Casting the Runes (Playhouse)

Casting the Runes is a British supernatural television drama that aired on ITV in 1979, produced by Yorkshire Television and running for 50 minutes. It adapts M. R. James’s 1911 short story of the same name, which originally appeared in his second ghost story collection, *More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary*. The episode was directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark for the anthology series *ITV Playhouse* and first broadcast on 24 April 1979. Clive Exton’s script relocates the story to the late 1970s and recasts the main character as a woman.

The plot opens in 1968, when John Harrington is walking his dog in an empty field. The dog becomes distressed by an unseen approaching presence, and Harrington is violently killed by a monstrous demonic creature that is only glimpsed. Ten years later, Prudence Dunning works as a producer for an investigative journalism television show. She has just completed an episode on the occult that includes a segment about N.I. Karswell, a wealthy American demonologist and cult figure living in a nearby rectory. In 1969, Karswell—who calls himself the "Abbot of Lufford"—self-published a book titled *A History of Witchcraft*, promoting the philosophy that "Vice as the only true virtue, lust as the only true modesty, indecency the only true decorum and evil the only true good." After Prudence mocks his writings on-air as "mumbo-jumbo," Karswell uses his knowledge of dark arts to retaliate. Over the following days, she experiences bizarre supernatural events. He places a voodoo doll of her on a bed in a dollhouse beside a model spider. A few nights later, alone in her apartment after her flatmate is suddenly hospitalised, Prudence finds a large demonic spider in her bed.

While reviewing the episode that mentioned Karswell, Prudence notices a mysterious caption appearing onscreen that references the deceased John Harrington and the words "one month was allowed." Her editor checks the film and confirms the caption has been printed into the finished show, but cannot explain how. Later, in the local library, Prudence unknowingly meets Karswell when he "accidentally" knocks over a pile of books she is about to borrow. He apologises, picks them up, and hands them to her before leaving. Concerned for her welfare, Prudence’s boss Derek Gayton invites her to stay with him and his wife Jean.