Episode 30 – Restoring Nigel Kneale at the BFI

In this episode of BERGCAST, we're joined by Dick Fiddy, Vic Pratt and Douglas Weir of the British Film Institute to talk about restoring and re-packaging Kneale's work for the centenary year, why archive TV matters, what's happening at the BFI this month and the upcoming release of the restored version of the BBC adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four. 

Nineteen Eighty-Four will be released on 11th April. Pre-order it here. 

If you're lucky enough to be able to get to London, you can book tickets for the Nigel Kneale season at the BFI this month here. And you can find out about the April 23rd Centenary day at Picturehouse Crouch End here.

Episode 29 – The Nigel Kneale Century

Contact is established!

It's what they call in media a Very Special Episode, because the BERGCAST team is celebrating the 2022 centenary of Nigel Kneale's birth. We're joined by friends of BERGCAST Andy Murray, Toby Hadoke (and also Toby's dog Bernard) to talk about only some of the things that have happened and will happen very soon to mark that.

The Nigel Kneale Centenary Celebration will be held at the Crouch End Picturehouse on April 23rd. You can find a full rundown of what's going on at nigelknealecentenary.com, or cut out the middlehuman and just buy your ticket here – but be quick, they're selling steadily. 

Did we mention Jane Asher will be there?

Toby's 7th Dimension special will air on Radio 4 Extra in the week running up to that – why not bookmark the schedules so you don't miss it? 

And you can pre-order your copy of Tomato Cain and Other Stories at the Comma Press site right now.

Oh, and let's not forget that we'll be posting frequent updates on our Twitter feed – follow us on @BERGCASTCalling.

Episode 28 – The Woman in Black (1989)

For our bumper sized Christmas episode, what better subject than a ghost story?

Taking a deep dive into the terrifying Kneale-scripted Christmas drama The Woman in Black we're joined by Robert Taylor, author of the forthcoming book Sound Haunting: The Making of Central Films’ The Woman in Black. In a lengthy and intimate discussion, we talk about the genesis of the drama, what happened when Nigel Kneale wrote the script too quickly, how a woman in a dress and a hat standing absolutely still can chill you to the bone, and the enduring power of Christmas TV memories.

Robert recently wrote an essay about The Woman in Black on Horrified.com, which you can read here. 

It only remains for us to wish you all a merry, and ghostly Christmas. We've got big news coming in the New Year, so stay tuned. Contact will remain established. 

Episode 27 – HMS Defiant (1962)

In this episode of BERGCAST we take to the high seas as, rather than performing our usual deep dive, we stay afloat in the Kneale-scripted 1962 broadsides-and-sails spectacular HMS Defiant. Joined by film academics Prof. Melanie Williams and Dr. Mark Fryers, we investigate whether a ship is the best metaphor for the British class system, how Dirk Bogarde went from being known for light comedies to being a go to for faintly pervy villains, why the British don't do revolutions and ask the question: is the real villain always in middle management? 

You can find Sixties Cinema Reconsidered here, Celluloid Tales: Norfolk Film History here, and Invictawood: The Story of Kent and the Silver Screen here.

Episode 26b – Stephen Bissette on The Witches

 

(Illustrations from SR Bissette's Thoughtful Creatures)

In this special mini-episode of BERGCAST, Jon and I talk some more with legendary comics illustrator and horror expert Stephen R Bissette, about the 1966 Hammer film The Witches and its legacy and we go into what Steve’s doing these days.

Stephen’s book on The Brood can be found here.

Studio of Screams is here.

SR Bissette’s Thoughtful Creatures is here.

Episode 26 – First Men in the Moon (1964), with Stephen R Bissette

 

Talking with us about 1964's First Men in the Moon, we're honoured to have as our guest horror legend Stephen R. Bissette, who although perhaps best known one as of the primary collaborators with Alan Moore on the seminal 80s run of Swamp Thing, has produced a significant corpus of writing on the horror genre in all media over the space of several decades, including, most recently, an exhaustive study of David Cronenberg's early highlight The Brood.

We discuss the one time Nigel Kneale shared a credit with Ray Harryhausen, why these films have resonated with us since childhood, how stop motion animation takes us right into the uncanny valley, and whether First Men in the Moon is really the first fully realised alien culture in cinema. 

And by the way, you can find Jon's other podcast, Due Signori in Giallo, at duesignori.cast.rocks.

Episode 25 – The Abominable Snowman, with John J. Johnston

In this episode, the voices of Jon and Howard are joined by the mellifluous and delightful tones of Egyptologist and Horrified editor-at-large John J. Johnston. Join us as we explore the early career of Peter Cushing, the history of imperialism and the 50s craze for Yeti movies, Nazi practical jokes and the transcendent, formative power of the media we loved as children. 

As usual, you can listen here, or find us at all your favourite podcasting venues.