''The Stone Tape'' is a 1972 British
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
horror drama
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
film written by
Nigel Kneale
Thomas Nigel Kneale (28 April 1922 – 29 October 2006) was a Manx screenwriter who wrote professionally for more than 50 years, was a winner of the Somerset Maugham Award, and was twice nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best British S ...
and directed by
Peter Sasdy
Peter Sasdy (born 27 May 1935 in Budapest, Hungary) is a British film and television director.
In addition to his numerous TV credits, notable among which is the Nigel Kneale-scripted ''The Stone Tape'' (1972), he directed several horror films ...
and starring
Michael Bryant,
Jane Asher
Jane Asher (born 5 April 1946)The International Who's Who of Women, 3rd edition, ed. Elizabeth Sleeman, Europa Publications, 2002, p. 29 is an English actress and author. She achieved early fame as a child actress and has worked extensively in f ...
,
Michael Bates and
Iain Cuthbertson
Iain Cuthbertson (4 January 1930 – 4 September 2009) was a Scottish character actor and theatre director. He was known for his tall imposing build and also his distinctive gravelly, heavily accented voice. He had lead roles in ''The Border ...
. It was broadcast on
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
as a Christmas
ghost story
A ghost story is any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them."Ghost Stories" in Margaret Drabble (ed.), ''Oxford Companion to English Literature'' ...
in 1972. Combining aspects of
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
and
horror, the story concerns a team of scientists who move into their new research facility, a renovated
Victorian mansion that has a reputation for being
haunted
Haunted or The Haunted may refer to:
Books
* ''Haunted'' (Armstrong novel), by Kelley Armstrong, 2005
* ''Haunted'' (Cabot novel), by Meg Cabot, 2004
* ''Haunted'' (Palahniuk novel), by Chuck Palahniuk, 2005
* ''Haunted'' (Angel novel), a 200 ...
. The team investigate the phenomena, trying to determine if the stones of the building are acting as a
recording medium
Data storage is the recording (storing) of information (data) in a storage medium. Handwriting, phonographic recording, magnetic tape, and optical discs are all examples of storage media. Biological molecules such as RNA and DNA are consid ...
for past events (the "stone tape" of the play's title). However, their investigations serve only to unleash a darker, more malevolent force.
''The Stone Tape'' was written by
Nigel Kneale
Thomas Nigel Kneale (28 April 1922 – 29 October 2006) was a Manx screenwriter who wrote professionally for more than 50 years, was a winner of the Somerset Maugham Award, and was twice nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best British S ...
, best known as the writer of ''
Quatermass
Professor Bernard Quatermass is a fictional scientist, originally created by the writer Nigel Kneale for BBC Television. An intelligent and highly moral British scientist, Quatermass is a pioneer of the British space programme, heading the Brit ...
''. Its juxtaposition of science and superstition is a frequent theme in Kneale's work; in particular, his 1952 radio play ''You Must Listen'', about a haunted telephone line, is a notable antecedent of ''The Stone Tape''. The play was also inspired by a visit Kneale had paid to the BBC's
research and development department, which was then located in an old Victorian house in
Kingswood, Surrey
Kingswood or Kingswood with Burgh Heath is a residential area on the North Downs in the Borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. Part of the London commuter belt, Kingswood is just to the east of the A217 separating it from Tadwor ...
.
Critically acclaimed at time of broadcast, it remains well regarded to this day as one of Nigel Kneale's best and most terrifying plays. Since its broadcast, the hypothesis of
residual haunting
The Stone Tape Theory is the speculation that ghosts and hauntings are analogous to tape recordings, and that mental impressions during emotional or traumatic events can be projected in the form of energy, "recorded" onto rocks and other items ...
– that ghosts are recordings of past events made by the natural environment – has come to be known as the "
Stone Tape
The Stone Tape Theory is the speculation that ghosts and hauntings are analogous to tape recordings, and that mental impressions during emotional or traumatic events can be projected in the form of energy, "recorded" onto rocks and other item ...
Theory".
