Today,
The Horror Channel
(Sky 319, Virgin 149, Freesat 138) celebrates 100 years of the birth of
one of the country’s most beloved actors, Peter Cushing OBE with three
films from his long film career, and a classic episode from the 1980s TV
horror anthology series,
Hammer House of Hammer.

10am
Frankenstein Created Woman (1967)
In the fourth of Hammer’s Frankenstein series, directed by Terence
Fisher, Peter Cushing’s obsessed scientist Baron Frankenstein embarks
upon his most ambitious work – bringing a young maiden (Susan Denberg)
back to life using the soul of an executed man.

12noon
The Blood Beast Terror (1968)
Victorian-set horror in which Peter Cushing plays a Scotland Yard
detective investigating a series of grisly deaths in the English
countryside and discovers an entomology professor (Robert Flemying) is
trying to create a mate for his half-woman/half-moth daughter (Wanda
Ventham aka Beneditch Cumberbatch’s mum).

1.30pm
I, Monster (1971)
In this Amicus adaptation of the Jekyll & Hyde story, Christopher
Lee plays Charles Marlowe, a psychologist who invents a drug that
releases his patients’ inhibitions. But when Marlowe tests it on
himself, he becomes the cruel, murderous Edward Blake. It’s up to Peter
Cushing’s lawyer to discover the truth.

3pm
The Beast Must Die (1974)
This 1970s action whodunit sees Cushing playing lycanthropy expert Dr
Lundgre – one of a number of invited guests of a wealthy sportsman
(Calvin Lockhart) who believes one of them is a werewolf. Near the
conclusion, the audience have a 30-second interlude during which they
can decide, who the hunted beast is.

4.50pm
Hammer House of Horror:
The Silent Scream (1980)
Cushing gives a finely tuned performance as Martin Blueck, an ex-Nazi
doctor posing as a seemingly kindly pet shopkeeper who befriends a
released convict, Chuck Spillers (Brian Cox) only to trap him and his
wife in his latest experiment. Classic chills.
***NEWS IN!*** There are just a handful of tickets left for the May 29 screening of
Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell
at BFI Southbank in London, which will be introduced by two stars from
the film, Madeline Smith and Dave Prowse, plus the editors of the
Peter Cushing: The Complete Memoirs, Jonathan Rigby and Joyce Broughton (Cushing's secretary).
Click here for more information.