The Little Stranger, creating art in the dark, and Kiare Ladner, BBC NSSA nominee

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Director Lenny Abrahamson on his film adaption of Sarah Waters’ novel The Little Stranger, a ghost story set in a dilapidated English manor in the 1940s. Abrahamson, who was Oscar nominated for his previous film Room, explains the how it is more than just a ghost story and talks about the challenges of adapting an unreliable narrator from the book onto screen. As the days get shorter and the light starts to fade, three artists discuss the appeal of darkness and how they use it as a source for their creativity. Artist Sam Winston and photographer Eva Vermandel spend long hours in complete darkness to develop or create their artworks, while TV editor Paulo Pandolpho, whose work includes the recent dramas The Split, Trust Me and Apple Tree Yard, considers the attraction of spending months at a time in a darkened editing suite. Kiare Ladner has been shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award with Van Rensburg’s Card. She discusses her story which is set in South Africa and is about a woman in middle age dealing with loneliness following the death of her husband and her daughter’s move to Canada. The story is broadcast on Radio 4 at 3.30pm on Tuesday and the winner of the BBC NSSA is announced on Front Row on 2 October. Presenter : John Wilson Producer : Dymphna Flynn