Written by Robin Chapman, produced by Rosemary Hill, and directed by the series' creator, Lawrence Gordon Clark, it is based on the 1895 ghost story of the same name by M. R. James and first aired on BBC1 on 25 December 1973.

The drama tells the story of Stephen Elliott, a young orphan aged 11 years and of an inquiring frame of mind, who is sent to stay with his much older cousin, the scholarly Mr Abney, at a remote country mansion, Aswarby Hall, in Lincolnshire.

[7] Also featured is My Bonny Boy from Ralph Vaughan Williams English Folk Song Suite, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Adrian Boult.

Two pieces from The Minstrel of Clare, a collection of Irish folk music by Willie Clancy, also feature: The Templehouse and Over the Moor to Maggie, and Caoineadh an Spailpín (The Spalpeen's Lament).

This has been wrongly identified as L'amour de Moi, a 15th Century French folk song,[10] but BBC copyright documentation confirms that this title is instead the tune hummed briefly by Joseph O'Conor.

[14] This included Ramsey Campbell's essay, the Lawrence Gordon Clark introduction, and a newly-recorded commentary by critics Kim Newman and Sean Hogan.