Menace "The haunting"

[Simon Feeney]

Hi - just came across this excellent site during my search for info on the programme above - scariest damn thing I ever saw, and although I was only ten at the time, my older brothers and sisters would back me up on this. My own kids, having listened to my blether about how frightening this ghost nun is/was ad nauseum, are also keen to go without sleep for 6 months as a result of watching it. But I gather it's lost - at the risk of seeming cheeky by just appearing on here and asking about an individual programme, does anyone else remember it? And what chances are there of it ever turning up?

Best wishes.

[William Martin]

first of all welcome to the sight, as for the program you're talking about I think it has been mentioned on here before so I'm sure someone will get back to you soon also you could try
www.the-mausoleum-club.org.uk/xmb/index.php

[jackblack]

Hi Simon,
Glad you brought this up. We must be of similar ages. Agreed. "The Haunting" has got to be the scariest thing I ever saw on television too! There was just something about the production values back then which made TV incredibly creepy. I don't think its my memory playing tricks either (did you see "The Exorcism" on BBC 4 over christmas, from the same era, and also very unsettling. Thank god it survived) but "The Haunting" reigns supreme for me. I'd crawl over broken glass to see it again. I think it was shown twice, once as part of "Menace" but also as a one off single drama.
I think the nun initially appears in the mirror in the leading lady's bedroom, and at the end, just when you think it's all over, she appears amongst the shrubs in the garden. Brrrrrr, it still sends a chill through me now. With the tape lost, perhaps forever, I suppose the best option is to get a copy of the script. I'm a bit hazy on how the story goes myself. I think the nun was murdered and they find her remains buried in the cellar, but I don't think all is resolved at the end. I get the impression that the house remains haunted.
On a lighter note, the nun was played by the same actress who went on to play Miranda Pollard in "Crossroads" (yes, I know. But I'm afraid its true) Claire something or other.
The BBC should be forced to remake stuff like this, naturally with 70s style production techniques ("Boys And Girls Come Out To Play", also from "Menace" was another) as a punishment for being so careless with there own property!!! There, I've said my piece!

[johnstewart]

I didn't recall the Nun but seemed to recall a door slamming at the end implying the exorcised ghost would return.

I was sure it revolved around a family moving into an old Church like building - mentioned this before.

Theres always a chance that B+W sales prints might have been made of the series. And failing; that maybe a clip - might - turn up on an off air domestic; of which some off air recordings around that period have been found in recent years.