James Swanton is back on track with The Signal-Man for Dickens on the dark side

York ghost storyteller James Swanton: Returning to York Medical Society for a second season of The Signal-Man performances. Picture: Jtu Photography

AFTER a sell-out run last Halloween, gothic York actor James Swanton is reviving his solo production of Charles Dickens’s The Signal-Man from October 16 to 28.

A familiar face from Inside No. 9 and The First Omen, he will give ten performances of his solo show at York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, before transferring to the Charles Dickens Museum in London.

Each performance will incorporate a second Dickens’s ghost story, The Trial For Murder, and the show will run as a partner event with the York Ghost Merchants, in Shambles, whose annual Ghost Week celebrations will take over the city from October 25 to November 2.

“Last year, I was shocked when every performance of The Signal-Man sold out more than a month in advance,” says James. “I think that had a lot to do with the wild popularity of the York Ghost Merchants! I’ve therefore scheduled twice as many performances this Halloween.”

All but one performance – October 21 – has sold out already, matching the popularity of his annual performances of Dickens’s Christmas ghost stories, A Christmas Carol, The Haunted Man and The Chimes since 2018.

“The Signal-Man ranks among the most famous ghost stories of all time – subtle and mysterious, but gradually building to a devastating conclusion,” says James Swanton

Here James discusses Dickens’s storytelling prowess with CharlesHutchPress 

If at first you succeed, do The Signal-Man again, but what might differ from last Halloween?

“This year, I’m relieved to have had first-hand experience of the show actually working in performance! That should make everything more collected and confident, though I hope without losing the quiet mesmeric charge. It’s a strikingly different energy to most Dickens, which is where the M. R. James comparisons come in.”

What makes York Medical Society such an ideal setting?

“I enjoy a black-box theatre space, but it’s difficult to beat the immersive feel of antique wood panelling, latticed windows and an open fireplace. The room in which I’m performing puts me in mind of the tavern in Barnaby Rudge. Perfect for relating ghostly tales!”

What form does the partnership with York Ghost Merchants take?

“It’s mainly about connection and community; the Ghost Merchants are always giving back to York. Those who are in the city for Ghost Week may stumble on my storytelling thanks to the Merchants – and in turn, my shows may tip them off to things going on elsewhere.

“I feel this is one story that works far better when spoken out loud than read in private,” says James Swanton of The Signal-Man

“We’ve been collaborating since early 2020 – pre-pandemic! – when I gave a rendition of M. R. James’s Canon Alberic’s Scrap-Book at their Shambles premises. Each ticket included a tie-in yellow-eyed ghost, patterned after the demon in the story. Highly collectable now, I’d imagine.”

How does The Signal-Man differ from Dickenss Christmas ghost stories?

“It’s a rather darker show, ranking among the most famous ghost stories of all time – subtle and mysterious, but gradually building to a devastating conclusion.

“I’ve now performed it everywhere from Gad’s Hill – the country house at which Dickens died in 1870 – to a Category C prison. Everywhere it holds audiences riveted. I first gave The Signal-Man with the York Ghost Merchants as one of their online streams during the pandemic, so it’s fitting to be collaborating with them again.”

Without giving away the ending, what happens in The Signal-Man and why does it suit live performance?

“In short form, a wandering gentleman befriends a lonely signal-man on an isolated stretch of railway. He there hears about the signal-man’s uncanny supernatural experiences.

“I feel this is one story that works far better when spoken out loud than read in private. Simon Callow agreed with me after he recorded it as an audio drama.

“Dickens is essentially the character actor’s Shakespeare,” says James

“Even so, I’d recommend that people familiarise themselves with the text in advance. The final revelation takes some digesting, not unlike the ending of Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now. But once the core idea sinks in, it’s forever burned into the memory.”

Likewise, what happens in The Trial For Murder and why does it suit live performance?

“A city gentleman does jury service at the Old Bailey and begins to catch sight of an unsettling figure whose face is ‘the colour of impure wax’. People don’t generally know this story – it also goes by the unhelpful title ‘To Be Taken With A Grain Of Salt’ – so there’s a vital element of surprise.

“After all, a courtroom is itself a type of theatre, and this narrative’s structure is deliberate, verging on procedural, which contrasts well with the shocks.

