Mark Gatiss' creepy Christmas drama The Mezzotint gets frightening first-look

The official synopsis for Gatiss' adaptation reads: "It’s 1922 and in the heart of an old English college, Edward Williams receives an engraving of an unknown country house. An imposing facade. A sweeping lawn. And, just perhaps, something else…?"

New pictures give us a first look at Rory Kinnear (No Time To Die) as Williams, Robert Bathurst (Cold Feet) as Garwood, Frances Barber (Doctor Who) as Mrs Ambrigail and Nikesh Patel (Starstruck) as Nisbet.

The Mezzotint also stars John Hopkins (Poldark), Emma Cunniffe (Roadkill), and Tommaso Di Vincenzo (Dracula).

Gatiss, who directs and has written the script for this screen adaptation of The Mezzotint, previously told RadioTimes.com that his initial plan to write an original horror story for BBC Two this year had to be abandoned, largely due to concerns that it would feel inappropriate against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The BBC had originally asked for another original, which I wrote,” he explained. “But it was very grim, set in a hospital, largely concerned with old people dying, and I thought, d’you know, I think now what we need is another MR James!”

The Mezzotint – which tells the story of an artwork which may have taken on a form of supernatural life – was also far easier to achieve under COVID filming restrictions. “By dint of being not action packed, I thought it felt very doable," Gatiss said. "We couldn’t have made [2019 Christmas story] Martin’s Close this year, for example, because it featured a jury – it was set in a tiny room full of 35 people!

“So I tried to make it [The Mezzotint] quite spare. It’s mostly two-handers to make it doable. So it was a practical consideration as much as it being a favourite story and a very famous one.”

Gatiss has previously adapted the MR James stories The Tractate Middoth (in 2013) and Martin’s Close (2019), as well as writing and directing his own original horrors inspired by James with 2008’s Crooked House and 2018’s The Dead Room.

The Mezzotint will air this Christmas on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer – visit our Fantasy hub for more news and features, or find something to watch now with our TV Guide.