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PODCAST

General Witchfinders: The British Horror Podcast

Ross, Jon & James | Exploring Cult British Horror Films, TV & Books

General Witchfinders: The British Horror Podcast 🕷️ Welcome to General Witchfinders, a podcast dedicated to the dark heart of British horror. If you’re passionate about Hammer Horror films, classic folk horror, Nigel Kneale’s Quatermass, and the chilling legacy of British supernatural cinema and television, this is the podcast for you. 🩸 Hosted by lifelong friends Ross, Jon, and James, General Witchfinders dives deep into the world of British gothic and folk horror. We explore everything from

tv & film film history

All Episodes

1:40:41

62 - Plague of the Zombies - Hammer Horror

General Witchfinders: The British Horror Podcast ·

2025/09/26

Hammer horror reaches peak gothic chills with The Plague of the Zombies (1966), a Hammer Film Productions classic that defines British horror cinema. Shot at Bray Studios from 28 July 1965 and filmed back-to-back with Hammer’s The Reptile (see episode 19), it used the same eerie Cornish village set designed by Hammer’s celebrated production designer Bernard Robinson. Director John Gilling – the so-called “gentleman pig farmer” behind The Shadow of the Cat and The Mummy’s Shroud – stages a story of

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1:22:00

61 - Event Horizon (1997 - Dir. Paul W S Anderson)

General Witchfinders: The British Horror Podcast ·

2025/08/29

This time on General Witchfinders, we’re heading into deep space — and hell itself — with the notorious 1997 science fiction horror film Event Horizon.··Directed by Paul Anderson and written by Philip Eisner, Event Horizon is set in 2047. A rescue crew investigates the ship Event Horizon, which vanished years earlier and is now orbiting Neptune.··After Mortal Kombat (1995), Anderson was suddenly in demand, linked to Mortal Kombat: Annihilation and even X-Men. Instead, he wanted a darker R-rated

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1:52:10

60 - Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970) – Hammer Horror

General Witchfinders: The British Horror Podcast ·

2025/07/26

Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970). We’re back to Hammer Horror, back to Christopher Lee, and back to Dracula. In this episode of General Witchfinders, we sink our teeth into Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970), the fifth official film in Hammer’s Dracula series and our sixth Hammer Dracula review to date. You can find links to all previous vampire escapades at https://tinyurl.com/Witchdrac. This British gothic horror classic, directed by Peter Sasdy and written by Hammer regular Anthony Hinds (under

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1:45:30

59 - Terry Nation's - Survivors / The Fourth Horseman...

General Witchfinders: The British Horror Podcast ·

2025/07/11

In this episode of General Witchfinders, we revisit one of the most unsettling and prophetic dramas ever broadcast by the BBC – Survivors (1975), created by Terry Nation, the man behind the Daleks and Blake’s 7. Specifically, we’re talking about The Fourth Horseman, the chilling first episode of this 1970s British post-apocalyptic classic.💀 Trigger warning / content note: this episode contains discussion of global pandemics, mass death, and social collapse. If the subject feels a little too close

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1:58:49

58 - 28 Weeks Later (2007): British Horror’s Brutal...

General Witchfinders: The British Horror Podcast ·

2025/06/18

This time on General Witchfinders, we’re heading back into the blood-soaked, Rage-infected streets of post-apocalyptic Britain with 28 Weeks Later — the 2007 zombie horror sequel to Danny Boyle’s groundbreaking 28 Days Later. Directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, 28 Weeks Later builds on the legacy of 28 Days Later (which we covered in episode 43), expanding the world of the Rage Virus and the aftermath of a collapsed society. While Danny Boyle didn’t direct this time around — due to commitments

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1:01:57

57 – Doomwatch: Vintage BBC Sci-Fi by Gerry Davis,...

