You may not recognise the name Tom Harper yet – but you soon will. Not only has the Walthamstow 34-year-old directed the soon to be released film sequel The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death, but he is also going to be at the helm of the BBC’s much anticipated mini-series War and Peace, starring American actor Paul Dano.

Both projects will throw Tom firmly into the spotlight and he’ll soon be treading the red carpet alongside stars Helen McCrory, Jeremy Irvine and Phoebe Fox for the premiere of the sequel to the first Woman in Black film, which starred Daniel Radcliffe.

But Tom has revealed he almost turned down the project.

“Initially I was sceptical as the first film wraps up rather well and I struggled to see what the story would be. But I did think the ghost was brilliant and clearly resonates with people all around the world. The novella was so successful and then the stage play and it is such a clean concept – whenever she is seen, a child will die.“

The Manchester University drama graduate was won over when he discovered the film was set 40 years on from the original story, and based around a group of evacuees who travel to the haunted house thinking it is a safe haven from the war in London.

“In the first film, Arthur Kipps is in the house and isn’t a child so he’s never in any immediate danger himself so bringing children actually into the house seemed a great sense of jeopardy.

“So piece by piece I slowly got hooked into it,“ explains Tom.

Despite being a fan of the genre it is the first horror film he has directed as his previous work has included E4 supernatural series Misfits, film The Scouting Book for Boys, BBC crime drama series Peaky Blinders starring Cillian Murphy, Sam Neill and Helen McCrory and the Bafta-nominated short film Cubs about inner-city gang initiation, which is set in Haringey and Hackney.

So he nailed on his courage and sat down to watch The Innocents, The Orphanage, The Omen, The Ring, Dark Water and The Conjuring in the name of research.

“Part of the reason we tell these ghosts stories again and again is they tell us something about ourselves and help us explore our deepest fears in a way that is entertaining,“ he says. “That’s the point of horror stories.“

Another first for Tom was filming in Essex, as the crew returned to Osea Island to film the scenes for the Nine Lives Causeway, leading up to the remote Eel Marsh House.

“It’s about 50 minutes from Walthamstow,“ says Tom who had to travel to Pinewood Studios for most of the filming, “so it beats the North Circular any day.

“A lot of our locations were in Essex and the surrounding countryside. We shot scenes in Osea island and Maldon and we went up to Mersea Island for some stuff as well. Because Osea Island is so flat, it’s got an amazing quality to it. I think it’s very beautiful. There’s something quite desolate about it. I loved it.“

He moved to “hip and happening“ Walthamstow five-years-ago and has fallen in love with the “lovely community spirit“ there, but he grew up in Kentish Town wanting to studying environmental science until fate stepped in.

“I was making tea in a post-production company in my gap year and they said I could learn how to use the editing equipment in my downtime, and so I borrowed a camera and went and shot some footage and realised I enjoyed it much more than trying to get the computer to work.

“So I changed to a drama course at the very last minute. I don’t think I would have got on it as my A-level grades weren’t good enough for Manchester University, but I showed them the film I made and they really liked it.

“It was a great time because I discovered I really enjoyed learning and studying something that I was really passionate about.“ From there he says it was a mixture of hard work and luck as he kept making short films and finally one, Cubs, got noticed and made it into the Sundance Film Festival.

“You just need one person to back you,“ says Tom, “and then it makes it easier for other people to back you. It grew from there.“ He adds: “I think the best piece of advice I have had is it’s a marathon not a sprint and you want to build a long career rather than burn out too quickly.”

To anyone wanting to follow in his footsteps he says: “If you want to be a director – direct. That sounds silly, but you have to be making films, just like if you want to be a writer you have to write. There’s no easy way, keep making films.“

Following his own advice, while he was waiting for the Woman in Black to start shooting, he borrowed actress Phoebe Fox and reunited with Scouting Book For Boys and This Is England ‘86 writer Jack Thorne to make the film War Book, which premiered at the BFI London Film Festival and which he describes as a “nuclear 12 Angry Men“.

And next he is off to Russia to film the BBC’s adaptation of Tolstoy’s War and Peace.

“I started doing pre-production work on it about four months ago and we start filming in January,“ says Tom. “I’m working with Paul Dano, which I’m pretty excited about.

He adds: “As a director I see my job as being to facilitate people to do their best job and give them the environment in which to shine. I don’t think bullying people is the way to get the best from them.

“I’m very much a collaborator and think by working together we can be better.“