This year the BBC reworked and rehashed Whistle and I’ll Come to You.
According to them it is:
A chilling new single drama, Whistle and I’ll Come to You is the thoroughly modern re-working of the evocative Edwardian ghost story Oh, Whistle and I’ll come to You, My Lad by MR James, adapted for BBC Two by Neil Cross. Cross’s adaptation delves into themes of ageing, hubris and the supernatural, with a horrifying psychological twist in the tale.
It’s a nice little ghost story for Christmas and John Hurt was very good as Parkin, but it has very little in common with the story it is supposed to be based on.
Back in 1968 they dramatized the story as part of their Omnibus series and had Michael Hordern in the starring role. That was a much better version and it was truer to M.R. James’ story. I think that this time around they just used the name ‘Whistle and I’ll Come to You’ to pull in the viewers. This blog does not accept comments, but if anybody has any views about the show, and would like to share them, one of the members at my forum has started a thread about it and I would be interested in hearing what other people thought of the show. If you missed it, it’s not too late as it is still available to watch online with the BBCiPlayer. It will only be there for another five days though.