The Stone Tape (1972 TV Movie)

Michael Bryant: Peter Brock

Photos 

Quotes 

• Peter Brock : [on analyzing a ghost by electronic means]  Let's say it's a mass of data... waiting for a correct interpretation.

• Peter Brock : Colly. Computer storage room. When do we get it?

  Roy Collinson : There've been... problems.

  Peter Brock : [leaning close in, clearly annoyed]  You were here to solve them. How far have they got with it? Colly, how much have they done?

  Roy Collinson : Nothing.

• Roy Collinson : I was up in town last week. Dropped in on the legal department. One or two things I wanted to clear up about the house here - covenants and so on. They've got boxes and boxes of stuff - passed over by the trustees, I suppose. I brought one back. One or two curiosities in it. How d'you like this?

  [He takes out a document] 

  Roy Collinson : Application for the holding of a service of exorcism.

  Peter Brock : What?

  Roy Collinson : August 1892. Full record of the alleged haunting. Evidence, I suppose.

  Peter Brock : Louisa Hanks...

  Roy Collinson : That was her. There's even a report of her death.

  [hands Brock a clipping] 

  Peter Brock : 1890.

  Roy Collinson : Two years before.

  Peter Brock : [reading the clipping]  "Sad mishap at Taskerlands. Louisa Hanks, an under maid in the employ of Mr Horace Tasker, yesterday fell to her death from a flight of steps while engaged about her duties". That's all.

  Roy Collinson : Pretty good press for an under-maid in those days.

  Peter Brock : And they thought that she...?

  Roy Collinson : More than thought. They kept a note of all the times and dates, went on doing it for ages afterwards. You see, the ghost-laying didn't take.

  Peter Brock : [now realizing the gravity of the situation]  Have you seen it?

  Roy Collinson : [shakes his head]  Only heard.

• Peter Brock : They once had a go at it with bell, book and candle. Well - we're rather better equipped. I'm going to chuck the lot at it.

  Eddie Holmes : Do you mean go after it with electronics?

  Peter Brock : Then find out exactly what makes it - well it doesn't tick, it patters feet and screeches.

• Eddie Holmes : What about tape, though?

  Eddie Holmes : Tape's finished.

  Stewart Jessop : They can still improve...

  Eddie Holmes : Its day is done

  Peter Brock : [holding a trip of magnetic tape tightly in his hands]  Magnetic tape is compact, responsive, all the sales chat-up says.

  [Brock pulls the strip apart] 

  Peter Brock : Also delicate and prone to lose its memory.

  Maudsley : Like Cliff here.

• Peter Brock : Whatever it is in there I've heard it. Colly's heard it.

  [pause] 

  Peter Brock : And Jill's seen it.