''The Treasure of Abbot Thomas'' is a 1974 supernatural drama produced by the

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as part of its

A Ghost Story for Christmas ''A Ghost Story for Christmas'' is a strand of annual British short television films originally broadcast on BBC One between 1971 and 1978, and revived sporadically by the BBC since 2005. With one exception, the original instalments were directe ...

series. Running at 37 minutes and directed by

Lawrence Gordon Clark Lawrence Gordon Clark, is an English television director and producer, perhaps best known for his ''A Ghost Story for Christmas'' series of mostly M. R. James ghost stories, which were broadcast annually by the BBC throughout the 1970s. These ar ...

, it was written by John Bowen with an atmospheric musical score by

Geoffrey Burgon Geoffrey Alan Burgon (15 July 194121 September 2010) was an English composer best known for his television and film scores. Among his most recognisable works are ''Monty Python's Life of Brian'' for film, and ''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' and '' ...

. Based on the 1904 short story "

The Treasure of Abbot Thomas "The Treasure of Abbot Thomas" is a ghost story by British writer M. R. James. It was published in his book ''Ghost Stories of an Antiquary'' (1904). Plot summary The tale tells the story of the Rev. Justin Somerton, a scholar of medieval histo ...

" by

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 ...

, the drama was originally broadcast on 23 December 1974 and starred Michael Bryant and

Paul Lavers Paul Lavers (born 1950) is a British film, television and stage actor. He has been a presenter for Anglia television and for several shopping channels. Early life and career Paul Lavers was born in Bristol in 1950, the son of Josephine (née Ri ...

Synopsis

In 1859"The Treasure of Abbot Thomas" by M. R. James
Project Gutenberg Canada Ebook - taken from ''The Collected Ghost Stories of M. R. James'' (New York: Longmans, Green; London: Edward Arnold, 1931) the Rev Justin Somerton ( Michael Bryant), an academic clergyman and

Medievalist The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

, and his aristocratic

protégé Mentorship is the influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the personal and p ...

Peter, Lord Dattering (

) expose two fraudulent

medium Medium may refer to: Science and technology Aviation *Medium bomber, a class of war plane * Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Communication * Media (communication), tools used to store and deliver information or data * Medium of ...

s, Mr and Mrs Tyson, who claim they are able to communicate with the recently deceased husband of Lady Dattering (Virginia Balfour). Somerton tells Dattering about his researches into the history of an ancient local monastery. He tells of a supposed cache of gold said to have been hidden by one Abbot Thomas, a disgraced former churchman and alchemist who, according to legend, was carried off by the Devil in 1529. Together, they follow the clues during which they visit a church where they discover hidden messages in an ancient stained-glass window referring to the location of the treasure hidden long ago by the evil Abbot Thomas. Despite the warning that the Abbot had "set a guardian" to protect his treasure, Somerton sets out to unearth it - and discovers its horrific secret.

Cast

* Michael Bryant as Rev Justin Somerton *

as Peter, Lord Dattering *

Frank Mills Frank Mills (born June 27, 1942) is a Canadian pianist and recording artist, best known for his solo instrumental hit "Music Box Dancer". Early life and education Mills was born in Montreal, Quebec. He was raised in Verdun, Quebec and started pl ...

as Mr Tyson *

Sheila Dunn Sheila Mary Dunn (11 April 1940 – 3 March 2004) was an actress who worked both on television and in the theatre. She also performed under her married name, Sheila Camfield. Her father was Bill Dunn, a former ICI chairman who invented the bu ...

as Mrs Tyson *

John Herrington John Bennett Herrington (born September 14, 1958, in Chickasaw Nation) is a retired United States Naval Aviator, engineer and former NASA astronaut. In 2002, Herrington became the first enrolled member of a Native American tribe to fly in spac ...

as Abbot Thomas * Virginia Balfour as Lady Dattering * Peggy Aitchison as landlady

Adaptation

In creating his adaptation, Bowen changed a number of elements of M. R. James's story, such as removing Somerton's servant Brown from the story and adding another character – Peter, Lord Dattering (

)Listed as such in the film credits and addressed as "Lord Dattering" in the film; he is incorrectly listed as "Lord Peter Dattering" on IMDb, which would be a

courtesy title A courtesy title is a title that does not have legal significance but rather is used through custom or courtesy, particularly, in the context of nobility, the titles used by children of members of the nobility (cf. substantive title). In some co ...

borne by a younger son, who would be addressed as "Lord Peter" – as Somerton's

, with whom he shares his investigation. Unlike James’s original story, the television version is not told in flashback, and includes a scene in which Somerton exposes two fraudulent

mediums Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship or spir ...

, which acts as a demonstration of Somerton's rational approach to the supernatural. For ''The Treasure of Abbot Thomas'', Clark recalls John Bowen's script "took some liberties with the story—which made it for the better I think...It's really quite a funny story until it gets nasty, although the threat is always there. James has a mordant sense of humour, and it's good to translate that into cinematic terms when you can. I'd always wanted to do a medium scene, and John came up with a beauty." A parody, written by Stephen Sheridan and named ''The Teeth of Abbot Thomas'', was made for radio broadcast and is currently available on

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Locations

Although James’s original story was set in Germany, for budgetary reasons in the television version the action was relocated to England. Clark used the grounds of

Wells Cathedral Wells Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England, dedicated to St Andrew the Apostle. It is the seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, whose cathedra it holds as mother church of the Diocese of Bath and Wells. Built as a ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

for the entrance to the well where Abbot Thomas hid his treasure. Wells Cathedral Chapter House and its adjoining steps also were used in various scenes. The house featured is Orchardleigh, on the outskirts of

Frome Frome ( ) is a town and civil parish in eastern Somerset, England. The town is built on uneven high ground at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills, and centres on the River Frome. The town, about south of Bath, is the largest in the Mendip d ...

- also in Somerset. The 13th-century church of St Mary, Orchardleigh also featured in the production, as did Vicars' Close in

Wells, Somerset Wells () is a cathedral city and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, located on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills, south-east of Weston-super-Mare, south-west of Bath and south of Bristol. Although the population recorde ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:The Treasure of Abbot Thomas (1974 film) Adaptations of works by M. R. James BBC television dramas Television shows based on short fiction A Ghost Story for Christmas 1974 television films