There have been two versions of this work produced by the BBC. The first was a four-part adaptation; the second was a Saturday Play.
VERSION ONE (1993):
The Woman in Black
Susan Hill
1993
Eel Marsh House stands tall, gaunt and isolated, surveying the endless flat saltmarshes beyond the Nine Lives Causeway, somewhere on England's bleak East Coast. Here Mrs. Alice Drablow lived - and died - alone. Young Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor, is ordered by his firm's senior partner to travel up from London to attend her funeral and then sort out all her papers.
His task is a lonely one, and at first Kipps is quite unaware of the tragic secrets which lie behind the house's shuttered windows. He only has a terrible sense of unease. And then, he glimpses a young woman with a wasted face, dressed all in black, at the back of the church during Mrs Drablow's funeral, and later, in the graveyard to one side of Eel Marsh House.
Who is she? Why is she there? He asks questions, but the locals not only cannot or will not give him answers - they refuse to talk about the woman in black, or even to acknowledge her existence, at all. So, Arthur Kipps has to wait until he sees her again, and she slowly reveals her identity to him - and her terrible purpose.
Dramatised by Jon Strickland from Hill's 1983 novel
Directed by Chris Wallace in Manchester
1) 'A Journey and a Funeral' (Thursday 9th December 1993)
With John Woodvine [Old Arthur Kipps], Robert Glenister [Young Arthur Kipps], Paula Tilbrook [Esme], Christopher Kent [Tombs], Stuart Richmond [Mr. Bentley], Rod Arthur [Samuel Daily], Jane Marlow [Isabel], and Jason Doan [Oliver].
Other parts were played by members of the cast.
2) 'A Causeway and a Pony Trap' (Thursday 16th December 1993)
With John Woodvine [Old Arthur Kipps], Robert Glenister [Young Arthur Kipps], Paula Tilbrook [The Landlady], Stuart
Richmond [Mr. Jerome], and James Quinn [Keckwick].
Other parts were played by members of the cast.
3) 'A Nursery and a Child' (Thursday 23rd December 1993)
With John Woodvine [Old Arthur Kipps], Robert Glenister [Young Arthur Kipps], Paula Tilbrook [The Landlady], Stuart
Richmond [Mr. Jerome], Rod Arthur [Samuel Daily], and Diane Whitley [Mrs. Daily].
Other parts were played by members of the cast.
4) 'Letters and Death Certificates' (Thursday 30th December 1993)
With John Woodvine [Old Arthur Kipps], Robert Glenister [Young Arthur Kipps], Paula Tilbrook [Esme], Jane Cox [Stella], and Rod Arthur [Samuel Daily].
Other parts were played by members of the cast.
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VERSION TWO (2004):
The Woman in Black
Susan Hill
October 2, 2004
Arthur Kipps is a young solicitor sent to the gloomy east coast village of Crythin Gifford to attend the funeral and sort out the papers of local woman Mrs. Alice Drablow. During Mrs. Drablow's funeral the next day, attended only by a cleric and legal representatives, Arthur sees an emaciated woman dressed in unfashionable black clothes. His attempts to find out who she is are thwarted by the reluctance of anyone to talk.
Arthur is taken to Mrs. Drablow's isolated house on Eel Marsh Island and left to conduct his business alone. Following a second sight of the emanciated woman in black, he is subjected to a series of terrifying encounters hich, despite his efforts to rationalise matters, leaves him compelled to acknowledge the reality of a malign supernatural presence. And even after the hauntings abate and Arthur has left the island, the spirit of the woman in black continues to exert her dark influence on him, with appalling consequences.
Dramatised by Mike Walker from Susan Hill's best-selling 1983 novel on the haunting of Eel Marsh Island.
With James D'Arcy [Arthur Kipps], Paul Freeman [Samuel Daily], Richard Hope [Mr. Jerome], Don McCorkindale [Mr. Bentley / Keckwick], Lucy Briers [Stella Kipps], and Lucy Taylor [The Children].
Directed by John Taylor.
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Both are available at:
Replies
Just in time for christmas!
Bob,
Thank you so much for digging these up and posting them ! It's so wonderful to have both versions - I really can't thank you enough !
Thanks Bob,
I have them but yours are probably better than mine, but not always LOL. I will check after the download. ----- Rick