Introduction

The Sandlings Heath of East Anglia covered an area that stretched from Felixstow to Ipswich. It was landscape of heather and gorse created by the forest clearances of our Neanderthal ancestors. Now only a small proportion of it survives in such places as Dunwich on the Suffolk coast where its extent is subject to constant and sometimes dramatic erosion. The sandy 'Norwich crag' that forms the sea cliffs is no match to the dual effects of rain and wave erosion. Once Dunwich was a major seaport; now it is reduced to a small village. In the 12th century it boasted eight churches. All Saints was the last to survive but in 1919 it too crumbled and fell onto the beach and was washed away. In stormy weather, some say, it is still possible to hear the bells of the lost churches tolling beneath the waves of the North Sea.

This melancholic landscape was known to Montague Rhodes James, who grew up in rectory at Livermere, near Bury St Edmunds, and who spent holidays at Alderburgh, just down the coast from Dunwich. In addition to academic achievements at Cambridge - he was an authority on the Apocrypha and managed the extraordinary feat of cataloguing the entire medieval manuscript collection at the university - he wrote a guidebook to Suffolk and Norfolk celebrating the counties' art, architecture and folklore. The region was also a particular influence on James's other great extra-curricular activity - ghost story writing.

It was one of his tenets that the best examples of the genre conveyed a clearly delineated context within which the operations of supernatural phenomena would appear both more singular and believable. It was a prescription that he lived up to in many of his tales and especially in those that form a key focus of these notes and resources - Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad (1904) and A Warning to the Curious (1925). In each of these tales the Suffolk coastline and immediate hinterland play a significant role - the Seaburgh of Whistle is a portrait of Alderburgh, for example. In addition, both tales contain important folkloric elements and specific reference to the sea's encroachments upon the land.

The opportunity to explore these tales, as well as one of Charles Dickens' most suspenseful stories - The Signalman (1866), has been provided by the bfi's recent release on video and DVD of the television versions of all three. They were originally broadcast as follows:

• Whistle, and I'll Come to You by M R James and directed by Jonathan Miller; first shown: 7 May 1968; running time: 42 minutes.
• A Warning to the Curious by M R James and directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark; first shown: 24 December 1972; running time: 50 minutes.
• The Signalman by Charles Dickens and directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark; first shown: 22 December 1976; running time: 39 minutes.

As well as employing the talents of top casts and, in the case of The Signalman, the scriptwriter Andrew Davies (famous for subsequent literary adaptations for television) all three films are characterised by high production values and considerable sensitivity to the original texts. Where they significantly depart from their sources - particularly in the case of the two M R James adaptations - the alterations are enriching, adding substantially, for example, to the characterisation of the protagonists and the overall sense of menace.

The films are ideal for classroom use - they each have a PG certificate and can be viewed at a single sitting. As extremely well made television dramas, they also warrant careful film analysis, and a significant proportion of the materials contained here are designed to develop students' understanding of film grammar and narrative. Resources have also been included that encourage the use of the films as springboards for pupil's writing - both descriptive and critical.

These notes can be adapted for any of the above films, either singly or in combination. The two M R James adaptations are ideal for comparison as they share a very similar narrative structure, but with enough variation to make the exercise intriguing. The Signalman and Whistle, and I'll Come to You will reward combined study, as both represent attempts to imbue the ghost story characters with psychological depth. The notes here are guidelines, which you can follow closely or use as a starting point for developing your own materials.