There’s nothing like a spooky tale at Christmas and this year, Crooked House on BBC4 and Affinity on ITV1 ensure that we’ll be thoroughly spooked for Christmas!

Mark Gatiss brings us a veritable treat of creepiness in his trilogy, Crooked House, which is to be shown over three nights on BBC4 and stars illusionist Derren Brown. Here’s a look at each episode…

Monday 22nd, 10.30pm, The Wainscoting, Episode 1of 3

In this first spine-chilling tale, Ben, a school teacher, has recently moved into a new house and found a door-knocker in his garden. The local museum curator identifies it as having once belonged to Geap Manor, a now-demolished Tudor mansion with a ghostly reputation. Intrigued, Ben asks if there are any “juicy stories” to be told, and the curator obliges. He begins to recount stories of the manor’s curious past…

It’s 1786, and Joseph Bloxham Esq is a self-made man and something of a star in fashionable coffee-house society. But Bloxham has used his ill-gotten gains to buy Geap Manor, paying no heed to the warnings of Noakes and his friend, Duncalfe. When Bloxham starts to hear ghastly sounds in the newly installed panelling of his drawing room, it seems that he might have more than just a mouse hiding in his wainscoting…

Tuesday 23rd, 10.30pm, Something Old, Episode 2 of 3

The curator tells Ben about an incident at Geap Manor in the twenties as Crooked House, written by and starring Mark Gatiss, continues.

Lady Constance de Momery presides over a lavish, glittering costume ball, which she is hosting for her grandson. Bright young things throng the old manor house, but all is not quite as it seems. When young heir to the estate Felix de Momery announces his engagement to his sweetheart, Ruth, his grandmother seems uneasy about the match. Is her disapproval really a case of snobbery, as Ruth believes, or does the old lady have a more chilling reason to fear the prospect of a wedding at Geap Manor?

Wednesday 24th, 10.30pm, The Knocker, Episode 3 of 3

Mark Gatiss’s three-part ghost story for Christmas reaches its dramatic conclusion with this episode and back in the present day, commitment-shy Ben begins to discover that, though demolished, Geap Manor still casts a shadow.

Having recently left his girlfriend, Hannah, for a life of freedom over cosy domesticity, Ben is captivated by the curator’s stories and screws the ancient door-knocker to his new front door. But he soon finds himself getting more excitement than he bargained for as the past intrudes with a loud knock at the door and draws him back into Geap Manor’s bloody past…

If you miss any, you can see all three in the Crooked House Special on BBC4, Saturday 27th at 9pm.

Then there’s the very spooky Affinity, which airs on Sunday 28th on ITV1 at 9pm.

Set against the ominous backdrop of a Victorian prison, Affinity is both a Gothic ghost story and poignant account of forbidden love with an unexpected sting in the tail.

Following the death of her father, Margaret Prior decides to volunteer as a visitor to the female inmates of Millbank, one of London’s most notorious gaols. Among Millbank’s murderers and common thieves, Margaret finds herself increasingly fascinated by one inmate, the enigmatic spiritualist Selina Dawes.

Selina’s serving time for the assault of a young girl through a malevolent spirit during a séance. Initially sceptical of Selina’s gifts – but sympathetic to the plight of this beautiful and seemingly innocent girl – Margaret finds herself dispensing guidance and friendship on her visits. But soon it’s Margaret herself who’s on the back foot, thrown by Selina’s piercing insight into her own character and predicament.

Pressed by her domineering mother to marry, but repulsed by the advances of a man who sees himself as the perfect match, Margaret finds Selina awakening feelings in her she has been struggling to suppress and soon, things start to happen – impossible things – which suggest Selina may indeed be telling the truth about her ability to communicate with and command the dead.

Bringing vividly to life a twilight world of séances, shadows, unruly spirits and unseemly passions, Affinity builds a powerful romantic mystery which will keep us guessing until the startling conclusion!