Martin Freeman leads cast for this year's terrifying BBC Ghost Story For Christmas
The BBC has announced plans for this year's Ghost Story For Christmas, which is an adaptation of one of Charles Dickens' "darkest" tales.
Martin Freeman and Jim Broadbent have been cast in this year's A Ghost Story For Christmas.
The Hobbit star and Bridget Jones actress have are among the star studded ensemble set for the BBC's latest spooky seasonal offering, which will be an adaptation of Charles Dickens' The Bride's Chamber.
Mark Gatiss, who is bringing the 1858 short story to the small screen, said: "I’m once more thrilled and honoured to bring another Ghost Story for Christmas to BBC Two.
"It’s unusual to find a Dickens rarity but this is it! A weird and nasty little treasure which lurks within a work co-written with the great Wilkie Collins.
"A lonely inn, an incognito traveller and a ghastly tale of warped obsession. Merry Christmas!”
The ninth instalment of the festive TV tradition will also feature Adrian Scarborough, Joe Armstrong, India Fowler and Lewis Shepherd.
Described by the BBC as "one of Dickens' darkest tales", The Bride's Chamber - originally published as The Ghost in the Bride's Chamber - shot principle photographer on location Ingatestone Hall, Essex earlier this year.
The BBC teased: "1858. An inn with no name, an eccentric landlord and a lone traveller with a strangely familiar appearance.
"As he settles into his room for the night, the traveller is visited by an uncanny man in black, with a story to tell…
"The Bride’s Chamber tells the tale of a spurned and vengeful suitor who manipulates a young woman and marries her to claim her fortune. But his murderous plans create his own purgatory…"
Gatiss is no stranger to the BBC's annual Christmas ghost story, having adapted E.F. Benson's The Room in the Tower in 2025, following on from E. Nesbit's Woman of Stone in 2024, and Arthur Conan Doyle's Lot No. 249 in 2023.
Mark Bell, Commissioning Editor for BBC Arts, commented: "The Ghost Story for Christmas has become an essential dish on the festive TV menu, for audiences who love nothing more than settling in for a spine-tingling tale on a winter’s night.
"This year we’re delighted to bring you this spooky story by Charles Dickens brilliantly adapted and directed by Mark Gatiss, with a great cast, to coincide with a range of further Dickens-inspired programming set to air across the BBC in December as part of the National Year of Reading.”
Other Dickens content include a major three-part docuseries exploring how Dickens was inspired by the streets of Victorian London after dark, plus a new four-part drama adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities starring Game of Thrones actor Kit Harington.
BBC Arts is bringing Oliver Twist to life for The Read with a performance reading by Caroline Quentin, and Gatiss is set to unbox a copy of his favourite Dickens novel for The Rebound.
