The Magic Cottage
by James Herbert
Broadcast: R4, Saturday 17th January 1998 @ 10:30 p.m.
Mike, a guitar session musician and his girlfriend Midge, a successful illustrator of children's books, are trying to buy a house. Tired of city life, they finally find a cottage close to the village of Cantrip that seems absolutely perfect. The late Flora Chaldean's 'roundhouse', called Gramarye, is the idyllic home that Mike and Midge have longed for. It's in the middle of the New Forest - quiet, and absolutely beautiful. Flora Chaldean had lived in Gramarye for around eighty years and had a reputation as some sort of witch in the community. When she passed away, she left strict (and secret) instructions as to the choice of her successors in the cottage. Mike and Midge met those conditions.
For Mike and Midge the cottage was quaint, charming, maybe a little run-down, but so peaceful. The woodland animals and birds couldn't have been more neighbourly. There was a magic quality to it. Midge's painting and Mike's music soared to new heights of creativity. Their sense and feeling of love for each other rises, but the cottage has an alternative side - the bad magic.... Who is the figure lurking in the woods? And how did Flora die?
A tale of terror from Britain's top horror writer, dramatised by Gregory Evans from James Herbert's 1986 novel, "The Magic Cottage".
With Kim Wall [Mike Stringer, a Guitar Session Musician], Katharine Schlesinger [Midge (Margaret) Gudgeon, Mike's Girlfriend, an Illustrator of Children's Books], Kerry Shale [Eldridge Mycroft, Founder of the Synergist Temple], John Sharian [Hub, a Synergist Member], Jenny Lee [Val, Midge's Agent], Gerard McDermott [Bob, Mike's Agent], Sarah Rice [Jillie Slade, a Synergist Member], Christopher Wright [Reverend Peter Sixsmythe], Alistair Danson [Mr. Bickleshift, the Cantrip Estate Agent], and John Rowe [Mr. Ogbourne, Flora Chaldean's Executor].
Other parts were played by members of the cast.
Music by Neil Brand.
Directed by David Blount.
Jim
