Uncultural highlights of 2025: Spells, sleuths, and seasonal spirits

Del Hughes

Well, what a year it’s been. The Mango Mussolini is back in the White House, ‘ICE’ has become a four-letter word, and Labour, once the rose-red champion of the working classes, is now tinged Tory blue – with Reform fingerprints smudging the margins of policy.

And amid wars, famine, the rise of fascism, and a planet on life support, we’re expected to celebrate faux-ceasefires – apparently brokered by that Witless Wotsit. Yep, it’s deffo been a hard eye-roll kinda year.

So, faced with hordes of actual monsters, I’ve sought sanctuary in fiction and cosy crime – happily swapping political absurdities for imaginative realms, where peril comes with a plot twist, and the good guys, blessedly, still win.

My first comfort read? Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London saga. It follows the adventures of Peter Grant, a rookie constable in the Met who discovers the existence of Newtonian magic – right after taking a witness statement from a ghost.

Recruited by the enigmatic DCI Nightingale – a modern Mr Darcy but with better tailoring, and manners (swoon) – Peter joins a clandestine unit. Here, modern policing collides with spellcraft to solve bizarre supernatural crimes in London, and beyond.

Across ten books, he negotiates with river gods, hunts down jazz vampires, vies with invisible unicorns, and comes face-to-face with the Faceless Man – all whilst trying to maintain a semblance of normalcy in a job that is anything but.

A great read that blends clever, fast-paced police procedurals with a rich urban fantasy world, all delivered with abundant comic flair, and the protagonist’s distinctly British dry wit. Or as Peter might put it: ‘It’s a sick read, bruv.’ And he’s not wrong.

Another collection I’ve loved this year is Anthony Horowitz’s Hawthorne and Horowitz mysteries – a clever, meta twist on the classic detective genre. Here, a fictional Horowitz (aka Tony) narrates the series, dragged unwillingly into the role of chronicler by the caustic PI Daniel Hawthorne.

As the celebrated author becomes the detective’s unwilling real-life Watson, they navigate complex, unusual murder cases, all while Tony struggles to uncover the truth about his abrasive, enigmatic partner.

There are five books out now, with the sixth due in 2026 (huzzah!). Beyond evoking shades of The Odd Couple, what defines them is their tone and style. Horowitz blends ingenious, old-school plotting with sardonic wit, and the constant friction between the cultured, fussy author and the blunt, streetwise detective makes for a light-hearted and addictive read.

And, finally, given my love of all things uncanny, I’ve been dipping back into M.R. James and E.F. Benson – because nothing warms the cockles quite like a good ghost story.

That fondness began in the 70s, when every Christmas Eve found me curled up with Mum and Dad, watching the BBC’s A Ghost Story for Christmas. Adaptations of James, Dickens, and other masters left me pleasantly terrified and provided the perfect seasonal shiver. Eek!

Sadly, this Yuletide telly tradition tailed off during the 80s; the supernatural tales vanished, and spooks slipped off the schedule – the horrors of austerity Britain were clearly fright enough.

The Room in the Tower

But writer, actor, and director Mark Gatiss (of Sherlock and League of Gentlemen fame) has been instrumental in reviving it, with a new retelling nearly every year since 2018. Often drawn from masters of the genre, he’s also included a couple of his own original stories – and they’re every bit as spine-tingling as the classics.

This year, I’m particularly looking forward to his version of Benson’s ‘The Room in the Tower’ (Christmas Eve at 10:00 pm, BBC Two). With Tobias Menzies and Joanna Lumley in the cast, the story follows Roger Winstanley, haunted for fifteen years by a recurring nightmare of a room in a strange house.

His dread intensifies when an invitation arrives to that same house, making his nightmare a reality. It’s a slowburn tale of inevitability, where each moment tightens the sense of doom as we draw ever closer to that ominous tower room. Double eek! Can’t wait!

And if you can’t wait either, you’ll be chuffed to learn that BBC Four is airing four of Gatiss’s earlier productions, back-to-back, in the lead-up to the premiere of the new episode (December 22nd at 10 pm).

After all, there’s a special comfort in those customs that return each December – scary stories by the fire, a Gatiss adaptation on Christmas Eve, and the familiar glow of seasonal rituals that endure, whatever the world throws our way.

So, turn off the big light, and take refuge in some paranormal programming. Let the tree twinkle, grab a glass of nog (just me, then?) or your favourite tipple, and tuck yourself in for a proper feast of festive fear. And here’s to a very merry, and macabre, Christmas to you all. Iechyd da i chi gyd!