Stephen Volk: Séances and the Hunger for Connection

Today’s guest is the brilliant Stephen Volk, screenwriter behind Ghostwatch, Afterlife, Gothic, The Guardian, and one of my favourite supernatural films, The Awakening (2011).In this episode we talk about séances as the perfect storytelling device, Dickens’s “The Portrait-Painter’s Story,” which inspired a story of Stephen’s own, belief and doubt as the engine of ghost stories, and the uncanny power of everyday objects in horror, including food, eggs, and even cake decorations that can quietly carry so many emotions. Along the way I also got to hear about some of Stephen’s own food memories.Stephen discusses his excellent short story collections The Good Unknown (2023) and The Confirmed Bachelors (2025) .There is a moment from Ghostwatch that has stayed with me since childhood. The poltergeist makes itself known through a ruined dinner when the family’s mackerel suddenly appears covered in something that looks disturbingly like saliva. I remember thinking how awful it was that not only were they experiencing something terrifying, but they now could not even sit down and eat their meal.Because horror does not just interrupt fear. Sometimes it interrupts dinner!Part of this conversation also appears in Haunted Magazine #49. Listen now, and if you enjoy the episode please follow and share A Curious Appetite with Dr Alessandra Pino.With special thanks to @deliciouslegacy for the audio, @medusazzz for the artwork, and @manu_pino_1111 for the music.Useful Links/ Works MentionedWorks by Stephen VolkVolk, Stephen. The Good Unknown: And Other Ghost Stories. Manchester: Sarob Press, 2023.Includes the stories “Unrecovered” and “The Waiting Room.”Volk, Stephen. The Confirmed Bachelors. Manchester: Sarob Press, 2025.Ghostwatch. Written by Stephen Volk. BBC, 1992.Afterlife. Created by Stephen Volk. ITV, 2005–2006.Midwinter of the Spirit. Written by Stephen Volk. ITV, 2015.Adapted from the Merrily Watkins novels by Phil Rickman.Gothic. Directed by Ken Russell. Screenplay by Stephen Volk. 1986.The Guardian. Directed by William Friedkin. Screenplay by Stephen Volk. 1990.The Awakening. Directed by Nick Murphy. Written by Stephen Volk and Nick Murphy. 2011.Books and Written Works DiscussedBarthes, Roland. Mythologies. Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1957.Crowe, Catherine. The Night Side of Nature; or, Ghosts and Ghost-Seers. London: T.C. Newby, 1848.Dickens, Charles (ed.). All the Year Round. London: Chapman & Hall, 1859–1895.Dickens, Charles. “The Portrait Painter’s Tale.” All the Year Round, 1861.James, Henry. The Turn of the Screw. London: William Heinemann, 1898.James, M. R. “Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad.” In Ghost Stories of an Antiquary. London: Edward Arnold, 1904.Levin, Ira. Rosemary’s Baby. New York: Random House, 1967.Rickman, Phil. The Merrily Watkins Series. Various publishers, 1998–present.Tomalin, Claire. The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens. London: Viking, 1990.Film and Television ReferencedA Haunting in Venice. Directed by Kenneth Branagh. 2023.The Changeling. Directed by Peter Medak. 1980.The Exorcist. Directed by William Friedkin. 1973.Evil Dead Rise. Directed by Lee Cronin. 2023.Ghostbusters. Directed by Ivan Reitman. 1984.Hereditary. Directed by Ari Aster. 2018.Host. Directed by Rob Savage. 2020.The Haunting. Directed by Robert Wise. 1963.The Innocents. Directed by Jack Clayton. 1961.Lake Mungo. Directed by Joel Anderson. 2008.Presence. Directed by Steven Soderbergh. 2024.The Sixth Sense. Directed by M. Night Shyamalan. 1999.Starve Acre. Directed by Daniel Kokotajlo. 2023.The Stone Tape. Written by Nigel Kneale. BBC television film, 1972.The Others. Directed by Alejandro Amenábar. 2001.Vertigo. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. 1958.Whistle and I’ll Come to You. Directed by Jonathan Miller. BBC, 1968.The Invisible Woman. Directed by Ralph Fiennes. 2013.