Plot
Peter Brock is the selfish and petulant head of a research team for Ryan
Electrics. His team is developing a new
recording medium
Data storage is the recording (storing) of information (data) in a storage medium. Handwriting, phonographic recording, magnetic tape, and optical discs are all examples of storage media. Biological molecules such as RNA and DNA are consid ...
that will give the company an edge over its Japanese competitors. They move into a new facility at Taskerlands, an old
Victorian mansion renovated for their use. On arrival, they learn from estates manager Roy Collinson that the refurbishment of one of the rooms in Taskerlands remains incomplete. The builders refused to work in it because it is supposedly haunted. The room, with its stone walls, is a remnant of the original building, with foundations dating back to the
Saxon
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
era. The rest of the mansion was added on over the centuries.
Curious, the researchers explore the room and hear the sounds of a woman running, followed by a gut-wrenching scream. Jill Greeley, an emotionally sensitive
computer programmer
A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software.
A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...
, has a vision of a woman running up the steps in the room and falling, apparently to her death.
Inquiring of old records, Collinson finds records of a young maid who had died in the room in 1890 and that an unsuccessful
exorcism
Exorcism () is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons, jinns, or other malevolent spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that is believed to be possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be ...
had previously been performed on the property. Brock and Jill briefly meet with a local Vicar, who is also an archivist, but he fails to turn up records of the exorcism.
Brock hypothesises that it is not a
ghost
A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...
, but that somehow the stone in the room has preserved an image of the girl's death— this "stone tape" may be the new recording medium they have been seeking. Their scientific devices fail to detect any evidence of the phenomena the team experience, and different team members experience different phenomena: most are able to hear sounds, Jill can also see images, but another member of the team experiences no sensory input. Jill hypothesises that the "tape" does not produce actual sound or light, but instead interfaces with the human nervous system during
playback to create the sensory impression of sound and vision. Some individuals are more sensitive to this than others. She surmises that the recordings are imprinted in moments of extreme emotion, like a kind of telepathy.
Excited by the possibilities presented by a recording medium that uses a person's senses as the means of recording and playback, Brock and his team move into the room. They bombard it with their technology, hoping to find the "stone tape" secret and have it play on demand. Brock is certain that the walls hold the secret, but he fails to develop a predictable method of triggering. Under mounting pressure to succeed, Brock uses every available instrumentation, only to be told, by Jill, that the presence she had felt earlier was now gone, apparently meaning that the "tape" has been erased. Brock's failures are compounded when his superiors signal their lost confidence in him, requiring him to share Taskerlands with a rival research team working on a new
washing machine
A washing machine (laundry machine, clothes washer, washer, or simply wash) is a home appliance used to wash laundry. The term is mostly applied to machines that use water as opposed to dry cleaning (which uses alternative cleaning fluids and ...
.
Embittered, Brock no longer wants anything to do with the stone tape. He disregards Jill's insistence that there is still more to learn about the room and her mounting concerns that it is dangerous to stop their research. As Brock directs the team to resume its past projects, the Vicar reappears, claiming to have found records of the unsuccessful exorcism, not in 1892, but much earlier, in 1760, before the house even stood.
Realising that the phenomenon occurring in the room is far older than the house, Jill theorizes that the stone tape can be recorded over again and again, like magnetic recording tape; the maid's death was simply the most recent and clearest recording. Independently continuing her research, Jill realizes that the maid's death was masking a much older recording, left many thousands of years ago. Brock cruelly dismisses her findings and forces Jill to take a two-month leave to prevent her from continuing her research.
When Jill returns to the room one last time, a powerful, malevolent presence from the much-degraded older recording besieges her senses. Like the maid before her, she dies while frantically trying to escape it.
During an
inquest
An inquest is a judicial inquiry in common law jurisdictions, particularly one held to determine the cause of a person's death. Conducted by a judge, jury, or government official, an inquest may or may not require an autopsy carried out by a coro ...
