The Tractate Middoth (2013)

Directed by

Mark Gatiss

Genre

thriller, mystery, horror, tv movie

Country

United Kingdom

Runtime

35 min

Rated

15

Rating

7.1 of 10 from 13 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A student working in a university library gets caught in a dispute between two cousins over their uncle's inheritance. Their search for a rare book turns out to have a sinister side.

eerieslow-burnatmosphericunsettlingscholarlycreepysuspensefulmysterious

What happens

The Tractate Middoth is a short film which is part of the British supernatural anthology series A Ghost Story for Christmas. Produced by Susie Liggat, it is the first installment to be written and directed by Mark Gatiss, who has helmed every subsequent episode as of 2025. It is based on the ghost story of the same name by M. R. James, first published in the collection More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1911), and first aired on BBC Two on 25 December 2013. It stars Sacha Dhawan as William Garrett, a student working part-time at a university library, who is pulled into a conflict between cousins Mary Simpson (Louise Jameson) and John Eldred (John Castle) involving their uncle's inheritance. 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. Gatiss had been heavily influenced by the original 1971–1978 run of A Ghost Story for Christmas, the majority of episodes having been based on stories by James. Having hosted the BBC documentary series A History of Horror (2010), Gatiss had been approached to host a documentary about James, but turned it down until it was agreed he could make a new episode of A Ghost Story for Christmas to accompany it. The series had returned in 2005, though only sporadically, with this being the first instalment since "Whistle and I'll Come to You" (2010). Gatiss chose "The Tractate Middoth" due to it being one of his favourite James stories. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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