How would you like to be tormented by the embalmed hand of your deceased uncle? If that piques your interest, then check out Steven Pacey’s reading of W.F. Harvey’s 1928 short-story The Beast with Five Fingers, in the recently released Ghostly Terror! anthology.
Ghostly Terror! is one of a duo of horror anthologies released on 17 October. The other is Vampire Horror!. Steven’s narration is only featured in Ghostly Terror!, but it is the entire second disk of the set. All together, Ghostly Terror! is 2 hours 16 minutes and features three stories:
Three classic tales from the golden age of the ghost story. For the protagonists of these three supernatural stories, ghostly terror lurks beneath the surface of ordinary life, and reality can all too easily fray at the seams….
1. Canon Alberic’s Scrapbook by M.R. James, read by Andrew Sachs.
A collector of antiquities acquires a priceless ancient book only to find that something evil hides within its pages.
2. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, read by Laurel Lefkow.
A young wife becomes obsessed with the wallpaper in the room of her holiday home.
3. The Beast with Five Fingers by W.F. Harvey, read by Steven Pacey.
A man is tormented by the embalmed hand of his deceased uncle.
Evocatively read by three of our finest actors, and with atmospheric music, these eerie, enthralling tales are perfect listening for dark winter nights.
Steven Pacey fans will have one big complaint: they misspelt Steven’s name in the cover art!
“The plum of the collection, though, is the second disc, on which Steven Pacey reads The Beast With Five Fingers … Pacey captures the escalating terror”
“Stephen [sic] Pacey handles the gloriously nasty tale of the severed crawling hand expertly, especially in the dialogue sequences. It is no easy job in an audio reading to differentiate between two characters when there are no guidelines such as ‘X said’ or ‘Y replied’, without resorting to accents or exaggerated voices. Pacey succeeds without gimmicks, and I was never confused as to who was supposed to be speaking.”
About Pie in the Sky:
Henry Crabbe (Richard Griffiths) is a Detective Inspector who gets shot in the line of duty. His plans to retire and open a restuarant, Pie in the Sky are foiled by his boss, Assistant Chief Constable Freddy Fisher (played by Malcolm Sinclair, with whom Steven Pacey worked in By Jeeves) to keep his ‘brains’ on the force.
This episode:
To save money Fisher turns over the police catering to a mass production company. Henry investigates after several acts of sabotage against the firm.
Steven plays a less-than-savory character in this episode. Originally braodcast in 1996.
The series, Red Letter Day, in which Steven Pacey appeared in 1976, was released on DVD on 3 October. According to the distributor’s website, it will only be available for twelve months, until 4 November 2012.
Steven Pacey’s association with Harold Pinter is long-standing. Not only did he play Stanely in Pinter’s The Birthday Party to critical acclaim in 1999, but was directed by Pinter in the world premiere of Pinter’s Celebration in a joint program with The Room at the Almeida Theatre in 2000, and again at the 2001 Pinter Festival at the Lincoln Centre in New York. Pinter directed Steven again in Simon Grey’s The Old Masters at The Comedy Theatre in 2004.
So when the Royal Shakespeare Company celebrated Harold Pinter’s birthday and his historical links with the company earlier in October, it was wonderful to see Steven included in the celebration.
During the week of 10 October, coinciding with what would have been Harold Pinter’s 81st birthday, the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon hosted a full program of lectures, performances of The Homecoming and an event titled Harold Pinter’s Birthday Celebration.
Steven was involved in Harold Pinter’s Birthday Celebration, held on Monday 10 October at 7:30pm. Tickets were from a mere £10 for the script-in-hand performance of The Collection (1961) and Landscape (1967).
Ramin Gray directed the evening, with actors including Steven Pacey, Juliet Stevenson, Hattie Morahan, David Dawson and Ben Miles.
Steven Pacey plays one of the major characters, Dr Richard Hammer, an archeologist whose search leads him to the House in search of the evil Bophomet statue.
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Steven Pacey’s episode of Heartbeat, Caped Crusaders, is being broadcast again:
ITV3
Wednesday, 5 October
1:05pm
Heartbeat follows the lives of villagers in the Yorkshire Moors as they are influenced by social changes in the 1960’s. Steven plays a less-than-savory character in Caped Crusaders.
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