, Brock tries to save face by denouncing Jill as having been mentally unstable. Afterwards he orders that all of Jill's research be destroyed without reviewing it. The "haunted" room has been declared of historical importance by a preservation society, prohibiting development, destruction, or commercial use. He makes a final visit to the room and discovers to his horror that the stone tape has made a new, crystal-clear recording: that of Jill screaming his name as she dies.
Background
Nigel Kneale was a
Manx television playwright who had first come to prominence in the 1950s thanks to his three ''Quatermass'' serials and
his controversial adaptation of
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...
's ''
Nineteen Eighty-Four
''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' (also stylised as ''1984'') is a dystopian social science fiction novel and cautionary tale written by the English writer George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and final ...
'', all of which were produced by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
. Going freelance in the nineteen-sixties, Kneale had produced scripts for
Associated Television
Associated Television was the original name of the British broadcaster ATV, part of the Independent Television (ITV) network. It provided a service to London at weekends from 1955 to 1968, to the Midlands on weekdays from 1956 to 1968, and ...
and for
Hammer Films
A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as wi ...
. In the late nineteen-sixties and early nineteen-seventies, Kneale had been coaxed back to the BBC, writing such plays as ''
The Year of the Sex Olympics
''The Year of the Sex Olympics'' is a 1968 television play made by the BBC and first broadcast on BBC2 as part of ''Theatre 625''. It stars Leonard Rossiter, Tony Vogel, Suzanne Neve and Brian Cox, and was directed by Michael Elliott. The wr ...
'', ''Wine of India'' and, for the anthology series ''
Out of the Unknown
''Out of the Unknown'' is a British television science fiction anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and broadcast on BBC2 in four series between 1965 and 1971. Most episodes of the first three series were a dramatisation of a science f ...
'', ''The Chopper'', the latter two of which no longer exist.
In the middle of 1972, Christopher Morahan, who was Head of Drama at BBC2 and who had directed Kneale's 1963 play ''The Road'' and the 1965 remake of Kneale's adaptation of ''
Nineteen Eighty-Four
''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' (also stylised as ''1984'') is a dystopian social science fiction novel and cautionary tale written by the English writer George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and final ...
'', approached Kneale asking him to write a play to be broadcast over the Christmas period. Accepting the commission, Kneale quickly decided that, in keeping with Christmas tradition, he would write a ghost story, but with a difference – ancient spirits would come into collision with modern science. The concept of mixing the supernatural with high technology had long been a feature of Kneale's work – most notably, his 1952 radio play ''You Must Listen'', which concerned a telecommunications engineer who discovers that a telephone line has somehow preserved the final conversation between a woman and her lover before her suicide, was an important antecedent of ''The Stone Tape''. No recordings of the radio play are known to exist. The science and supernatural theme is also present in Kneale's ''
Quatermass and the Pit
''Quatermass and the Pit'' is a British television science-fiction serial transmitted live by BBC Television in December 1958 and January 1959. It was the third and last of the BBC's ''Quatermass'' serials, although the chief character, Profe ...
'' which, in addition, shares similar elements with ''The Stone Tape'' such as an abandoned house with a reputation for hauntings; the collection of documentary evidence of the haunting (also a trademark of
M. R. James
Montague Rhodes James (1 August 1862 – 12 June 1936) was an English author, Medieval studies, medievalist scholar and provost (education), provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–1918), and of Eton College (1918–1936). He was List of ...
, a writer much admired by Kneale) and the sensitivity of certain characters to the supernatural. In addition, the relationship between the scientists and the local villagers echoes that seen in ''
Quatermass II
''Quatermass II'' is a British science fiction serial, originally broadcast by BBC Television in the autumn of 1955. It is the second in the ''Quatermass
Professor Bernard Quatermass is a fictional scientist, originally created by the wri ...
''.
For the research facility at "Taskerlands", Kneale was influenced by a visit he had paid to the BBC's
research and development
Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...
facility which was based at an old country house at Kingswood Warren in
Kingswood, Surrey
Kingswood or Kingswood with Burgh Heath is a residential area on the North Downs in the Borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. Part of the London commuter belt, Kingswood is just to the east of the A217 separating it from Tadwor ...
