The Victorian Rakes History Blog

An Adaptation of The Signalman by Charles Dickens

Tonight on the excellent Talking Pictures TV channel at 8 pm, Denholm Elliot is The Signalman. This is part six of the outstanding ‘A Ghost Stories For Christmas’ BBC series, which ran from 1971 to 1978.

“The Signalman” is an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ short story “The Signal-Man,” first published in 1866. It was originally broadcast in December 1976, starring Denholm Elliott as the Signalman and Bernard Lloyd as the Traveller.

The Signalman works on a lonely stretch of railway, controlling the movement of passing trains from his signal-box. In his story, Dickens’ Signalman tells the narrator of a ghost that has been haunting him (in the BBC adaptation, The Traveller takes the place of the narrator). Each appearance precedes a tragic event on the stretch of the line the Signalman works. I won’t go further for fear of spoiling the story.

Dickens may have based his story on the 1861 Clayton Tunnel crash or his own experience of being on a passenger train that crashed at Staplehurst in June 1865. 10 people were killed and more than 40 injured in this accident and the horror of what he witnessed helping the wounded had a lasting impression on Dickens.

The BBC adaptation captures the eerie atmosphere of Dickens’ story, centering on feelings of isolation, fear and premonitions of disaster which remain long in the mind after watching. It is highly recommended viewing.