The Stone Tape (TV 1972)

A research team from an electronics company move into an old Victorian house to start work on finding a new recording medium. When team member Jill Greeley witnesses a ghost, team director ... See full summary »

Director:

Peter Sasdy

Writer:

Nigel Kneale

Stars:

Michael Bryant, Jane Asher, Iain Cuthbertson

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Michael Bryant	...	Peter Brock
Jane Asher	...	Jill Greeley
Iain Cuthbertson	...	Roy Collinson
Michael Bates	...	Eddie Holmes
Reginald Marsh	...	Crawshaw
Tom Chadbon	...	Hargrave
John Forgeham	...	Maudsley
Philip Trewinnard	...	Stewart Jessop
James Cosmo	...	Cliff Dow
Neil Wilson	...	Sergeant Paterson
Christopher Banks	...	Vicar
Michael Graham Cox	...	Alan
Hilda Fenemore	...	Bar helper
Peggy Marshall	...	Bar lady

Storyline

A research team from an electronics company move into an old Victorian house to start work on finding a new recording medium. When team member Jill Greeley witnesses a ghost, team director Peter Brock decides not only to analyse the apparition, which he believes is a psychic impression trapped in a stone wall (dubbed a "stone tape"), but to exorcise it too - with terrifying results...

---

Plot Keywords:

science versus supernatural | supernatural

---

Genres:

Sci-Fi | Horror

---

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 December 1972 (UK)

Filming Locations:

Horsley Towers, East Horsley, Surrey, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Writer Nigel Kneale based "Taskerlands" and the scientists who worked there on the BBC's research and development laboratory in an old country house at Kingswood Warren in Kingswood, Surrey.

---

Goofs

Near the end of the film, as Jill climbs the staircase and holds the railing, you can see how the supposedly stone wall stretches where it's attached to the railing.

---

Quotes

Peter Brock: [on analyzing a ghost by electronic means] Let's say it's a mass of data... waiting for a correct interpretation.

---

Connections

Featured in Screenwipe: Review of the Year (2006)

User Reviews

It's all in the stone...

"The Stone Tape" is a real oddity - how can a sci-fi/fantasy drama of this high standard go unnoticed for so long.

Transmitted at Christmas in 1972 and repeated the following year, nothing has been seen of this classic piece of TV until earlier this year when the BFI released it on both video and DVD.

Written by Quatermass scribe Nigel Kneale and directed by TV/film veteran Peter Sasdy, "The Stone Tape" is an example of all the elements working together to produce a masterpiece.

In brief, the story concerns a group of scientists staying in a converted manor house to carry out research into a new recording medium to replace magnetic tape. One of the analysts, Jill Greely, has visions of a ghost in the one room of the house the workmen refused to renovate. The rest of the team then set about surveying this ghost and come to the conclusion that it is the stone of the room which has captured the image of the woman and the presence of certain receptive people, namely Jill, has triggered its playback, hence stone tape.

This is a well written and well directed piece of fantasy drama mixing the right amount of moody lighting and music with Peter Bryant and Jane Asher's kitchen sink romance to create something instantly believable as well as disturbing.

TV favourites such as Iain Cuthbertson and Tom Chadbon are present to make up the numbers in the impressive supporting cast.

A spooky masterpiece - go and buy the video or if your budget will allow, the DVD for Nigel Kneale's interesting and revealing commentary.