Spine Chillers


Spine Chillers was the name of two separate supernatural television series, broadcast on the BBC.

1980s series

Spine Chillers was a 1980 British children's supernatural television series produced by the Jackanory team and broadcast on BBC1. It featured readings of classic ghost and horror stories aimed at older children, and ran for 20 episodes of 10 minutes each.

Episodes and air dates

  1. "The [Red Room (short story)|The Red Room]" by H. G. Wells, told by Freddie Jones
  2. "The Yellow Cat" by Michael Joseph, told by John Woodvine
  3. "The Music on the Hill" by Saki, told by Jonathan Pryce
  4. "The Mezzotint" by M. R. James, told by Michael Bryant
  5. "The Treasure in the Forest" by H. G. Wells, told by Freddie Jones
  6. "The Devil's Ape" by Barnard Stacey, told by John Woodvine
  7. "Sredni Vashtar" by Saki, told by Jonathan Pryce
  8. "A School Story" by M. R. James, told by Michael Bryant
  9. "In the Avu Observatory" by H. G. Wells, told by Freddie Jones
  10. "The Running Companion" by Philippa Pearce, told by John Woodvine
  11. "The Penance" by Saki, told by Jonathan Pryce
  12. "The Well" by W. W. Jacobs, told by Michael Bryant
  13. "The Stolen Bacillus" by H. G. Wells, told by Freddie Jones
  14. "A Sin of Omission" by Ronald Chetwynd-Hayes, told by John Woodvine
  15. "Gabriel-Ernest" by Saki, told by Jonathan Pryce
  16. "The Diary of Mr Poynter" by M. R. James, told by Michael Bryant
  17. "The Flowering of the Strange Orchid" by H. G. Wells, told by Freddie Jones
  18. "More Spinned Against" by John Wyndham, told by John Woodvine
  19. "The Hounds of Fate" by Saki, told by Jonathan Pryce
  20. "Jerry Bundler" by W. W. Jacobs, told by Michael Bryant

    2003 series

Spine Chillers was also the name of a British series aimed at older viewers, a comedy horror anthology first shown on BBC Three in 2003. It comprised six episodes:
  1. "Bradford In My Dreams"
  2. "Goths"
  3. "Fairy Godfather"
  4. "Intuition"
  5. "Lose Weight... Ask Me How"
  6. "Love Gods"
In 2005, a similar fourteen-part anthology series Twisted Tales premiered on the same channel.
The streaming version of Spine Chillers available on Prime Video and Tubi combines the 2003 show as season one and the first eight episodes of Twisted Tales as the second season.