“The Trial For Murder is less well known [than The Signal-Man] – and in my opinion, something of a neglected classic. Like The Signal-Man, it feels imbued with the spirit of M. R. James. So many of Dickens’s ghosts are family-friendly – just think of A Christmas Carol and how well it lends itself to the Muppets! None of that with these tales. Keep your children away.”

The poster for James Swanton’s double bill of ghost stories for Halloween at York Medical Society

How come you performed The Signal-Man at a Category C prison? 

“This came about after an approach from A. G. Smith, who’s highly regarded as a ghostly storyteller through his touring work with Weeping Bank. The prison offered that rare thing: an audience who not only wanted but needed to be told a story.

“They were among the best I’ve ever had; certainly the most attentive. I’m sure they understood the signal-man’s feelings of entrapment in ways I can’t begin to imagine.”

What keeps drawing you back to Dickens?

“His invented people are irresistible; Dickens is essentially the character actor’s Shakespeare. That said, his narration interests me more and more with the passage of time. And there’s rather a lot of that in these two pieces! The eye-catching grotesques melt away and the storyteller takes centre stage.”

James Swanton (in the mirror) and Julia Garner in the film poster for Apartment 7A

What else is coming up for you? Any filming commitments?

“There’s the odd project in the offing, though nothing nailed down. I’ve been continuing my association with Hammer Films this month. They put me back into Christopher Lee’s Creature make-up for last week’s premiere of their restored Curse Of Frankenstein, where I was honoured to shake hands with 90-year-old cast member Melvyn Hayes. Young Frankenstein himself!

“I’ll also be guesting at Manchester’s Festival of Fantastic Films closer to Halloween. But most of the year is now blocked out with stage work, including my return to York Medical Society in the last week of November with A Christmas Carol and The Haunted Man. Tickets are now on sale.”

And finally, James, why should audiences see The Signal-Man?

“Come to The Signal-Man if you want to experience old-fashioned theatrical storytelling in the pricelessly atmospheric setting of York Medical Society. Roger Clarke, esteemed author of A Natural History Of Ghosts, has been good enough to call me ‘the best interpreter of Charles Dickens’s ghost stories alive’. I’ll be doing my chilling best to live up to that praise.”

James Swanton presents The Signal-Man, York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, October 16 to 28, 7pm, except October 27 and 28 at 5.30pm and 7.30pm. Tickets are on sale too for Charles Dickens’s Ghost Stories, The Haunted Man, November 24 and 27, 7pm; A Christmas Carol, November 25 and 28, 7pm; November 30, 2pm and 6pm. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

James Swanton in ghost story-telling mode at York Medical Society

James Swanton on York’s history of trains and ghosts and Dickens’s railway links

“YORK is as much a city of trains as ghosts. The National Railway Museum is celebrating its 50th anniversary with the opening of its refurbished Station Hall.

“It’s also been an interesting year for Dickens’s links with the railways. 2025 marks 160 years since the Staplehurst accident – a horrifying train crash from which Dickens was lucky to escape with his life.

“It’s this trauma that inspired him to write The Signal-Man, which might also be considered the last story that Dickens completed. All that followed were collaborative works and an unfinished novel.

“Incredibly, Dickens died on the fifth anniversary of the Staplehurst crash. Given that The Signal-Man is so much about our inability to escape our fates, that feels eerily significant.

“I was pleased when the Charles Dickens Museum commissioned me to create a show based on the incident in June. We gave it a sensational title: Killing Dickens!”

James Swanton working with Mark Gatiss. Picture: Sonchia Lopez

Did you know?

JAMES Swanton often appears on film as all manner of demons and monsters. Last year, he was seen in Apartment 7A, Tarot, The First Omen and the final series of Inside No. 9.

He also has a keen interest in the history of screen horror. “Many people first encounter The Signal-Man through the 1976 Ghost Story For Christmas starring Denholm Elliott,” he says.

“In 2023, I became a part of the BBC’s modern Ghost Stories For Christmas tradition – playing the Mummy in Mark Gatiss’s Lot No. 249, chasing poor Kit Harington down those country roads at night – so I’d like to think I’m well placed to present such terrors on stage.