. Similarly, the researchers working at Kingswood Warren influenced the portrayal of the members of the Ryan research team in ''The Stone Tape''. Kneale recalled of his visit to Kingswood Warren, "The sort of impression you got of the folk who worked there was a boyishness. They were very cheerful. It was all rather fun for them, which is a very clever way to go about doing that sort of heavy research ... They were nice chaps – and so we got some very nice chaps for the TV version".
[Murray, ''Into the Unknown'', p. 115.]
Kneale delivered his script, initially titled ''Breakthrough'' and later renamed ''The Stone Tape'', in September 1972. Because of its subject matter, it was felt that the play would be best handled as an instalment of ''
Dead of Night
''Dead of Night'' is a 1945 black and white British anthology horror film, made by Ealing Studios. The individual segments were directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden and Robert Hamer. It stars Mervyn Johns, Googie Wi ...
'', a supernatural
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 ...
series produced by
Innes Lloyd
George Innes Llewelyn Lloyd (24 December 1925 – 23 August 1991) was a Welsh television producer. He had a long career in BBC drama, which included producing series such as ''Doctor Who'' and ''Talking Heads''.
Early life and career
Fo ...
. In the end, ''The Stone Tape'' was broadcast as a standalone programme but production was handled by the ''Dead of Night'' team under Lloyd. Selected as director was
Hungarian Peter Sasdy
Peter Sasdy (born 27 May 1935 in Budapest, Hungary) is a British film and television director.
In addition to his numerous TV credits, notable among which is the Nigel Kneale-scripted ''The Stone Tape'' (1972), he directed several horror films ...
whose credits included adaptations of ''
The Caves of Steel
''The Caves of Steel'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Isaac Asimov. It is a detective story and illustrates an idea Asimov advocated, that science fiction can be applied to any literary genre, rather than just being a limited ge ...
'' and ''
Wuthering Heights
''Wuthering Heights'' is an 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, initially published under her pen name Ellis Bell. It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moorland, moors, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and their tur ...
'' for the BBC and ''
Taste the Blood of Dracula
''Taste the Blood of Dracula'' is a 1970 British supernatural horror film produced by Hammer Film Productions. Directed by Peter Sasdy from a script by Anthony Hinds, it is the fifth installment in Hammer's ''Dracula'' series, and the fourth to ...
'' and ''
Hands of the Ripper
''Hands of the Ripper'' is a 1971 British horror film, directed by Peter Sasdy for Hammer Film Productions. It was written by L. W. Davidson from a story by Edward Spencer Shew, and produced by Aida Young. The film was released in the U.S. as a ...
'' for Hammer. Cast as Peter Brock was Michael Bryant, who had starred in the BBC's 1970 adaptation of
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and litera ...
's ''Roads to Freedom'' and had a reputation for playing "bad boy" roles.
[Pixley ''Fantasy Flasback – The Stone Tape'', p. 58.] Jane Asher, playing Jill Greeley, had, as a child, appeared in Hammer's ''
The Quatermass Xperiment
''The Quatermass Xperiment'' (a.k.a. ''The Creeping Unknown'' in the United States) is a 1955 British science fiction horror film from Hammer Film Productions, based on the 1953 BBC Television serial ''The Quatermass Experiment'' written by Ni ...
'', the film adaptation of Kneale's BBC serial ''
The Quatermass Experiment
''The Quatermass Experiment'' is a British science fiction serial broadcast by BBC Television during the summer of 1953 and re-staged by BBC Four in 2005. Set in the near future against the background of a British space programme, it tells th ...
''. Iain Cuthberston, playing Roy Collinson, was well known for his role in ''
Budgie
Budgie may refer to:
Arts
* Budgie (album), ''Budgie'' (album), the debut album by the Welsh heavy metal band Budgie
* Budgie (band), a Welsh heavy metal band from Cardiff
* Budgie (musician) (born 1957), English drummer
* Budgie (TV series), ''Bu ...
'' and would go to become the star of ''
Sutherland's Law
''Sutherland's Law'' is a television series made by BBC Scotland between 1973 and 1976.
