The Canterville Ghost 1996 TV movie with Patrick Stewart and Neve Campbell, Digi Mart USA News: An adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s 1887 short story, Sydney Macartney’s “The Canterville Ghost” aired on ABC on January 27, 1996, and featured central roles for the late Sir Patrick Stewart and Neve Campbell. The year 1996 was a banner one for both actors, with Stewart appearing in “Star Trek: First Contact” and Campbell headlining “The Craft” and “Scream” over the same period.
For Campbell, the TV movie was the final stop before full stardom, following her breakout role on the series “Party of Five.” Wilde’s original story is a light tale about a haunted mansion, and Macartney’s film, which is currently streaming free on platforms such as Tubi and Prime Video, keeps a similarly lighthearted tone.
Wilde’s source material follows the Otises, a family of two parents and three children who move into Canterville Castle despite warnings that it is haunted. The ghost tries to frighten them off, but the family responds with mild annoyance.
When Mrs. Otis spots a bloodstain on the carpet, she dryly states, “I don’t at all care for blood-stains in a sitting-room.”
Macartney’s adaptation moves the action to the modern day. Stewart plays Sir Simon de Canterville, while Campbell plays young Virginia Otis, and the story is told largely from her perspective.
Sir Simon eventually reveals the trauma that left him in his ghostly state, which involves his beloved dead wife, Eleanor.
The TV movie adds several fun touches. Edward Wiley plays the Otis patriarch, Hiram, and in one scene Virginia and the Ghost stage a scene from “Hamlet” to convince him that ghosts are real, with Sir Simon playing the Ghost of Hamlet’s Father.
This nods to Stewart’s past with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and he would later play the Ghost and Claudius in a celebrated 2008 BBC production of the play opposite David Tennant.
Initially, Sir Simon is determined to scare the Otis family away. Soon after the family moves in, however, Virginia finds a secret passageway leading to a chamber where Sir Simon spends daylight hours.
She and her brothers befriend him, and they learn he is not as terrible or scary as he seems. Virginia also develops a crush on Francis, the Duke of Cheshire, played by Daniel Betts, a local nobleman who has a larger role here than in Wilde’s original story.
The central drama arises when Hiram believes Virginia is responsible for Sir Simon’s antics and threatens to send her back to the U.S., where she would no longer be able to see Francis. This motivates her to prove the ghost is real.
Few professional reviews of the TV movie are readily available. Brian Costello of Common Sense Media gave it a high rating, indicating it is suitable for younger children, and praised Stewart’s Shakespearean relish in the role, writing that his performance “more than makes up for the dated special effects.” David Saunderson, writing for the British/Irish horror website Spooky Isles, had mild complaints about the film’s departures from Wilde’s story, noting the Otises were made American for American audiences, and said the film is not as good as the 1944 adaptation starring Charles Laughton, while praising Stewart’s work.
Notably, “The Canterville Ghost” won an Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music Composition for a Miniseries or Special.