“Recently, I was reunited with Lot No. 249’s make-up man, the Oscar- winning Dave Elsey, to re-create Christopher Lee’s Creature from The Curse Of Frankenstein, in aid of a documentary on the new Blu-ray release. At last, I can say I’ve been employed by Hammer Films!

“I’d stop short of saying I’m now Christopher Lee’s representative on Earth, but it was certainly a singular honour.”

James Swanton returns to York Medical Society for eight performances of Dickensian Ghost Stories for Christmas

Dickensian storyteller James Swanton, switching to the lecture hall at York Medical Society

AFTER another sell-out season in 2023, gothic York actor James Swanton is reviving his Dickensian Ghost Stories for Christmas at York Medical Society, Stonegate, York,  from tonight to December 5.

Made up of James’s absorbing solo renditions of A Christmas Carol, The Chimes and The Haunted Man, they will play eight dates in York before transferring to London’s Charles Dickens Museum in the run-up to Christmas.

James is following up his October 24 to 30 run of Dickens’s The Signal-Man at York Medical Society – a partner event with the York Ghost Merchants – that sold out a month in advance. His other Dickensian theatre work prompted  Simon Callow to describe Swanton’s West End play Sikes & Nancy as “fantastical, startling and enthralling” and fellow Dickens enthusiast Miriam Margolyes to call his performances at the Dickens Museum “extraordinary”,  “superb” and “vivid”.

“I’ve had to skew my York shows early because of the exceptional demand down south,” says James. ‘Indeed, we’ve already sold out all 18 performances of A Christmas Carol in London!

‘But being a northerner, York is where I feel most at home – and there’s no better setting for Dickens than York Medical Society. We’ve moved to their largest space to accommodate more guests, but we’ve kept the vital period atmosphere. It’s a properly immersive experience: all gilt- framed portraits and heavy curtains and dim lighting.

‘I’ll be giving six performances of A Christmas Carol here in York. There’ll also be one showing apiece of The Chimes and The Haunted Man, its lesser-known but fascinating follow-ups, which have both sold out already.”

James is keen to emphasise the merits of all three stories. “Each of them brims with Dickens’s genius for the weird, which ranges from human eccentricities to full-blown phantoms. Dickens’s anger at social injustice also aligns sharply with our own – and in this age of rising austerity and fascism, we’re feeling the bite more than ever,” he says.

“Beyond anything, these stories are masterful exercises in theatrical storytelling, with a real sense of joy emerging from the Victorian gloom.”

Kit Harrington and James Swanton in Lot No. 249. Picture: Kieran McGuigan

Since last December’s run of Ghost Stories for Christmas, James has spent the year as various terrors on screen. “This time last year, I was terribly excited to be playing the Mummy in Lot No. 249, Mark Gatiss’s BBC Ghost Story for Christmas, in which I was unpardonably nasty to Kit Harington,” he recalls.

“I couldn’t have guessed I’d be filming as another BBC spook in January, when the wonderful Reece Shearsmith asked me to play the Curse of the Ninth Symphony in the last series of Inside No. 9.

Both programmes are available on BBC iPlayer, and James advises that they  make for “perfect Gothic viewing in the run-up to Christmas: two very classic ghost stories”.

They have been far from James’s only sinister appearances in recent times, however. “Every few weeks in 2024, I seem to have loomed up as some new monstrous entity,” James notes. “I played a couple of occult apparitions, the Hermit and the Magician, in a pleasingly ludicrous film called Tarot.

“My late grandad, Professor Walter Swanton, was a magician as well as a Punch-and-Judy man, so I’m sure he’d have been amused to see me sawing people in half!

‘I’ve also fathered the Antichrist in two big horror prequels. I was the Jackal in The First Omen, bringing little Damien into the world, and then Satan himself in the Rosemary’s Baby prequel Apartment 7A. I was astonished to see myself next to Julia Garner on the poster for that one! Given I’ve played Lucifer in the York Mystery Plays, that felt like a full- circle moment.”

As usual, the York run of Ghost Stories for Christmas is selling quickly, so James has strategic advice for securing tickets. “The best availability comes at the start of the run in late-November,” he says. “You can still secure a place for A Christmas Carol then. With tickets being only £16 each, this could be the perfect way to kick off your festive celebrations.