The series had originated as a stand-alone edition of the portmanteau programme ''Drama Playhouse'' in 1972 in which Derek Francis played Sutherland and w ...
'' while
Michael Bates, cast as Eddie Holmes, had appeared in ''
Patton
George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a General (United States), general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, Mediterranean Theater ...
'' and would later become known for his roles in the
sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
s ''
Last of the Summer Wine
''Last of the Summer Wine'' is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke and originally broadcast by the BBC from 1973 to 2010. It premiered as an episode of ''Comedy Playhouse'' on 4 January 1973, and the first series of episodes foll ...
'' and ''
It Ain't Half Hot Mum
''It Ain't Half Hot, Mum'' is a BBC television sitcom about a Royal Artillery concert party based in Deolali in British India and the fictional village of Tin Min in Burma, during the last months of the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy ...
''.
Recording of ''The Stone Tape'' began on 15 November 1972 with the exterior scenes of the house, "Taskerlands".
These were shot at
Horsley Towers
Horsley Towers, East Horsley, Surrey, England is a country house dating from the 19th century. The house was designed by Charles Barry for the banker William Currie. The East Horsley estate was later sold to William King-Noel, 1st Earl of Lovelac ...
,
East Horsley
East Horsley is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England, 21 miles southwest of London, on the A246 between Leatherhead and Guildford. Horsley and Effingham Junction railway stations are on the New Guildford line to London Waterloo. ...
in Surrey. This was once owned by
Ada Lovelace
Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (''née'' Byron; 10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852) was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the A ...
, daughter of
Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...
and sponsor of
computer
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...
pioneer
Charles Babbage
Charles Babbage (; 26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English polymath. A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage originated the concept of a digital programmable computer.
Babbage is considered ...
.
Production then moved to
BBC Television Centre
Television Centre (TVC) is a building complex in White City, London, White City, West London, that was the headquarters of BBC Television between 1960 and 2013. After a refurbishment, the complex reopened in 2017 with three studios in use for ...
between 20 November 1972 and 22 November 1972. Not all scenes were recorded in time and a remount was required on 4 December 1972. Michael Bates was not available on this day and his lines had to be redistributed among the other cast members. Incidental music and sound effects were provided by
Desmond Briscoe of the
BBC Radiophonic Workshop
The BBC Radiophonic Workshop was one of the sound effects units of the BBC, created in 1958 to produce incidental sounds and new music for radio and, later, television. The unit is known for its experimental and pioneering work in electroni ...
and these proved significant in setting the mood of the play – sections were later used in a BBC educational programme on the effectiveness of incidental music.
''The Stone Tape'' aired on 25 December 1972 on BBC2 to an audience of 2.6 million.
The ''
Evening Standard
The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format.
In October 2009, after be ...
'' praised the play, describing it as "one of the best plays of the genre ever written. Its virtues aren't just the main spine of the story, but the way the characters shift, as in real life, the bitter comic conflict between pure and impure science". Viewers were similarly impressed: a panel questioned for an audience report praised ''The Stone Tape'' as "thoroughly entertaining" and "both gripping and spine-chilling".
The play has survived in the BBC's Archives as its PAL colour
videotape
Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) and, more commonly, videocassett ...
master.
''The Stone Tape'' was one of the last plays Nigel Kneale wrote for the BBC. He had become increasingly disenchanted with the organisation, mainly as a result of the rejection of several scripts such as ''Cracks'', a proposed ''
Play for Today
''Play for Today'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage ...
'', and a fourth ''Quatermass'' serial. Moving to
Independent Television, he wrote and created series such as ''
Beasts
Beast most often refers to:
* Non-human animal
* Monster
Beast or Beasts may also refer to:
Bible
* Beast (Revelation), two beasts described in the Book of Revelation
Computing and gaming
* Beast (card game), English name of historical Frenc ...
'' and ''
Kinvig
''Kinvig'' is a 1981 sci-fi comedy television series made by London Weekend Television which ran for one series of seven episodes. It was the only sit-com written by Nigel Kneale who was more famous for creating serious science fiction dramas su ...
