The Stone Tape

Infobox Television
show_name = The Stone Tape


genre = Single play
Drama
Science fiction
Horror
runtime = 90 minutes
director = Peter Sasdy
producer = Innes Lloyd
writer = Nigel Kneale
starring = Michael Bryant
Jane Asher
Michael Bates
Iain Cuthbertson
composer = Desmond Briscoe, BBC Radiophonic Workshop
country = UK
language = English
camera = Multi-camera
picture_format = PAL 576i
audio_format = Monaural
network = BBC Two
first_aired = 25 December 1972
imdb_id = 0069316

"The Stone Tape" is a television play directed by Peter Sasdy and starring Michael Bryant, Jane Asher, Michael Bates and Iain Cuthbertson. It was broadcast by on BBC Two as a Christmas ghost story in 1972. Combining aspects of science fiction and horror, the story concerns a team of scientists who move into their new research facility, a renovated Victorian mansion that has a reputation for being haunted. Investigating, they learn that the haunting is a recording of a past event made by the stone in one of the rooms of the house – the “stone tape” of the play's title. Believing that this may be the key to the development of a new recording medium, they throw all their expertise and high-tech equipment into learning how the stone tape preserves its recording. However, their investigations serve only to unleash a darker, more malevolent force.

"The Stone Tape" was written by Nigel Kneale, best known as the writer of "Quatermass". Its juxtaposition of science and superstition is a frequent theme in Kneale's work; in particular, his 1952 radio play "You Must Listen", about a haunted telephone line, is a notable antecedent of "The Stone Tape". The play was also inspired by a visit Kneale had paid to the BBC's research and development department, which is located in an old Victorian house in Kingswood, Surrey. Critically acclaimed at time of broadcast, it remains well regarded to this day as one of Nigel Kneale's best and most terrifying plays. Since its broadcast, the hypothesis of residual haunting – that ghosts are recordings of past events made by the natural environment – has come to be known as the “Stone Tape Theory”.

Plot summary

Peter Brock (Michael Bryant) is the head of a research team in an electronics company, Ryan Electrics, working on developing a new recording medium in the hope of giving the company an edge over its Japanese competitors. The research team are moving into a new facility at “Taskerlands”, an old Victorian mansion that has been renovated to act as their research facility. On arrival, they learn from foreman Roy Collinson (Iain Cuthbertson) that the refurbishment of one of the rooms in “Taskerlands” remains uncompleted, the builders having refused to work in it on the grounds that it is haunted. Curious, the researchers explore the room and hear the sounds of a woman running followed by a gut-wrenching scream. One of their number, computer programmer Jill Greeley (Jane Asher), sees an image of a woman running up the steps in the room and falling, apparently to her death. Inquiring with the local villagers, they learn that a young maid died in that room during Victorian times. Brock realises that somehow the stone in the room has preserved an image of the girl's death – this “stone tape” may be the key to the new recording medium that he and his team have been charged with developing. Brock and his team move into the room with their equipment hoping to be able to find the secret of how the stone tape works but, becoming more and more desperate under mounting pressure to deliver results, they only succeed in wiping the image. Brock's defeat is compounded when he is informed by his superiors that they have lost confidence in his work and that the “Taskerlands” facility is to be handed over to a rival research team working on a new washing machine. While cleaning up, Jill realises that the recording in the room was masking a much older recording, left many thousands of years ago. Returning to the room, she is confronted by a powerful, malevolent presence and, like the maid before her, falls to her death trying to escape. Following the inquest, Brock destroys all of Jill's records and makes a final visit to the room where he discovers, to his horror, that the stone tape has made a new recording – that of Jill screaming his name as she dies.

Background

Nigel Kneale was a Manx television playwright who had first come to prominence in the nineteen-fifties thanks to his three "Quatermass" serials and his controversial adaptation of George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four", all of which were produced by the BBC. Going freelance in the nineteen-sixties, Kneale had produced scripts for Associated Television and for Hammer Films. In the late nineteen-sixties and early nineteen-seventies, Kneale had been coaxed back to the BBC, writing such plays as "The Year of the Sex Olympics", "Wine of India" and, for the anthology series "Out of the Unknown", "The Chopper". [Murray, "Into the Unknown", "passim".]