“I greatly look forward to gathering people together for some heart- warming storytelling. And I promise I won’t dress up as Satan!”

“The emotional power of Dickens’s prose strikes differently with each return of Ghost Stories for Christmas,” says James Swanton. Picture: Jtu Photography

Here James Swanton discusses his latest York and London runs of Ghost Stories for Christmas, his work with Mark Gatiss and Reece Shearsmith and his Hollywood roles with CharlesHutchPress.

 What draws you back to Dickens’s Christmas ghost stories each year and does each year bring new revelations and nuances to you?

“These annual performances remind me why I persist with acting at all. It’s restorative (and very rare) to feel you’re using every bit of yourself as an actor: full application of body and voice andmind and heart, with all the attendant fatigue. When you tether that to stories that people insist on hearing to the end, little proves more rewarding.

“And yes, the emotional power of Dickens’s prose strikes differently with each return. I’ve tinkered with my version of A Christmas Carol to include an episode that some audience members have told me they’ve missed in previous years. There’s one sentence there that brings a lump to my throat.

What makes York Medical Society such a suitable setting? Describe the bigger performance space this time…

“It’s the lecture hall, in which I premiered Irving Undead (my one-man resurrection of Victorian thespian Henry Irving) back in 2019. What we lose of the wood- panelled room’s sequestered gloom, we gain in 19th-century opulence.

“The hall has a raised stage, a very responsive acoustic and appropriately theatrical curtains. There’s also a portrait of Henry Belcombe, a former York Medical Society president, who actually knew Charles Dickens. He’ll be interested in watching what’s going on,  I’m sure.”

What will be the dates of your run at the Dickens Museum next month? Eighteen sell-outs already. You must be chuffed…

“Chuffed if not a little daunted! I’m there from December 10 to 23, in which time I’ll be giving 26 performances: a panto schedule! In total, I’m doing 40 live shows this Christmas season. Pray for me.

“What makes the enterprise sustainable at the Dickens Museum is the intimacy of the space – 30 people maximum – and the galvanising thrill of occupying a room in Dickens’s house. We share our back wall with Dickens’s front parlour. This makes me rather nervous of touching it mid-show.”

“In general, I think that ghosts serve as a form of collective wish fulfilment,” says James Swanton

The Signal-Man run sold out well in advance. How did it go? You are keen to do it again. When might you make that decision?

“I’ve got the York Ghost Merchants to thank for the sell-out, as they listed The Signal-Man (which I paired with The Trial For Murder) as a partner event for Ghost Week. Basking in their reflected light meant a shockingly high demand for tickets!

“In  truth, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy performing those texts at all: they were hellish to memorise and maddeningly elusive in rehearsal; all variegated shades of grey rather than Dickens’s usual glorious Technicolor. But the paradox is that you agonise in private so you can fly in public. They turned out to be deeply stimulating narratives to relate and audiences were wonderfully attentive.

“I haven’t decided when to revive them, but I’m not restricted to one set time of year as I am with these Christmas ghost stories. This gives me greater flexibility, though they do suit the darker months…”

Do supernatural tales serve a broader purpose in understanding life?

“In general, I think that ghosts serve as a form of collective wish fulfilment: the idea that we can beat back death and go on persisting, in no matter how limited a form.

“Where Dickens’s Christmas ghost stories are concerned, spirits serve a more didactic purpose. They’re generally there to teach an important human lesson – and, in classic Victorian fashion, they do so by being completely bloody terrifying. Marley’s Ghost might be the purest such example.”

The devil’s work: James Swanton as Lucifer in The Mysteries After Dark in Shambles Market, York, in September 2018

You have played Lucifer in the York Mystery Plays in Shambles Market and now two Hollywood roles where you “father the Antichrist”. How do you sleep at night?!

“To misquote Shakespeare: ‘Hell is empty and all the devils are me’. I’ve never lost a wink of sleep over any of this stuff. Hard to feel threatened when you’re repeatedly the source of the threat!”

Where did you film your two Hollywood movies? Do you enjoy the film-making process? You must spend many hours in the make-up/wardrobe department!