'' and succeeded in getting his rejected ''
Quatermass
Professor Bernard Quatermass is a fictional scientist, originally created by the writer Nigel Kneale for BBC Television. An intelligent and highly moral British scientist, Quatermass is a pioneer of the British space programme, heading the Brit ...
'' scripts produced in 1979. He died in 2006.
The script of ''The Stone Tape'' was published, along with the scripts of ''The Road'' and ''The Year of the Sex Olympics'' in 1976 by Ferret Fantasy under the title ''The Year of the Sex Olympics and Other TV Plays''.
Cultural significance
One of the first to promulgate the hypothesis of
residual haunting
The Stone Tape Theory is the speculation that ghosts and hauntings are analogous to tape recordings, and that mental impressions during emotional or traumatic events can be projected in the form of energy, "recorded" onto rocks and other items ...
, that ghosts may be recordings of past events made by the physical environment, was
T. C. Lethbridge
Thomas Charles Lethbridge (23 March 1901 – 30 September 1971), better known as T. C. Lethbridge, was an English archaeologist, parapsychologist, and explorer. A specialist in Anglo-Saxon archaeology, he served as honorary Keeper of Anglo ...
in books such as ''Ghost and Ghoul'', written in 1961. Since the broadcast of the play, this hypothesis has come to be known as the "Stone Tape Theory" by
parapsychological
Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis (also called telekinesis), and psychometry) and other paranormal claims, for example, those related to near ...
researchers.
''The Stone Tape'' was a significant influence on
John Carpenter
John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, actor, and composer. Although he worked in various film genres, he is most commonly associated with horror, action, and science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s. He ...
's 1987 film ''
Prince of Darkness'' in which a group of scientists investigate a mysterious cylinder discovered in the basement of a church.
[Newman, ''The Stone Tape – DVD sleeve notes''.] Besides directing the film, Carpenter wrote the screenplay under the
pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
"Martin Quatermass", and included a reference to "Kneale University". This homage did little to impress Kneale, who wrote in ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'', "For the record I have had nothing to do with the film and I have not seen it. It sounds pretty bad. With an homage like this, one might say, who needs insults? I can only imagine that it is a whimsical riposte for my having my name removed from a film I wrote a few years ago
Halloween_III''_for_which_Kneale_wrote_an_early_draft.html" ;"title="Halloween III: Season of the Witch">Halloween III'' for which Kneale wrote an early draft">Halloween III: Season of the Witch">Halloween III'' for which Kneale wrote an early draftand which Mr Carpenter carpentered into sawdust". The play also influenced the 1982
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...
and
Tobe Hooper
Willard Tobe Hooper (; January 25, 1943 – August 26, 2017) was an American director, screenwriter, and producer best known for his work in the horror film, horror genre. The British Film Institute cited Hooper as one of the most influenti ...
film ''
Poltergeist
In ghostlore, a poltergeist ( or ; German for "rumbling ghost" or "noisy spirit") is a type of ghost or spirit that is responsible for physical disturbances, such as loud noises and objects being moved or destroyed. Most claims or fictional descr ...
''.
In the 2004 BBC7 Radio Serial "Ghost Zone", a character refers explicitly to the "Stone Tape theory" as an explanation for the way an invading alien intelligence is "replaying" scenes and figures from the past of the remote Scottish village in which the story is set. Author Marty Ross has explicitly acknowledged the influence of Kneale's work, and the Quatermass serials in particular, on his own BBC SF drama.
''The Stone Tape'' remains well-regarded to this day. Roger Fulton, writing in ''The Encyclopedia of TV Science Fiction'', calls it "arguably the most creepy drama ever seen on television". The writer and critic Kim Newman regards it as "one of the masterpieces of genre television, an authentic alliance of mind-stretching science fiction concepts with horror and suspense plot mechanics".
Writer and member of ''
The League of Gentlemen
''The League of Gentlemen'' is a surreal British comedy horror sitcom that premiered on BBC Two in 1999. The programme is set in Royston Vasey, a fictional town in northern England, originally based on Alston, Cumbria, and follows the lives o ...
