified Signalman, and you just cannot take your eyes off him. Bernard Lloyd is also wonderful as the mysterious Traveller, who tries to assure his new friend that all he can do is discharge his duty and do it well. The conversations between the pair are quite riveting, interspersed with The Signalman performing his mundane daily duties.

The whole atmosphere is one of dread. The howling of the wind, the ticking of the clock being somewhat accentuated, and, for the most part, the lack of background music, creates layer upon layer of fear.

We just know something is going to happen, but we do not know what.

The Signalman has a tight running time of approximately 40 minutes, which means nothing is wasted. It is absolute class and one to watch again and again.