The title of the fourth story in Yorkshire Television’s Chiller series, The Man Who Didn’t Believe in Ghosts, more than adequately sums up the basic premise of the episode.
Richard Cramer (Peter Egan) is a professional sceptic who makes his living debunking the paranormal. Following a TV appearance, during which he gleefully exposes the workings of a Victorian spirit box to an impressed Angela Rippon (appearing as herself), Richard suffers a debilitating stroke.
Once discharged from hospital and seeking a quieter environment in which to recuperate, a partially incapacitated Richard, along with wife Sophie (Mel Martin), son Matthew (Tobias Saunders) and their obligatory pet dog, Snowy, decamps to the countryside where he has purchased spooky pile, Windwhistle Hall. This is despite the fact, or perhaps because of it, that the estate agent had informed the Cramers that the property is allegedly haunted.
This comes as no surprise to the audience as the opening sequence shows a terrified woman, pursued by someone or something unseen, coming to a ghastly end when tumbling from the roof of the Hall. This mysterious tragedy would seem to provide the perfect source for a potential haunting.
Strange events at Windwhistle Hall
It is on their initial viewing that the Cramer family meet the Hall’s somewhat creepy former owner Peter Walker (Miles Anderson). Peter has been forced to sell his home, having fallen on hard times, but still acts as its general handyman when required. Furthermore, we learn his wife, Rosemary (Helen Caldwell), was the unfortunate lady whose demise we witnessed at the beginning of the story.
Once the Cramers have moved into Windwhistle Hall it is not long until strange incidents begin to occur, commencing with the sinister shadow of a woman passing ominously over young Matthew as he lies in bed.
Further inexplicable events plague the family, including the sudden unsettling appearance of a wayward crow inside the house and Richard’s digital work file being unaccountably deleted from his computer. Matters take a turn for the potentially lethal when a chandelier plunges from the bathroom ceiling into a bubble bath from which Sophie barely manages to escape in time.
This is not the end of their trials however, as the catalogue of bizarre occurrences continues to expand, placing the family in a state of persistent peril. Sophie becomes convinced there is something supernatural dwelling in the old house whilst Richard clings firmly to his long-held conviction that there are no such things as ghosts. The couple’s conflicting viewpoints add mounting strain to the already fragile foundations of their marriage.
Employing his research skills, Richard attempts to unravel the recent tragic history of Windwhistle Hall in search of an explanation for their troubles while Sophie finds herself in further danger within its walls. Will Richard uncover a grounded source to the mystery or will the family fall prey to the very thing he has spent his entire career attempting to disprove?
Is The Man Who Didn’t Believe in Ghosts worth watching?
The Man Who Didn’t Believe in Ghosts has its effective moments. Ancient Windwhistle Hall, with its capacious rooms and rambling grounds, is an ideal setting for a ghost story and appears the very definition of a haunted house.
Director Bob Mahoney manages to create a reasonable level of suspense as the Cramers’ unpleasant experiences escalate.
Egan is pitch-perfect as the arrogant sceptic attempting to make sense of his increasingly baffling circumstances and wrestling with the challenge they bring to his rigid belief system.
Unfortunately, the tale is far too predictable to sustain the serious engagement of the viewer. For instance, the minute we are shown a walk-in freezer with no interior handle it is blatantly obvious someone will eventually become trapped inside it and the climactic plot twist will come as no surprise whatsoever to anyone who regularly consumes genre fare.
On a more serious note, the episode suffers from the unwelcome inclusion of a scene in which Sophie is sexually assaulted and, we are naturally led to assume, raped. The scene itself seems unnecessary and exploitative and, even worse, has absolutely no resolution, no consequences or indeed is ever mentioned again. The characters make zero reference to it, and everyone carries on as normal.
Quite rightly, this would never pass muster today and leaves a bad taste in the mouth. It is lazy writing and an insult to the real-life victims of such crimes.
Despite the presence of the aforementioned sequence, The Man Who Didn’t Believe in Ghosts remains a generally entertaining piece although, in comparison to the earlier entries in the series, feels more akin to an episode of ITV’s Tales of the Unexpected.
Overall, a diverting enough 50 minutes yet one that is unlikely to fully satisfy seasoned horror fans.
Chiller (1995) episode reviews
- Episode 1: Prophecy
- Episode 2: Toby
- Episode 3: Here Comes the Mirror Man
- Episode 4: The Man Who Didn’t Believe in Ghosts
- Episode 5: Number Six