'',
Jeremy Dyson
Jeremy Dyson (born 14 June 1966) is a British author, musician and screenwriter who, along with Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, is one of the League of Gentlemen. He also created and co-wrote the West End show ''Ghost Stories' ...
feels that ''The Stone Tape'' "strikes a note that it just circumnavigates your intellect and gets you on a much deeper level
..it just has this impact on you, rather like being in the room itself. Extraordinary piece of work".
[Murray, ''Into the Unknown'', p. 117.] Writer
Grant Morrison
Grant Morrison, MBE (born 31 January 1960) is a Scottish comic book writer, screenwriter, and producer. Their work is known for its nonlinear narrative
A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, w ...
recalled ''The Stone Tape'' as "really creepy and very memorable. Just brilliant images. That scared the hell out of me!".
Sergio Angelini, writing for the British Film Institute's
Screenonline
Screenonline is a website about the history of British film, television and social history as documented by film and television. The project has been developed by the British Film Institute and funded by a £1.2 million grant from the National Lot ...
, has said that "''The Stone Tape'' stands as perhaps his (''Nigel Kneale's)'' finest single work in the genre". Lez Cooke, in his book ''British Television Drama: A History'', has praised the play as "one of the most imaginative and intelligent examples of the horror genre to appear on British television, a single play to rank alongside the best of ''Play for Today''".
A BBC radio play was produced in 2015 written by Matthew Graham and Peter Strickland. It features a cameo from Jane Asher.
Home video release
A
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
was released by 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, ...
in 2001 with a commentary by Nigel Kneale and critic
Kim Newman
Kim James Newman (born 31 July 1959) is an English journalist, film critic and fiction writer. Recurring interests visible in his work include film history and horror fiction—both of which he attributes to seeing Tod Browning's ''Dracula (1931 ...
, sleeve notes by Kim Newman and the script of the play as well as the script of ''The Road''. This edition is now out of print. In 2013 the DVD was re-released with new cover art by
101 Films, which also included the commentary by Kneale and Newman. It was also included in a two-disc edition with the BBC's ''
Ghostwatch
''Ghostwatch'' is a British reality– horror/pseudo-documentary television film, first broadcast on BBC1 on Halloween night, 1992. Written by Stephen Volk, and directed by Lesley Manning, the drama was produced for the BBC anthology series ''S ...
'' programme from 1992.
Soundtrack release
The soundtrack from this film, composed by
Desmond Briscoe at the
BBC Radiophonic Workshop
The BBC Radiophonic Workshop was one of the sound effects units of the BBC, created in 1958 to produce incidental sounds and new music for radio and, later, television. The unit is known for its experimental and pioneering work in electroni ...
, was released on 13 April 2019 on 10" green vinyl for
Record Store Day
Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...
2019. It is to be reissued as a bonus disc in the
Record Store Day
Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...
exclusive 6-CD box set ''Four Albums 1968 - 1978'' 29 August 2020.
Track listing
See also
*
Archaeoacoustics
Archaeoacoustics is a sub-field of archaeology and acoustics which studies the relationship between people and sound throughout history. It is an interdisciplinary field with methodological contributions from acoustics, archaeology, and compute ...
*
List of ghost films
Ghost movies and shows can fall into a wide range of genres, including romance, comedy, horror, juvenile interest, and drama. Depictions of ghosts are as diverse as Casper the Friendly Ghost, Beetlejuice, Hamlet's father, Jacob Marley, Freddy Kru ...
Notes
References
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External links
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''The Stone Tape''at 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, ...
'
Screenonlinea
Action TVDVD liner notesby
Kim Newman
Kim James Newman (born 31 July 1959) is an English journalist, film critic and fiction writer. Recurring interests visible in his work include film history and horror fiction—both of which he attributes to seeing Tod Browning's ''Dracula (1931 ...
at th
British Film Institute
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stone Tape, The
1972 television plays
1970s science fiction horror films
BBC television dramas
British science fiction horror films
British supernatural television shows
British television plays
English-language television shows
British horror television films