In the middle of 1972, Christopher Morahan, who was Head of Drama at BBC2 and who had directed Kneale's 1963 play "The Road" and the 1965 remake of Kneale's adpatation of "Nineteen Eighty-Four", approached Kneale asking him to write a play to be broadcast over the Christmas period. Accepting the commission, Kneale quickly decided that, in keeping with Christmas tradition, he would write a ghost story, but with a difference – ancient spirits would come into collision with modern science. The concept of mixing the supernatural with high technology had long been a feature of Kneale's work – most notably, his 1952 radio play "You Must Listen", which concerned a telcommunications engineer who discovers that a telephone line has somehow preserved the final conversation between a woman and her lover before her suicide, was an important antecedent of "The Stone Tape". [Pixley, "Fantasy Flashback – The Stone Tape", p. 57.] The science and supernatural theme is also present in Kneale's "Quatermass and the Pit" which, in addition, shares similar elements with "The Stone Tape" such as an abandoned house with a reputation for hauntings; the collection of documentary evidence of the haunting (also a trademark of M. R. James, a writer much admired by Kneale) [Kneale & Newman, "The Stone Tape DVD Commentary".] and the sensitivity of certain characters to the supernatural. [Abery, "The Stone Tape", p. 22.] In addition, the relationship between the scientists and the local villagers echoes that seen in "Quatermass II". [Abery, "The Stone Tape", p. 23.]

For the research facility at “Taskerlands”, Kneale was influenced by a visit he had paid to the BBC's research and development facility which is based at an old country house at Kingswood Warren in Kingswood, Surrey. Similarly, the researchers working at Kingswood Warren influenced the portrayal of the members of the Ryan research team in "The Stone Tape". Kneale recalled of his visit to Kingswood Warren, “The sort of impression you got of the folk who worked there was a boyishness. They were very cheerful. It was all rather fun for them, which is a very clever way to go about doing that sort of heavy research. [...] They were nice chaps – and so we got some very nice chaps for the TV version”. [Murray, "Into the Unknown", p. 115.]

Kneale delivered his script, intitially titled "Breakthrough" and later renamed "The Stone Tape", in September 1972. Because of its subject matter, it was felt that the play would be best handled as an installment of "Dead of Night", a supernatural anthology series produced by Innes Lloyd. In the end, "The Stone Tape" was made and broadcast as a standalone programme but production was handled by the "Dead of Night" team under Lloyd. Selected as director was Hungarian Peter Sasdy whose credits included adaptations of "The Caves of Steel" and "Wuthering Heights" for the BBC and "Taste the Blood of Dracula" and "Hands of the Ripper" for Hammer. [imdb name |id=0765856 |name=Peter Sasdy ] Cast as Peter Brock was Michael Bryant, who had starred in the BBC's 1970 adaptation of Jean-Paul Sartre's "Roads to Freedom" and had a reputation for playing “bad boy” roles. [imdb name |id=0117188 |name=Michael Bryant ] Pixley "Fantasy Flasback – The Stone Tape", p. 58.] Jane Asher, playing Jill Greely, had, as a child, appeared in Hammer's "The Quatermass Xperiment", the film adaptation of Kneale's BBC serial "The Quatermass Experiment". [imdb name |id=0038870 |name=Jane Asher ] Iain Cutherberston, playing Roy Collinson, was well known for his role in "Budgie" and would go to become the star of "Sutherland's Law" [imdb name |id=0193868 |name=Iain Cuthbertson ] while Michael Bates, cast as Eddie Holmes, would later become known for his roles in the sitcoms "Last of the Summer Wine" and "It Ain't Half Hot Mum". [imdb name |id=0060988 |name=Michael Bates ]

Recording of "The Stone Tape" began on 15 November 1972 with the exterior scenes of the house, “Taskerlands”. These were shot at Horsley Towers, East Horsley in Surrey. This was once owned by Ada Lovelace, daughter of Lord Byron and sponsor of computer pioneer Charles Babbage. [Murray, "Into the Unknown", p. 115.] Production then moved to BBC Television Centre between 20 November 1972 and 22 November 1972. Not all scenes were recorded in time and a remount was required on 4 December 1972. Michael Bates was not available on this day and his lines had to be redistributed among the other cast members. Incidental music and sound effects were provided by Desmond Briscoe of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and these proved significant in setting the mood of the play – sections were later used in a BBC educational programme on the effectivess of incidental music.

