‘The scariest thing about Ghost Story is what my partner will think of my screenplay’
ANY scriptwriter would be nervous of adapting a book by a well-established author.
But Barbara Machin has recreated her partner’s book for television, and the first time Susan Hill will see it is when they sit down to watch the results together on Boxing Day.
Machin, whose adaptation is titled
Ghost Story, has said the “scariest thing” about the Channel 5 drama will be “what the author thinks”.
Despite revealing slight edits to her partner, Machin said that Hill had not seen the film ahead of time as “she quite deliberately wants to watch as if a viewer with everybody else”.
She said: “With Susan, she’s the most brilliant author to work with in that once she’s decided you can do it, she trusts you. So she says ‘the book is the book, the film is the film’ and I’m not going to lean heavily on you and you don’t have to come to me with every question.”
Machin admits she was “extremely anxious” that she didn’t want to upset Hill with the minor changes she made. “I decided I had to tell her, for all of her saying ‘no, don’t bother me with it’. I didn’t ever manage to tell her comprehensively but I said for these reasons I am needing to do X and she would nod with a slight burrowed brow and say ‘OK’.”
The two-hour special, on Channel 5 on Boxing Day at 9pm, is the first adaptation of one of Hill’s ghost stories since The Woman in Black, starring Daniel Radcliffe, hit cinemas in 2012.
“The scariest thing about this movie is what the author is going to say,” said Machin. “I think we’ll be sat with her daughter too, who’s a writer. I think we’ll have a very writerly conversation afterwards and a few drinks.”
The pair have been together since 2013 and live in Norfolk. Machin said the one-off special was a “ridiculously fast” turnaround. “There we were in March, needing to create, make and deliver by December. There’s a delicious fear about that.”
Directed by Justin Molotnikov, Ghost Story stars Douglas Henshall, Louise Lombard and Neve Mcintosh.