Jimmy Petruzzi interviews C. J. Tudor to celebrate the launch of The Burning Girls

94.4 FM Salford City Radio Jimmy Petruzzi interviews Sunday Times bestselling Author C. J. Tudor'Show more

C. J. Tudor's first novel The Chalk Man was a Sunday Times bestseller and sold in over forty countries. Her second novel The Taking of Annie Thorne was also a Sunday Times bestseller as was her third novel, The Other People. THE BURNING GIRLS, her fourth novel, was a Richard and Judy Book Club selection. The Drift is her fifth book, and she is also the author of A Sliver of Darkness, a collection of short stories.
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A SPOOKY SEVEN IN TEN BRITS ARE CONVINCED GHOSTS ARE REAL
Research commissioned by Paramount+ to celebrate the launch of new supernatural thriller, The Burning Girls
Does this sound like you – too scared to turn off the light before going to bed, uneasy in your car and even feeling a bit spooked at work? Then you’re one of the seven out of ten Brits who are convinced ghosts, spirits and apparitions are not just figments of our imagination.
Research out today reveals one in five Brits are convinced their own house is haunted and those polled admit they’ve walked a different route home at night to avoid walking past a spooky place or building (12%)
Overall, as many as 30% believe the town they live in to be haunted, while 17% of those polled have been spooked by local ghost tales about their local area.
The study, which looked into all things paranormal, found 15% in the UK have woken in the middle of the night to see a ghostly figure sitting on the end of their bed, while 9% have felt a sudden or unexpected chill.
A further 1 in 20 (5%) insist they have been comforted by a presence or spirit.

The research was commissioned by Paramount+ in conjunction with the launch of new supernatural thriller The Burning Girls, starring Samantha Morton and Ruby Stokes, which is available to watch now. The research found that half of respondents felt a ghostly presence was friendly, but 38% are convinced they’ve seen something ghostly that unnerved them.

The data also revealed 8% of Brits have been terrified to go to the loo on their own in someone else’s creepy house, whilst shockingly 1 in 10 have even dumped a partner because they thought where they lived was spooky.
C. J. Tudor's love of writing, especially the dark and macabre, started young. When her peers were reading Judy Blume, she was devouring Stephen King and James Herbert.

Over the years she has had a variety of jobs, including trainee reporter, radio scriptwriter, dog walker, voiceover artist, television presenter, copywriter and later, author.

C. J. Tudor's first novel The Chalk Man was a Sunday Times bestseller and sold in over forty countries. Her second novel The Taking of Annie Thorne was also a Sunday Times bestseller as was her third novel, The Other People. THE BURNING GIRLS, her fourth novel, was a Richard and Judy Book Club selection. The Drift is her fifth book, and she is also the author of A Sliver of Darkness, a collection of short stories.

Further spine-chilling research findings:

More than half of those polled (58%) believe ghosts will visit someone who wronged them when they were alive, with 56% believe people can be possessed by evil spirits.

More than 1 in 20 (6%), believe a friend or neighbours house harbours a paranormal presence while the same number are adamant their office is haunted, and 4 even believe their car might be possessed.

THE BURNING GIRLS centres around Reverend Jack Brooks (Samantha Morton) and her daughter Flo (Ruby Stokes) who move to the sleepy village of Chapel Croft, unaware of its dark secrets. After strong advice not to delve into the village’s past, Jack begins to question the disappearance of two teenage girls, Merry Joanne Lane and Joy Harris, who vanished from Chapel Croft thirty-years ago.

Jack is encouraged to play detective by a retired local journalist who also warns her about the ghosts of ‘The Burning Girls’ that haunt the chapel; two spirits of twin eight-year-old sisters burned at the stake in 1556 during Queen Mary’s purge of Protestants.

Flo quickly befriends awkward local teenager Lucas Wrigley (Conrad Khan). They share the same interests, but their friendship takes an unexpected turn when Wrigley takes Flo to an abandoned house in the woods - the former home of Merry Joanne Lane.

A malevolent force is determined to track Jack down, and it soon becomes clear Jack may be running away from secrets of her own. Her refusal to stop investigating the past means that events reach an explosive conclusion…

THE BURNING GIRLS (6 x 60-minute episodes) is an original UK drama series for Paramount+ based on the novel by C.J. Tudor and adapted by Hans Rosenfeldt (Marcella, The Bridge). The series covers themes such as exorcism, abuse, murder, martyrdom, faith and religion.

The series is produced by Buccaneer in association with Paramount Television International Studios – the international studio division of Paramount.