General Witchfinders: The British Horror Podcast ·

2025/05/24

This time we watched Tomorrow, the Rat — Episode 4 from Series 1 of Doomwatch, first broadcast 2 March 1970 and written by Terence Dudley. That’s four years before James Herbert published The Rats (which we covered in episode 4). It’s highly likely he was inspired by this vintage BBC sci-fi thriller—pen in hand, watching Doomwatch unfold.Doomwatch was a vintage BBC science fiction series that aired from 1970 to 1972. A prime example of British sci-fi, it followed a government scientific agency led

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5:07

Two New Books from Your Hosts

General Witchfinders: The British Horror Podcast ·

2025/05/13

Sorry to audio-spam you all, but we've got two things on the go that we thought you might like to hear about:First up, Jon’s teamed up with his designer mate Sean Rees to create a photography book celebrating his 25-year love affair with the South Wales Valleys. It’s 72 pages of full-colour images and B5 sized.He’s currently crowdfunding it, so if you’d like to get a copy, head here:👉 https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/valleys-photography-bookAnd secondly, the second issue of our General Witchfinders

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1:56:34

The Creeping Flesh (1973 - Tigon British Film...

General Witchfinders: The British Horror Podcast ·

2025/04/26

In this episode of General Witchfinders, we take a close look at The Creeping Flesh (1973), a British horror film from cult studio Tigon British Film Productions. Best known for low-budget horror that ran alongside the likes of Hammer Horror and Amicus, Tigon was founded in 1966 by Tony Tenser and operated out of Hammer House on Wardour Street in London. This marks our first dive into their back catalogue—and what a place to start.The Creeping Flesh stars Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee

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1:41:34

55 - The Hands of the Ripper

General Witchfinders: The British Horror Podcast ·

2025/03/22

Join us for Hammer’s Hands of the Ripper, a 1971 British horror film released as the second half of a double feature with Twins of Evil. Directed by Peter Sasdy, produced by Aida Young, and written by L.W. Davidson from a story by Edward Spencer Shew. Making good use of the large Baker Street set at Pinewood Studios—left over from The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes—the production was denied permission to film its final scenes at St. Paul's Cathedral, so a replica was constructed instead. If the

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2:11:33

54 - The Lyndhurst Connection

General Witchfinders: The British Horror Podcast ·

2025/02/21

Bear with us this month, listeners, as we take a left turn down Duckett's Passage to talk about something a little different from our usual classic British horror. Nicholas Simon Lyndhurst, born April 1961, is an English actor who began his career as a child actor and is best known for his role as Rodney Trotter in the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses, which ran from 1981 to 2003.PART ONE: Tonight's first topic covers his role as the time-travelling bigamist Gary Sparrow in the British sitcom

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1:35:36

53 - The Gorgon

General Witchfinders: The British Horror Podcast ·

2025/01/25

It’s 17th February 1964 – You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ by The Righteous Brothers is at number one in the UK. Sir Alec Douglas-Home is Prime Minister, Beatlemania has erupted in the United States, Southampton has been granted city status (can you tell this script was running short?), and the Channel Tunnel Agreement was signed, with an estimated completion time of five years (though it would actually take 30). Meanwhile, at the cinema, released as a double feature with The Curse of the Mummy's

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54:30

52b - BBC Ghost Stories for Christmas: Lost Hearts

General Witchfinders: The British Horror Podcast ·

2024/12/31

The original run of A Ghost Story for Christmas aired on the BBC from 1971 to 1978, bringing classic ghost stories to television and keeping alive the tradition of sharing supernatural tales during the Christmas season.In our journey through the series, we’ve covered A Warning to the Curious and The Signalman in Episode 21, Whistle and I’ll Come to You and Stigma in Episode 32, and The Stalls of Barchester alongside The Treasure of Abbot Thomas in Episodes 41a and 41b.Just five days ago, on

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57:25

52a - BBC Ghost Stories for Christmas: The Ash Tree

General Witchfinders: The British Horror Podcast ·

2024/12/24

A Ghost Story for Christmas is a series of annual British short films first broadcast on BBC One from 1971 to 1978, and sporadically revived by the BBC since 2005. With one exception, the original films were directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark and shot on 16 mm color film. The series aimed to adapt classic ghost stories for television, echoing the tradition of telling supernatural tales at Christmas. So far, we’ve covered A Warning to the Curious and The Signalman in Episode 21, Whistle and I’ll Come

