Supernatural (1977)

Supernatural (1977 TV series)

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Supernatural
Genre Horror
Format Anthology
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
No. of series 1
No. of episodes 8
Production
Producer(s) Pieter Rogers
Running time 50 minutes
Production company(s) BBC
Broadcast
Original channel BBC1
Original run 11 June 1977 – 6 August 1977

Supernatural is a British anthology television series that was produced by the BBC in 1977. The series consisted of 8 episodes and was broadcast on BBC1. In each episode, a prospective member of the "Club of the Damned" was required to tell a horror story, and their application for membership would be judged on how frightening the story was. Applicants who failed to tell a sufficiently frightening story would be killed.

Series deviser Robert Muller, who also wrote 7 of the 8 screenplays, said: "The idea was to tell the kind of Gothic tale that we don't have on television, something akin to the old horror films of the 1920s and 1930s. What we get now are thrillers set in modern times with lots of blood and violence. There is no blood and no violence in this series. They are tales about ghosts, vampires, werewolves, that sort of thing. Highly romantic and highly charged with fear and menace."

Although each episode was a stand-alone story, episodes 2 and 3 shared a cast and linked plot. These two episodes starred English actress Billie Whitelaw, who was married to Muller. She said: "Robert wrote the story with me in mind, but I said I would not read it until it was sent to me by a producer or director. I wanted the thing kept on a professional footing. During rehearsals we never discussed the play at home, and in the rehearsal room I would never address Robert directly if I had any query or suggestion. I would always go through the director."

Vladek Sheybal won the Dracula Society's prestigious Hamilton Deane Award for the best dramatic performance or presentation in the Gothic horror/supernatural genres for his performance in "Night of the Marionettes." Sheybal played "Herr Hubert", an Austrian innkeeper with life-size puppets in a story based around Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

1 "Ghosts of Venice" 11 June 1977 10.10pm Claude Watham Robert Muller Starring Robert Hardy and Sinéad Cusack.
2 "Countess Ilona" 18 June 1977 9.55pm Simon Langton Robert Muller Starring Billie Whitelaw, Ian Hendry, Edward Hardwicke, John Fraser and Charles Kay.
3 "The Werewolf Reunion" 25 June 1977 9.55pm Simon Langton Robert Muller Starring Billie Whitelaw, Ian Hendry, Edward Hardwicke, John Fraser and Charles Kay.
4 "Mr Nightingale" 2 July 1977 9.50pm Alan Cooke Robert Muller Starring Jeremy Brett and Lesley-Anne Down.
5 "Lady Sybil" 9 July 1977 10.00pm Simon Langton Robert Muller Starring Denholm Elliott, John Osborne and Kathleen Nesbitt. Osborne was better known as a playwright and screenwriter and author of the 1956 play Look Back in Anger.
6 "Viktoria" 16 July 1977 9.40pm Peter Sasdy Sue Lake Starring Catherine Schell, Judy Cornwell and Lewis Fiander.
7 "Night of the Marionettes" 30 July 1977 9.55pm Alan Cooke Robert Muller Starring Gordon Jackson, Kathleen Byron and Vladek Sheybal.
8 "Dorabella" 6 August 1977 9.45pm Simon Langton Robert Muller Starring Jeremy Clyde, John Justin, Ania Marson.