 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 <unk> by Sandy Welch , who set the film in the early 1920s , in contrast to the novella 's 1840s setting . This allowed the introduction of the Freudian psychiatrist interviewing the main character ; this framing device is not used by James , but both the novella and the film share a first @-@ person narrator . The updated setting also allowed the First World War to account for the lack of male staff at the house . The Freudian and libidinous elements some literary theorists have seen in James 's story are particularly prevalent in the film , with Ann 's repressed sexual feelings for the Master resulting in a number of highly sexual sequences . Further , Welch added a theological element not present in James 's story ; Ann 's father is a preacher , although Ann herself is unsure of her faith . The psychiatrist , by contrast , is an atheist . When he asks Ann about her faith , she replies that she believes in the Devil . 
