#plaque366 #Halloween Special: BBC Horror

A London commemorative plaque for every day in 2016. 

The plaques are selected from all walks of life, and all points of the London compass – and I'm taking requests too!

DROP ME A LINE or leave a comment below if you'd like to nominate a plaque for inclusion in the series






A plaque for the BBC at Alexandra Palace… with a Halloween theme…

Adam writes… I blame the BBC. From the passive thrill of hearing second hand from my school friends all about the late night Friday movie The Beast With Five Fingers, to my own first hand experience of staying up late to watch a horror movie – Zoltan Hound of Dracula… It's thanks to the BBC that I've got such a terrible weakness for an old horror movie.

I imagine that Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton may well say the same thing. Shearsmith and Pemberton were writers and stars of the team behind The League of Gentlemen, (1999-2002) a landmark BBC show shot through with affectionately nerdy horror references as well as hilarious and sometimes bleakly compelling original horror characters.

Mr Shearsmith is currently appearing in The Dresser at the Duke of York's Theatre and Mr Pemberton has just started previewing in Terry Johnson's Dead Funny at The Vaudeville Theatre. 

To represent BBC horror down through the decades, I've chosen their 2009-2011 series Psychoville - a clammy, troublingly hilarious sitcom/black farce/murder thriller (!). Very, very funny with genuine shocks and chills, it is perfect Halloween viewing

Here's a clip of the show's most famous (and my favourite) line. David Sowerbutts (Pemberton), an overgrown child in a man's body, with a morbid interest in serial killers and an inability to hold down a job, gets a try out with a murder mystery theatre company. Inevitably, it goes badly and he returns home to mother (Shearsmith) with the line, "Sorry mum. I did a bad murder." His mother takes his confession literally and a world of blackly farcical confusion ensues.


Have a look…

The NEW London Walks Podcast – a Halloween special on horror movies - is here…

Where to find the BBC plaque…

A London Walk costs £10 – £8 concession. To join a London Walk, simply meet your guide at the designated tube station at the appointed time. Details of all London Walks can be found at www.walks.com.