"The Stone Tape" aired on 25 December 1972 on BBC2 to an audience of 2.6 million. The "Evening Standard" praised the play, describing it as “one of the best plays of the genre ever written. Its virtues aren't just the main spine of the story, but the way the characters shift, as in real life, the bitter comic conflict between pure and impure science”. [Abery, "The Stone Tape" p. 24.] Viewers were similarly impressed: a panel questioned for an audience report praised "The Stone Tape" as “thoroughly entertaining” and “both gripping and spinechilling”.

"The Stone Tape" was one of the last plays Nigel Kneale wrote for the BBC. He had become increasingly disenchanted with the organisation, mainly as a result of the rejection of several scripts such as "Cracks", a proposed "Play for Today", and a fourth "Quatermass" serial. [Murray, "Into the Unknown", p. 117-122.] Moving to Independent Television, he wrote and created series such as "Beasts" and "Kinvig" and succeeded in getting his rejected "Quatermass" scripts produced in 1979. [Murray, "Into the Unknown", p. 123-148.] He died in 2006.

The script of "The Stone Tape" was published, along with the scripts of "The Road" and "The Year of the Sex Olympics" in 1976 by Ferret Fantasy under the title "The Year of the Sex Olympics and Other TV Plays". A DVD was released by the British Film Institute in 2001 with a commentary by Nigel Kneale and critic Kim Newman, sleeve notes by Kim Newman and the script of the play as well as the script of "The Road". ["The Stone Tape" (DVD), British Film Institute, 2001]

Cultural significance

One of the first to promulgate the hypothesis of residual haunting, that ghosts may be recordings of past events made by the physical environment, was Thomas Charles Lethbridge in books such as "Ghost and Ghoul", written in 1961. [Green, "Nigel Kneale/Peter Sasdy: The Stone Tape".] Since the broadcast of the play, this hypothesis has come to be known as the “Stone Tape Theory” by parapsychological researchers. [Wood, "Stone Tape Theory: An Explanation".]

"The Stone Tape" was a significant influence on John Carpenter's 1987 film "Prince of Darkness" in which a group of scientists investigate a mysterious cylinder discovered in the basement of a church.Newman, "The Stone Tape – DVD sleeve notes".] Besides directing the film, Carpenter wrote the screenplay under the pseudonym "Martin Quatermass", and included a reference to "Kneale University". [Murray, "Into the Unknown", p. 160.] This homage did little to impress Kneale, who wrote in "The Observer", “For the record I have had nothing to do with the film and I have not seen it. It sounds pretty bad. With a homage like this, one might say, who needs insults? I can only imagine that it is a whimsical riposte for my having my name removed from a film I wrote a few years ago [a reference to "" for which Kneale wrote an early draft] and which Mr Carpenter carpentered into sawdust”. [Brosnan, "The Primal Screen", p. 283.] The play also influenced the 1982 Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper film "Poltergeist".

