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''Supernatural'' is a British
anthology
In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors.
In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...
television series
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...
that was produced by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
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...
in 1977. The series consisted of eight episodes and was broadcast on
BBC1
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
. 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
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
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
Billie Honor Whitelaw (6 June 1932 – 21 December 2014) was an English actress. She worked in close collaboration with Irish playwright Samuel Beckett for 25 years and was regarded as one of the foremost interpreters of his works. She was al ...
, 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
Vladek Sheybal (born Władysław Rudolf Zbigniew Sheybal; 12 March 1923 – 16 October 1992) was a Poles, Polish character actor, singer and director of both television and Theatre director, stage productions. He was well known for his portrayal ...
won the Dracula Society
The Dracula Society is a London-based literature and travel group with an interest in supernatural and macabre works of fiction, as exemplified by Bram Stoker's ''Dracula''.
The Society
The society was founded in October 1973 by two actors, Berna ...
'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
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic fiction, Gothic novel ''Frankenstein, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an History of scie ...
's ''Frankenstein
''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific ex ...
''.
Overall, ''Supernatural'' received a mixed response from audiences and low ratings, most likely due to its summertime transmission despite being a gothic horror show featuring mythic monsters and death. It effectively ended after only one series.
In 2014, episodes 6-8 were repeated for the Halloween season on BBC Four
BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002 .
Episode list
DVD release
''Supernatural'' was released on 18 November 2013 as part of the British Film Institute
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...
'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.
References
External links
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''Supernatural''
at Action TV
{{DEFAULTSORT:Supernatural (1977 TV Series)
1977 British television series debuts
1977 British television series endings
1970s British drama television series
British supernatural television shows
BBC television dramas
1970s British anthology television series
British horror fiction television series
English-language television shows