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Martin Freeman and Jim Broadbent to star in BBC Christmas ghost story The Bride's Chamber

The BBC's annual Ghost Story For Christmas will this year adapt Charles Dickens's The Bride's Chamber for BBC Two, starring Martin Freeman and Jim Broadbent, with Mark Gatiss adapting it.

3 outlets · 1L · 2C · 0R First reported Account updated

Updated (version 2). New coverage since the last version from The Independent.

Image: Deadline
Image: The Independent
Image: Evening Standard

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The story, neutrally told

Centre · 2Martin Freeman and Jim Broadbent will star in The Bride's Chamber, a Charles Dickens adaptation for the BBC's annual Ghost Story For Christmas. Centre · 1Deadline, which called the news an exclusive, said the cast also includes Adrian Scarborough, Joe Armstrong, India Fowler and Lewis Shepherd. Centre · 2The story follows a spurned and vengeful suitor who manipulates a young woman and marries her to claim her fortune, but his murderous plan creates his own purgatory.

Centre · 2The Evening Standard says it is based on Dickens' 1857 short story The Ghost In The Bride's Chamber, while Deadline says it was originally published in 1858 and calls it among Dickens' darkest stories. Centre · 3Mark Gatiss, who has created the series' specials as is tradition at the BBC, adapted the story; Deadline calls this the ninth special, and the Evening Standard and The Independent quote BBC Arts commissioning editor Mark Bell as saying it was adapted and directed by Gatiss. Centre · 2Gatiss said: "It's unusual to find a Dickens rarity, but this is it. A weird and nasty little treasure which lurks within a work co-written with the great Wilkie Collins. A lonely inn, an incognito traveller and a ghastly tale of warped obsession. Merry Christmas!"

Mixed · 2Mark Bell, commissioning editor for BBC Arts per the Evening Standard and The Independent, said the Ghost Story For Christmas has become "an essential dish on the festive TV menu" and that the programme coincides with further Dickens-inspired BBC programming in December as part of the National Year of Reading. Mixed · 2Principal photography took place earlier this year at Ingatestone Hall in Essex, according to Deadline, the Evening Standard and The Independent. Centre · 1The special will air on BBC Two over the festive period and stream on BBC iPlayer; Adorable Media is producing and BBC Studios handles international distribution, according to Deadline.

Centre · 1Deadline notes the production reunites Gatiss with his Sherlock co-star Freeman, and that Gatiss previously appeared opposite Broadbent in London Spy. Mixed · 2This winter the BBC will also show a three-part documentary on how Dickens drew inspiration from Victorian London streets after dark, and a four-part adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities starring Kit Harington, according to the Evening Standard and The Independent.

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.

Left1 outlet

Framing
The Independent runs the same announcement under a headline about Freeman's "dramatic transformation", using the BBC quotes from Gatiss and Mark Bell and the cast list.
Emphasis
The BBC commissioner's quote, the supporting cast with credits, and the wider Dickens programming including A Tale of Two Cities with Kit Harington.
Leaves out or plays down
Leaves out the Adorable Media and BBC Studios production details, the Sherlock reunion and the franchise history that Deadline gives; its text does not explain the headline's 'transformation'.
Charged language
“dramatic transformation”
For example
“Martin Freeman and Jim Broadbent will star in a Charles Dickens adaptation for the BBC’s annual Ghost Story For Christmas.” — The Independent
“The series will feature Jim Broadbent (The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Bridget Jones)” — The Independent

Centre2 outlets

Framing
Both centre outlets run the casting as an entertainment announcement: Deadline as an exclusive with detailed cast, production and franchise background; the Evening Standard as a briefer piece built on BBC quotes from Gatiss and Mark Bell.
Emphasis
Deadline stresses the cast's credits, the Gatiss–Freeman Sherlock reunion and production details; the Evening Standard stresses the BBC commissioner's quote and the National Year of Reading tie-in.
Leaves out or plays down
The Evening Standard omits the wider production and distribution details; Deadline omits Bell's quote about the National Year of Reading and does not say Gatiss directed.
For example
“The production reunites Gatiss with Sherlock co-star Freeman.” — Deadline
“brilliantly adapted and directed by Mark Gatiss, with a great cast” — Evening Standard

Right0 outlets

No right outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.