"The Stone Tape" remains well-regarded to this day. Roger Fulton, writing in "The Encyclopedia of TV Science Fiction", calls it “arguably the most creepy drama ever seen on television”. [Fulton, "The Encyclopedia of TV Science Fiction", p. 670.] The writer and critic Kim Newman regards it as “one of the masterpieces of genre television, an authentic alliance of mind-stretching science fiction concepts with horror and suspense plot mechanics”. Writer and member of "The League of Gentlemen", Jeremy Dyson feels that "The Stone Tape" “strikes a note that it just circumnavigates your intellect and gets you on a much deeper level [...] it just has this impact on you, rather like being in the room itself. Extraordinary piece of work”. Murray, "Into the Unknown", p. 117.] Writer Grant Morrison recalled "The Stone Tape" as “really creepy and very memorable. Just brilliant images. That scared the hell out of me!”. Sergio Angelini, writing for the British Film Intitute's Screenonline, has said that “"The Stone Tape" stands as perhaps his finest single work in the genre”. [Angelini, "The Stone Tape (1972)".] Lez Cooke, in his book "British Television Drama: A History", has praised the play as “one of the most imaginative and intelligent examples of the horror genre to appear on British television, a single play to rank alongside the best of "Play for Today"”. [Cooke, "British Television Drama: A History", p. 126.]

Notes

References

*cite journal
last = Abery
first = James
year = 1997
month = May
title = The Stone Tape
journal = Shivers
issue = 41
pages = p. 22–24
issn = 0965-8238
*cite web
url = http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/898626/index.html
title = The Stone Tape (1972)
accessdate = 2007-04-14
last = Angelini
first = Sergio
work = Screenonline
publisher = British Film Institute
*cite book
last = Brosnan
first = John
authorlink = John Brosnan
title = The Primal Screen. A History of Science Fiction Film
year = 1991
publisher = Orbit
location = London
isbn = 0-356-20222-4
*cite book
last = Cooke
first = Lez
title = British Television Drama: A History
year = 2003
location = London
publisher = British Film Institute
id = ISBN 0-85170-884-6
*cite book
last = Fulton
first = Roger
title = The Encyclopedia of TV Science Fiction
edition = 3rd Edition
year = 1997
publisher = Boxtree
location = London
id = ISBN 0-7522-1150-1
*cite web
url = http://www.culturecourt.com/Br.Paul/media/StoneTape.htm
title = Nigel Kneale/Peter Sasdy: The Stone Tape
accessdate = 2007-03-30
last = Green
first = Paul A.
year = 2001
work = Culture Court
*cite video
people = Kneale, Nigel & Newman, Kim
year = 2001
title = The Stone Tape DVD commentary
medium = DVD
publisher = British Film Institute
*cite book
last = Murray
first = Andy
title = Into The Unknown: The Fantastic Life of Nigel Kneale
year = 2006
publisher = Headpress
location = London
isbn = 1-900-486-50-4
* cite book
last = Newman
first = Kim
authorlink = Kim Newman
title = The Stone Tape (DVD sleeve notes)
url = http://www.bfi.org.uk/booksvideo/video/details/stonetape/
accessdate = 2007-03-30
year = 2001
publisher = British Film Institute
location = London
id = BFIVD516
*cite journal
last = Pixley
first = Andrew
year = 2001
month = August
title = Fantasy Flashback – The Stone Tape
journal = TV Zone
issue = 141
pages = p. 54–58
issn = 0957-3844
*cite video
people = Sasdy, Peter (director) & Kneale, Nigel (writer)
year = 2001
title = The Stone Tape
medium = DVD
publisher = British Film Institute
*cite web
url = http://www.action-tv.org.uk/guides/stonetape.htm
title = The Stone Tape
accessdate = 2007-01-18
last = Screen
first = Andrew
year = 2002
work = Action TV
*cite web
url = http://www.p-s-i.org.uk/stonetapearticle.htm
title = Stone Tape Theory: An Explanation
accessdate = 2007-03-19
last = Wood
first = Dave
work = Paranormal Site Investigators

External links

*imdb title|id=0069316|title=The Stone Tape
* [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/898626/index.html The Stone Tape] at the British Film Institute's [http://www.screenonline.org.uk "Screenonline"]
* [http://www.action-tv.org.uk/guides/stonetape.htm The Stone Tape] at [http://www.action-tv.org.uk/ "Action TV"]
* [http://www.bfi.org.uk/booksvideo/video/details/stonetape/ DVD liner notes] by Kim Newman at the [http://www.bfi.org.uk "British Film Institute"]