“Despite being set in New York, Apartment 7A was shot entirely at London studios and locations, though I did have to lurch off to the Netherlands for a couple of make-up fittings.

“The First Omen was meanwhile shot in Rome – my hotel room was just a few streets from the Vatican! – but  on that occasion, my make-up prep involved a 48-hour round-trip to Hollywood. It’s a realm quite as unreal as Billy Wilder and David Lynch warned us.

“I was there so fleetingly that I saw practically nothing: no HOLLYWOOD sign, no Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, no Universal Studios. Was I ever there at all? It was such an artificial dreamscape that I sometimes question it.

“Both were marathon make-up ordeals. It one day took them 12 hours to apply the full regalia for Apartment 7A, admittedly with a few pauses thrown in. On The First Omen, we averaged between seven and eight hours – about the time it takes to fly to Hollywood, now I think about it. My forty Dickens shows will be a breeze by comparison.”

James Swanton and Julia Garner in the poster for Apartment 7A. Picture: Paramount

When were The First Omen and Apartment 7A released? What did critics say of your performances? 

“The First Omen showed in cinemas worldwide in April. It’s now up on Disney +. Apartment 7A came to Paramount Plus for Halloween. Being one small cog in a very big machine, I’m not sure that critics had much of anything to say about me. I don’t seek out their probabledisapproval!”

Inside No. 9 was very well received. How did your involvement – working with Reece Shearsmith – come about? Might there be opportunities for you to do so again or indeed with Mark Gatiss?

“I’d met Reece towards the end of 2023 when we both guested on a panel about the silent horror film Häxan at the Regent Street Cinema in London. Given his decades-long friendship with Mark, Reece had also been aware of my work on the BBC’s Lot No. 249.

“I first got wind of the Inside No. 9 job when I got a text message from Michael Patrick, an extraordinary actor – he’s just played Richard III at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast – was was also shadowing on that final series.

“Reece had mentioned that he wanted me to play the Curse of the Ninth Symphony – and,  in one of those strange coincidences, Michael knew me from our university days! A few weeks later, I was billowing about a country house in Victorian dress and picking off my more illustrious co-stars. Business as usual.

“I’d love to work with both Mark and Reece again, either together or separately! We horror-obsessed northerners should stick together.

“Actually, I’ve done another panel with Reece since: a breakdown of our favourite vampire films for Hell Tor in Exeter, accompanied by horror expert Jonathan Rigby.”

James Swanton and Mark Gatiss in rehearsal together

Your late grandfather, Professor Walter Swanton, was a magician and a Punch-and-Judy man. Did you see him perform and did his performance style in any way rub off on you?

“It took me a long time to grasp it, but I almost certainly contracted the one-man show gene from him. One-man theatre is exactly what Punch and Judy is in miniature! He would carve and paint the heads of the puppets whilst my Grandma would make the costumes – another pleasing link, as she made me an awful lot of costumes as a child, generally to play some ghost or vampire.

“Grandad passed away in 2008, but I’ve been able to revisit his act via old family videos. This almost never happens in life, but he was actually better than I’d remembered: such a warm and expressive voice, with not a little of the jovial zaniness of his comedy hero Ken Dodd.”

How is your book on your horror acting heroes progressing?

“The bulk of the text is written! Thirteen highly involved chapters on thirteen different actors. I’m biding my time a bit with the publication, my thinking being that the more notoriety I build up in my own horror work, the easier it’ll be to shift copies. But it will see the light!”

Any news on what’s coming up for you in 2025?

“Absolutely none, I’m afraid. I keep putting it out into the universe that I’m desperate to play Richard III – and  given my Yorkshire roots, and my very real spinal kyphosis [a spinal deformity that causes an excessive curvature of the upper spine, making the back appear more rounded or hunched] , and my wraparound spookiness, I’d hope it would only be a matter of time. And wouldn’t the Minster make a great location? Let me dream!”

James Swanton’s Ghost Stories for Christmas run from November 25 to December 5  at York Medical Society, Stonegate, York. A Christmas Carol will be performed on November 25, 26 and 27 and December 2, 3 and 4; The Chimes on November 28; The Haunted Man on December 5. All performances start at 7pm and last approximately one hour. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.