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1:31:03

51 - Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter

General Witchfinders: The British Horror Podcast ·

2024/11/23

Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter is a 1974 British swashbuckling action horror film, written and directed by Brian Clemens in his directorial debut. Clemens was celebrated for his work as a screenwriter, particularly for his contributions to British television series. Prior to Captain Kronos, he wrote and produced Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde for Hammer. Other films he wrote that fall into and circle around our areas of interest include And Soon the Darkness (which he wrote with Dalek creator Terry

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1:50:12

50 - Doctor Who - The Dæmons

General Witchfinders: The British Horror Podcast ·

2024/10/31

The Dæmons is the final story in the eighth season of Doctor Who, with Jon Pertwee playing the eponymous hero (see episode 48 covering The House That Dripped Blood for some fantastic Pertrivia). It aired over five weeks on BBC1 from 22 May to 19 June 1971. In The Dæmons, the Master, played by Roger Delgado, awakens the ancient horned alien Azal, hoping to gain his immense power. Delgado, a close friend of Pertwee, worked extensively on stage, TV, film, and radio. His work included the BBC’s

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1:13:24

49 - Robert Aickman's - Ringing the Changes

General Witchfinders: The British Horror Podcast ·

2024/09/25

This time, we listened to and read Ringing the Changes by Robert Aickman. Robert Fordyce Aickman was an English conservationist and writer. As a conservationist, he played a key role in preserving and restoring England's inland canal system. As a writer, he is best known for his supernatural fiction, which he described as "strange stories."On his mother’s side, Aickman was the grandson of the prolific Victorian novelist Richard Marsh. Marsh is known for his occult thriller The Beetle, a book as

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1:20:00

48 - The House that Dripped blood

General Witchfinders: The British Horror Podcast ·

2024/08/19

"The House That Dripped Blood" is a 1971 British anthology horror film directed by Peter Duffell and distributed by Amicus Productions. The film is a collection of four short stories, each concerning a series of inhabitants of the eponymous building.Denholm Elliott appears in the segment "Method for Murder," playing Charles Hillyer. He is joined by Joanna Dunham, who portrays Alice Hillyer, Charles' wife.Peter Cushing stars in the segment "Waxworks," portraying Philip Grayson. Joss Ackland (known

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1:19:09

47 - Inside Number 9 - The Devil of Christmas

General Witchfinders: The British Horror Podcast ·

2024/07/06

Inside No. 9 is a British black comedy anthology series that aired from February 5, 2014, to June 12, 2024. Written by Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith and produced by the BBC. The only recurring elements are a setting related to the number 9 and a hidden brass hare statue. The show blends comedy, horror, and plot twists. The episode we watched, "The Devil of Christmas," is a Christmas special and the first episode of the third series, aired on December 27, 2016. Directed by Graeme Harper and

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1:49:24

46 - The Survivor (based on the James Herbert Novel)

General Witchfinders: The British Horror Podcast ·

2024/06/14

Intro music from:Arthemis - Survivor (Destiny's Child Cover)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjYCOtYjCY4The Survivor is a 1981 supernatural horror Australian-British co-production directed by David Hemmings and starring Robert Powell, Jenny Agutter, and Joseph Cotten.In Adelaide, Australia (not Eton in the UK as in the original novel written by James Herbert), airline pilot David Keller (played by Powell) survives the crash of his Boeing 747-200, unhurt despite all 300 passengers dying in the

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1:30:00

45 - Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell

General Witchfinders: The British Horror Podcast ·

2024/05/10

We return to Hammer Productions with Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell, filmed at Elstree Studios in 1972. It marked the final chapter in the Hammer Frankenstein saga and director Terence Fisher's last film.The Film Features:Peter Cushing in his sixth and final portrayal of Baron Victor Frankenstein, a part he originated in 1957's The Curse of Frankenstein. Despite being 59 and apparently in poor health when he made this film, Cushing still insisted on performing a stunt requiring him to leap

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