Episode 129 – The Signal-Man

Post Comment 7 comments on “Episode 129 – The Signal-Man”

• The other dave on

  October 7, 2012 at 4:29 PM

  Re: Doctor Who: I’ve always wondered if the Doctor’s liking of the story had anything to do with something similar happening to himself in “Logopolis” (where he is haunted by the Watcher – the foreshadowing of his future incarnation)? (though oddly enough Christopher Eccleston did the story for radio as part of the “Devil’s Christmas Series a few years since.)

  As for motivations and plot in this story – something you didn’t seem to touch upon was the idea that if it wasn’t for the premonitions the signal-man wouldn’t have been on the line. The story talks about him being a careful and experienced operator who should have known better, but whose curiosity, fear and fascination ultimately lead him to be on the track and perhaps investigation the fateful call and “specter” when they actually turned out to be fatally real. just a thought.
• Utech on

  October 8, 2012 at 2:29 AM

  While I sympathize with your desire to work out the connections in “The Signal-Man”, I also think this is the sort of thing that would make H.P. smile. You’ve got that very human belief that the universe really does work through cause and effect. That the logical underpinnings of this story are understandable.

  Perhaps the reason H.P. enjoyed the story is that he understood those underpinnings are not there. The events in the story are either utterly unconnected, wholly coincidental, or follow a logic/physics/metaphysics inconsistent with the world as we know it. In other words, you’re looking for before-the-veil explanations in a beyond-the-veil story.

  You sure you want to raise the corner and have a peek? Sure, you’ll see the way the events of the story really connect. But you can’t go back…
• latasha on

  October 9, 2012 at 5:36 AM

  great show as always. do u guys plan on covering any Poe stories? that would bo so great! plz! what if i subscribe 😉 just kidding! i plan on doing that anyways!
• Steve Dempsey on

  October 21, 2012 at 4:34 AM

  The radio version is on iPlayer at the moment:
  http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00pdkdp/Charles_Dickens_The_Signalman/
• Eric Topp on

  September 3, 2013 at 2:27 PM

  +1 “Logopolis” and was anyone else reminded of the “Future Echoes” ep of Red Dwarf?

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PLjQycLlVA
• Eric Topp on

  September 3, 2013 at 9:28 PM

  Charles Dickens appears as a character in “The Exiles” by Ray Bradbury. In the story, Dickens is upset that he has been sent by the book-burners to Mars because he wrote a couple of ghost stories.
• Elliott James on

  May 19, 2014 at 12:49 PM

  The BBC have done a number of “Ghost Stories for Christmas” most of the stories filmed were by M.R. James but one from 1976 was “The Signalman” Here are the links:

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c06WUYsI0ic

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udnAYweewLk

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDeJ-7NPNyk