Martin Freeman and Jim Broadbent star in a Dickensian Ghost Story for Christmas 2026 for BBC Arts

1858. An inn with no name, an eccentric landlord and a lone traveller with a strangely familiar appearance. As he settles into his room for the night, the traveller is visited by an uncanny man in black, with a story to tell…

Starring Jim Broadbent (The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Bridget Jones), Martin Freeman (The Hobbit; Sherlock), Adrian Scarborough (The Chelsea Detective, Gavin & Stacey), Joe Armstrong (Happy Valley, The Hollow Crown), India Fowler (The Agency, Fear Street: Prom Queen) and Lewis Shepherd (Dear England; Lynley), The Bride’s Chamber tells the tale of a spurned and vengeful suitor who manipulates a young woman and marries her to claim her fortune. But his murderous plans create his own purgatory…

Considered one of Dickens’ darkest tales, The Bride’s Chamber (originally published in 1858 as The Ghost in the Bride’s Chamber) is the latest supernatural short story to be brought to life by Mark Gatiss, following E.F. Benson’s The Room in the Tower (2025); E. Nesbit’s Woman of Stone (2024) and Arthur Conan Doyle’s Lot No. 249 (2023). The annual ghost story has been hailed as “one of the best traditions of the festive period” (Heat Magazine) and “a glorious TV tradition” (Grazia).

Principal photography took place earlier this year on location at Ingatestone Hall, Essex.

Mark Gatiss says: “I’m once more thrilled and honoured to bring another Ghost Story for Christmas to BBC Two. 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!”

Mark Bell, Commissioning Editor for BBC Arts, says: "The Ghost Story for Christmas has become an essential dish on the festive TV menu, for audiences who love nothing more than settling in for a spine-tingling tale on a winter’s night. This year we’re delighted to bring you this spooky story by Charles Dickens brilliantly adapted and directed by Mark Gatiss, with a great cast, to coincide with a range of further Dickens-inspired programming set to air across the BBC in December as part of the National Year of Reading.”

Further Dickens content coming to the BBC this winter includes a major new three-part documentary examining how Dickens drew creative inspiration from the streets of Victorian London after dark, as well as a new four-part drama adaptation of Dickens’ literary classic, A Tale Of Two Cities, starring Kit Harington. BBC Arts is also bringing to life Oliver Twist for The Read, with a performance reading by Caroline Quentin, while Mark Gatiss will unbox a copy of his all-time favourite Dickens novel for award-winning social media series The Rebound, coming to TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and BBC iPlayer.

A Ghost Story for Christmas: The Bride’s Chamber is a BBC Arts commission for BBC Two and iPlayer produced by Adorable Media. BBC Studios is handling global sales. The Producer for Adorable Media is Isibeal Ballance and the Commissioning Editor for the BBC is Mark Bell.

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