It stars Robert Hardy as Archdeacon Haynes of the fictional Barchester Cathedral, whose mysterious death is investigated 50 years later by the scholar Dr. Black (Clive Swift), and first aired on BBC1 on 24 December 1971.

[3] Since airing, the film has received praise as a work of supernatural television and horror cinema, and as a strong inaugural instalment of what would become a long-running strand.

[1] "The Stalls of Barchester" was first released on DVD in Australia in 2011 by Shock Entertainment as part of the box set The Complete Ghost Stories of M. R.

In 2022 it was remastered in 2k resolution by the BFI and released on Blu-ray alongside "Whistle and I'll Come to You" (1968 and 2010), "A Warning to the Curious", and "Lost Hearts" (1973) as Ghost Stories for Christmas - Volume 1.

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