Benjamin Britten the apex of his reputation: it was almost universally hailed as a masterpiece." Shostakovich told Rostropovich that he believed it to be "the greatest work of the twentieth century". In 1967 the BBC commissioned Britten to write an opera specially for television. "Owen Wingrave" was based, like "The Turn of the Screw", on a ghost story by Henry James. By the 1960s Britten found composition much slower than in his prolific youth; he told the 28-year-old composer Nicholas Maw, "Get as much done now as you can, because it gets much, much more difficult as you grow older." He did
The Turn of the Screw (2009 film) of the fire when the children are in bed, and they don't get more chilling than this bold reimagining of the classic Henry James tale." The film was commissioned by Stephenson and Jay Hunt, then controller of BBC One. It was directed by Tim Fywell, and produced by Colin Wratten; the executive producer was Jessica Pope. The film is an adaptation of Henry James's 1898 novella "The Turn of the Screw". As one of his more popular stories it had already been adapted for films and television many times, although not previously by the BBC. The adaptation was screenwritten by