'Lot No. 249' Brings Back Ghosts of Christmas Past, Good & Bad
A tradition that began with the original run from 1971-78, the BBC’s A Ghost Story for Christmas series has now steadily released annual entries since 2018 (minus the first year of the pandemic). Unlike the classically structured short story by Arthur Conan Doyle, this adaptation of his Lot No. 249 begins in medias res, with a terrified Abercrombie Smith (Kit Harington) banging on a friend’s door and begging to be let inside. From there, this period piece, set in the 1880s, features a ghost story framework where the main character tells his fantastical tale to a close confidant. Effective and engaging, Lot No. 249’s one misstep is a heavy reliance on a style of old-school queer coding.
It isn’t explicitly stated, but the story occurs at the University of Oxford and centers on three students living in the same dormitory: Smith, Bellingham (Freddie Fox), and Monkhouse Lee (Colin Ryan). Bellingham is a student of Egyptology, where Smith and Lee are doctors in training. One night, a frantic Lee urges Smith to Bellingham’s room. Lee is worried he’s dead, but Smith concludes Bellingham has only fainted, possibly from narcotic use. Smith slaps Bellingham to roust him, then slaps him once again when Bellingham can’t stop giggling hysterically.
Already, there is a contrast made between Smith’s take-charge, authoritarian masculinity and Bellingham’s subordinate status (read as female) of someone in need of reviving. Bellingham’s vast private collection of Egyptian artifacts, which makes his room appear a museum, already paints him as obsessive and unusual; his feminine-tinged laughter and delicate nervous system further signify unmanly tendencies.
