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This MR James ghost story has been rethought as a suspenseful tale for the Covid era, with a standout performance from Tamzin Outhwaite
This supernatural thriller is based on a little-known MR James story about murder and attempted resurrection in a time of plague. Like so many of James’s tales, The Experiment is over in a matter of a few pages: a wife kills her mean husband but tries to conjure his spirit so that she can discover where he hid all his earthly treasure.
Philip Franks’s adaptation turns that lean tale into a richer drama about abuse, revenge, paedophilia and occultist practices without losing any of its tautness. James’s 1931 story takes place in an unspecified past in which there is a “sickness” that is believed to refer to the bubonic plague. Here, it is shown to be the Spanish flu of 1918, and a parallel, contemporary plotline features a cash-strapped millennial couple during the Covid lockdown.