The Aickman TapesClose to the end of his life, Robert Aickman made some audio recordings for a friend. He recorded himself reading five (or more?) of his stories. News of these tapes originally came from Chris Barker, posting on alt.books.ghost-fiction. Some (or all?) of the stories are:"Choice of Weapons"
"The Houses of the Russians"
"My Poor Friend"
"Niemandswasser"
"Your Tiny Hand is Frozen"
"Ringing the Changes" Thrice
Jeremy Dyson and Mark Gatiss (of League of Gentlemen fame) wrote an adaptation of "Ringing the Changes" for a half-hour BBC Radio Four broadcast, which was premiered on Halloween, 2000 (11 pm), and repeated February 20, 2001.Another adaptation of "Ringing the Changes" was broadcast on a Halloween night twenty years ago, in 1980. It was one of the episodes of the CBC (Canadian) radio anthology series Nightfall.
There was a third production of "Ringing the Changes"; this time on television. In ALL HALLOWS 20, Colin Cutler reviews "The Bells of Hell"; scripted by Hugh Whitemore, and directed by Naomi Capon. This was a half-hour episode of the BBC2 anthology series, Late Night Horror; aired May 9, 1968, and repeated only once in late 1969. Colin writes that it "remained very faithful to Aickman's memorable tale," and that "...it was refreshing to have a production that raised more questions than it professed to answer, presenting us with a challenging and unsettling piece of television."
"The Swords"
Unfortunately, that does not appear to have been the case (see above) with Showtime's adaptation of "The Swords", which felt the need to provide an 'explanation'. This was the fourth episode of their anthology series, The Hunger, which first aired July 20, 1997.
"The Cicerones"
Jeremy Dyson's 12-minute film "The Cicerones", was shown at The Edinburgh Film Festival and FrightFest 2002, both in August. Two reviews are: Cicerones Review by Tara, and on the Ghosts & Scholars website, a Review by Carole Tyrrell.
"The Same Dog"
Jeremy Dyson also (with Joby Talbot) wrote the libretto for a musical (?) production of "The Same Dog", which was performed in July 2000 at Barbican Concert Hall in London.
"The Inner Room"
In "A Few Small Notes Upon Sub Rosa" (in The Robert Aickman Collection at BGSU) RA notes that "The Inner Room" was once filmed by Universal. Further information on this would be most welcome.
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