The latest Ghost Story for Christmas, Lot No. 249<\/a> was adapted by Mark Gatiss from the Arthur Conan Doyle story of the same name \u2013 but the conclusion to the TV adaptation is markedly different to the original tale.<\/p>\n As in Doyle\u2019s 1892 short story, Lot No. 249 sees young academic Abercrombie Smith (Kit Harington) encounter the strange and exotic Edward Bellingham (Freddie Fox) who brings an ancient mummy to life with dark magic, using the creature to strike at his enemies.<\/p>\n Both versions see Smith confront Bellingham and force him at gunpoint to destroy the mummy \u2013 but while the source material ends with Smith victorious and Bellingham fleeing the country, Gatiss\u2019s version takes a much darker path\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n On-screen, we see Bellingham unveil a second item he\u2019s acquired \u2013 Lot No. 250 \u2013 and shortly afterwards, Smith is faced with a second undead creature.<\/p>\n Speaking to RadioTimes.com<\/a>, Gatiss explained why he opted for this new ending: \u201cAs is often the way, as with MR James, they often don\u2019t really have an ending that will work on television \u2013 there\u2019s an ambiguity to some of them.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI think if there\u2019s anything that my ones have, it\u2019s a strong streak of EC Comics \u2013 a kind of vengeance motif and people getting terrible punishments for not very much\u2026 but I think you sort of want that, don\u2019t you?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n Sure enough, the TV version of Lot No. 249 ends with both Monkhouse Lee (Colin Ryan) and Smith being brutally executed by the second creature \u2013 the final shot is of Smith\u2019s neck snapping in the creature\u2019s grasp, a macabre moment that was suggested by Kit Harington.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was Kit\u2019s idea \u2013 I storyboarded it that he [just] throttles him,\u201d Gatiss explained.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m so thrilled with that ending, it\u2019s kind of outrageous. I thought, \u2018We\u2019ll never get away with that neck break.\u2019 <\/span>It\u2019s so horrible. It\u2019s genuinely nasty!\u201d<\/span><\/p> A Ghost Story for Christmas: Lot No.249 is available to watch now on BBC iPlayer.<\/strong><\/p>\n Find something to watch tonight with our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Streaming Guide<\/a>, or visit our\u00a0Fantasy<\/a>\u00a0hub for more news and features.<\/strong><\/p>\n Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only \u00a310 \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to\u00a0The Radio Times Podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n “I’m so thrilled with that ending, it’s kind of outrageous.” <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":42447,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/12\/mark-gatiss-explains-why-he-changed-the-ending-of-lot-no-249.jpg",620,413,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/12\/mark-gatiss-explains-why-he-changed-the-ending-of-lot-no-249-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/12\/mark-gatiss-explains-why-he-changed-the-ending-of-lot-no-249-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/12\/mark-gatiss-explains-why-he-changed-the-ending-of-lot-no-249.jpg",620,413,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/12\/mark-gatiss-explains-why-he-changed-the-ending-of-lot-no-249.jpg",620,413,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/12\/mark-gatiss-explains-why-he-changed-the-ending-of-lot-no-249.jpg",620,413,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/12\/mark-gatiss-explains-why-he-changed-the-ending-of-lot-no-249.jpg",620,413,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"\"I'm so thrilled with that ending, it's kind of outrageous.\"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/42446"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Bellingham](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/12\/lot-no-249-3a6cf06.jpg?quality=90&resize=618%2C413\" "\\"454711,A")
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