Peter Brock (Michael Bryant) is the leader of a team of researchers who work for an electronics company that is trying to come up with a new recording technique to keep up with their Japanese competitors.  Peter and his team move into an old Victorian mansion that is said to be haunted.  After Jill Greeley (Jane Asher) thinks that she’s seen a ghost, Peter theorizes that the stone walls of the mansion have actually recorded everything that has happened at the location over the years, like a security tape.  Some people, like Jill, are sensitive enough to pick up on the images of the past.  Other people, like Peter, are so determined to use what he calls The Stone Tape to his own advantage that it leads to tragedy.

The script for The Stone Tape was written by Nigel Kneale, who was also responsible for creating Quatermass.  As he did with his Quatermass stories, Kneale took an otherwise standard horror story and added an interesting scientific twist.  Peter is a classic villain who makes the mistake of thinking that he can control that which he does not understand.  Ghosts and spirits may just be recordings of past events but that doesn’t mean they can’t hurt you.  There’s a lot of screaming in The Stone Tape but there’s also some very interesting ideas, good acting, and intelligent directing from Peter Sasdy.  First broadcast by the BBC in 1972, The Stone Tape is a classic ghost story, creepy and clever with a killer ending.