My eagle-eyed rfl spotted the following, extracted from Baz Bamigboye's column in yesterday's Daily Mail (Friday 7 July 2006):

My twitching antennae had not picked up anything about this, so this has come as a complete surprise

Surfing the net produced nothing from the BBC , but I did find this recent addition to the 'in production' section of the imdb database:

No mention, then of our lovely Rachael Stirling (daughter of Diana Rigg)? (further searching has revealed that she plays Julia Jugg)

Also, no mention of DW in the writing credits?? Not surprising, as none of the characters, apart from Toby and Julia Jugg, appear in DW's novel!!

Watch this space as more news, good or bad, becomes available.........

Initial reaction - delighted surprise.

On reading the list of characters - disquiet.

Let's see what happens, but with the BBC (Ban British Culture) I fear the worst.

It Seems Robert Pattinson has a large female following, and word had reached the younger members about 'Toby Jugg' Here are some of the comments from youngsters on his website. Very encouraging...


Yeah, I read the same things, I want to read the book as well though, it sounds like a really interesting story.
by Tiana || 19 Jun 2006 05:34 am ||

Also more info about this story that I just found out is that Rob's character (Toby) is crippled during the war and is being held captive by his gaurdian. He also begins to suffer from extremely emotional distress because of his nightly visits by some shadowy creatures.
by Tiana || 19 Jun 2006 05:27 am


Hey I've done some research about this movie that Robert is doing and I found out its based on a book written by Dennis Wheatley. And it says that Robert's character (Toby Jugg) is confined to a wheelchair. And he is staying in a remote mansion in Wales and gets imprisoned. Then he gets visited by demons, falls in love, etc etc. So I could say that this movie will seem very interesting as it seems Rob might get a little romance in the movie and not to mention some scary stuff in it too
by Turniip || 19 Jun 2006 04:02 am ||

Gah, can't wait for it to air, so that some one can then get clips and show us!
by jo || 18 Jun 2006 08:29 pm


so is this a TV movie? well im very excited

God bless 'em! (Nick)

Brilliant Nick! Thanks for this. Although I'm struggling with this image of all these youngsters swooning over one of DW's characters!

The BBC have just issued a Press Release (http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2006/09_september/12/four_atoh.shtml). Note the title change to The Haunted Airman (?). At least DW is now getting a mention!
If you navigate to the first page of the Press Release, you'll see that they intend to tie it in with Hallowe'en, so poss. 31 October?
I'll keep you posted.

Based on a Dennis Wheatley short story? Oh dear, oh dear - it's not looking good.

Missed that ? well spotted! Coupled with Humphreys' lack of knowledge in 'Mastermind', definitely some education needed in the BBC.

And the build-up continues...

Visit BBC FOUR's page on The Haunted Airman where you will find a brief synopsis and links to 3 video shorts. Also a provisional showing date: Tuesday, 31 October 2006.

I really must re-read the book to find the relevant extracts......

Saw the ad last night. Looks quite promising (but then I like Hammer's To The Devil - A Daughter as well as DWs)

Ok, according to my EPG, the following times are shown for THE showing:

Well, it has happened. One man's interpretation of a DW story.

My initial reaction is one of horror, and probably a good job too as that is all the horror I am going to experience in this pitiful attempt to ride on the back of one of our literary geniuses.

I am so disappointed that an opportunity to present DW to the modern world has been so badly mishandled.

One man's tale of becoming paralysed from the waist downwards after a bombing raid on Cologne (or, according to my TV programme guide, Dresden), developing a fear of spiders and then murdering his aunt/lover with hardly a hint of the occult or, more importantly, any gripping action to keep one on the edge of their seats, bears absolutely no resemblance to what is considered by many to be one of DW's highlights.

It is tempting to compare the book and the film scene by scene, but as the film takes only the disabled airman, his name, his aunt and the location from the book and discards the rest, this would be an impossible task. I might have been somewhat forgiving if Mr Durlacher had managed to extract a nail-biting story, albeit removed from the original, but in this he, too, failed. And whatever possessed BBC FOUR to think that this was a suitable programme for showing on Halloween or indeed at any time?

Over to you

A very disillusioned and sadly disappointed Bob

Chin up Bob! It did mention the novel in the opening credits. I didn't even get through the whole thing - giving it up as a bad job after about 40 minutes. It showed such promise too. There were hints of what might have been (the best bits as you might guess being those that harked back to the novel) and some uneasiness but it seemed more of a mood piece than an actual story. Glad I read the novel fairly recently. If it intrigues anyone enough to check DW out, it will have been worth it.

I have just seen the 'The Haunted Airman' and really wish I hadn't bothered.
As the programme began I started to make notes of the variations between the TV 'fiasco' and the excellent Dennis Wheatley book,'The Haunting of Toby Jugg'.
The Jamaican nurse should have been a German Jewess.
Uncle Paul dead? No he wasn't!!!
Dr Burns - the psychiatrist should have been the Slovakian estate minder - Helmut Lisicky.
The house was a private house not an RAF nursing home.
And where was the Occult story? (The most important element)- no budget perhaps!!

I could go on. Did Mr Dulacher actually read the book. If he did he obviously can't tell the difference between a quality Occult story and the garbage he produced for BBC4.

Following the top quality Hammer version of 'The Devil rides Out' I remember Christopher Lee saying that Dennis Wheatley was appalled at the issue of the film 'To the Devil, a Daughter' as the director decided to totally ignore the script.
I think DW would have been suitably disgusted at The Haunted Airman.
Thank God he didn't have to watch it.

I feel so sorry for the people that haven't yet experienced Mr Wheatleys work as 'The Haunted Airman' won't encourage them to do so.
I'm also sorry for the main trio of actors who do their best with it.
At least Rachel Sterling was a joy to watch.

Hammer films, please pick up one of Dennis Wheatley's Occult novels and do it properly!!!!!

Views from elsewhere:

BBC FOUR (why haven't they published mine yet? - later - they have now!)

British Horror Anthology Hell

(Added edits)

The Medium is not enough TV Blog

British Horror Films Forum

Digital Spy

Anchor Bay Entertainment UK

TV Hooch

and elsewhere in The Library
How Was It For You? (The Haunted Airman)

I'm often over at BritishHorrorFilms.Co.Uk/Board and they haven't had a good word to say about THA either.