LOT NO. 249: BBC ANNOUNCE NEW GHOST STORY FOR CHRISTMAS FROM MARK GATISS

BBC Two have commissioned another ghost story for Christmas from writer Mark Gatiss (Sherlock, Doctor Who).

The 2024 ghost story is an adaptation of an Arthur Conan Doyle story and follows previous Christmas adaptations of The Mezzotint (2021) and Count Magnus (2022).

Lot No. 249 revolves around a group of Oxford students, one of whom undertakes research into the secrets of Ancient Egypt which become the talk of the college. Can these experiments truly breathe life to the horrifying bag of bones which is the mysterious Lot. No 249?

The one-off will star Kit Harington (Game Of Thrones) alongside Freddie Fox (Slow Horses). Also in the cast are Colin Ryan, Kohn Heffernan, James Swanton, Jonathan Rigby and Andrew Horton.

Mark Gatiss said: "It’s a serious delight for me to delve once again into the brilliant work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, this time for the Christmas ghost story. Lot No. 249 is personal favourite and is the granddaddy (or should that be mummy?) of a particular kind of end of empire chiller: a ripping yarn packed with ghastly scares and who-knows-what lurking in the Victorian closet."

More details will be revealed in due course.