The Tractate Middoth is a short film which is part of the British supernatural anthology series A Ghost Story for Christmas.

John's search for an elusive Mishnaic tractate in the library proves to be a vital clue, though William quickly discovers there's more to it than meets the eye.

[3] Mary Simpson (Louise Jameson) is called to the deathbed of her clergyman uncle, Dr Rant (David Ryall), at his imposing home, Bretfield Manor.

He is met at the station by the impoverished widow Mary Simpson and her daughter Anne (Charlie Clemmow), who are forced to take in "ruddy lodgers" to make ends meet.

The Simpsons confide in him that they are losing a struggle with a rival heir to the estate of her deceased uncle, an unpleasant clergyman named Dr Thomas Rant.

On his deathbed Rant had told Mary Simpson that he had left his considerable estate to his nephew John Eldred - but tells her there is a later will leaving everything to her - if she has the wits to find it.

Returning to the library, Garrett realised that '11334' is the catalogue number for the copy of the Tractate Middoth that Eldred had been so interested in.

When it appears that Eldred had been tearing out a page when he died, the missing will is discovered and decrypted, written in a script that looks like Hebrew but when read in a mirror proves to be English.

[3] He created the character of Garrett's eccentric fellow traveller Miss Chambers (Una Stubbs), whom he encounters on the train to the seaside town where he hopes to recuperate from his shock in the library.

[7] In a 2013 interview recorded for the British Film Institute Gatiss said that, despite his desire to be faithful to and "honour" the original, there was no reason for Dr Rant to come back as a ghost and behave the way it did in the story, so he created the character of the housekeeper Mrs Goundry (Eleanor Bron) to emphasise the "twisted" character of Rant.

[3] On being refused permission to use dust during the appearances of the spectre of Dr Rant in Chetham's Library the production instead used bulrushes to create the swirling effect.

[3] Locations in the drama included Chetham's Library in Manchester,[3] and Browsholme Hall, Cow Ark in Lancashire, which stood in as Bretfield Manor.