If you’re anywhere near the same age as me (30), then the BBC’s 1984 adaptation of John Masefield’s children’s book The Box of Delights is bound to hold a huge festive shadow over your childhood Christmas memories. Both seasonal and downright creepy it starred Patrick Troughton and Robert Stephens, who played the villainous, and beautifully named Abner Brown.

It still holds up rather well, very few of the effects look ropey, mainly thanks to their innovative use of using hand-drawn animation for many of the more fantastical sequences. This is also because it was a period piece, so none of the haircuts or clothes seem dated now, plus the BBC have always tended to do costume dramas rather well. What jars now is just how posh the child actors are in the show, not that there’s anything wrong with this, but it’s just very unusual to hear these days. This also has the unfortunate side effect of often making the kids appear to be arseholes. Case in point here’s an exchanges between the main kid character Kay Harker and his grown up house keeper:

Kay Harker: Ellen, do you know how to make a posset?
Ellen: Why, I most certainly do!
Kay Harker: Well, then, I wish you would.

What a dick! Anyway I think The Box of Delights is still absolutely great and maybe this is due to some misplaced nostalgia but I don’t think so. Plus if you want to feel all magical and Christmassy then why not watch it (again) here.