Ghost Stories: The Tractate Middoth, on PBS

For many [stupid] people, books are sort of like ghosts. They relics from the past, bearing witness to the folly we might have prevented, had we only read more of them. However, a part-time librarian might have a legitimately haunted book on his shelves, which is bizarrely in-demand throughout Mark Gatiss’s The Tractate Middoth, based on the classic M.R. James story, which airs on participating PBS stations over the coming month.

Although originally produced by the BBC as part of their annual Ghost Story for Christmas, PBS apparently believed the productions they licensed better fit Halloween season. Neither is wrong per se, because James is timeless—and hopefully so are books.

Intellectually gifted but financially challenged William Garrett rather enjoys working part-time in the library, while pursuing his advanced studies, even though “Sniffer” Hodgson, the supervising librarian, is a pompous blowhard. At least he did, until John Eldred requests the Tractate Middoth, an ancient Hebrew text.

The first time Garrett tries to pull it, he believes a mysterious shrouded figure coincidentally retrieved it before him. The next time Eldred calls to request it, Garrett passes out on the way to its shelf, overcome by the supernatural pollen suddenly swirling about. Clearly, that volume holds sinister secrets, involving its former owner, the nasty Dr. Rant, who maybe orchestrated all this weirdness while expiring on his deathbed, as we partially saw during the prologue.

Tractate Middoth is a particularly British ghost story. Indeed, it is easy to imagine how James’s tale might have inspired some of the early library business in A Discovery of Witches. If the story sounds familiar, maybe it is because Leslie Nielsen also portrayed the intrepid librarian on the early-1950s Lights Out anthology show.

As Garrett, Sacha Dhawan is appealingly earnest and cerebral. It is easy to identify with him, especially when he gently mocks the insufferable Sniffer, played with appropriate bluster by Roy Barraclough. John Castle is fittingly hard to pin down as Eldred, while Paul Warren makes an appearance worthy of Doug Jones as the apparition.

Tractate Middoth boasts first-class production values. The sets and locations all look suitably musty and the book itself is nicely designed. The original edit clocks in just over half and hour, giving Gatliss sufficient time to fully set the scene and build the atmosphere. The resulting product is quite a lot of fun to watch. Very highly recommended, The Tractate Middoth airs this month on various PBS outlets, including this Friday (10/4) in Louisiana, 10/20 in Dayton, and 10/29 & 11/1 in North Texas (it also streams on Prime and BritBox).