Ghostwatch
Written by Stephen Volk
(BBC1, 1992)
(Standalone 90min drama in the BBC1 "Screen One" strand.)
(BBC1, 1992)
(Standalone 90min drama in the BBC1 "Screen One" strand.)
Find a copy of Ghostwatch on DVD
Watch a Ghostwatch fan trailer
Buy a DVD copy of the Ghostwatch: Behind the Curtains exclusive feature-length documentary
Watch a Ghostwatch fan trailer
Buy a DVD copy of the Ghostwatch: Behind the Curtains exclusive feature-length documentary
Check out the YouTube mini-featue (20 minutes) on the production and aftermath of Ghostwatch
Check out the "I WAS THERE" feature (a 30-minute interview with writer, director and producer of Ghostwatch, by Adrian Chiles on Radio 5 Live - October 31, 2017
In this notorious "live" coverage, the most up-to-date television technology seeks to show proof of the supernatural in the first transmission from an alleged haunted house on Halloween night, 1992.
Ghosts no longer inhabit stately homes or rattle chains. They live in ordinary council houses like that of Mrs Pamela Early and her two children. For months the family has suffered strange noises, awful smells and bent cutlery, but is hers really the most haunted house in Britain as the tabloids claim?
For the first time, BBC TV turns its cameras on the subject of the paranormal, and sends its intrepid reporters to investigate ghoulies, ghosties and things that go bump in the night...
Are they real, or just make-believe?
Watch the BBC "Additional Reassurance" announcement that appeared after transmission of Ghostwatch
Check out the "I WAS THERE" feature (a 30-minute interview with writer, director and producer of Ghostwatch, by Adrian Chiles on Radio 5 Live - October 31, 2017
In this notorious "live" coverage, the most up-to-date television technology seeks to show proof of the supernatural in the first transmission from an alleged haunted house on Halloween night, 1992.
Ghosts no longer inhabit stately homes or rattle chains. They live in ordinary council houses like that of Mrs Pamela Early and her two children. For months the family has suffered strange noises, awful smells and bent cutlery, but is hers really the most haunted house in Britain as the tabloids claim?
For the first time, BBC TV turns its cameras on the subject of the paranormal, and sends its intrepid reporters to investigate ghoulies, ghosties and things that go bump in the night...
Are they real, or just make-believe?
Watch the BBC "Additional Reassurance" announcement that appeared after transmission of Ghostwatch
"I love Ghostwatch. So scary" Guillermo Del Toro
"Without Ghostwatch such films as Paranormal Activity may not pack such a terrifying punch - or even exist, let alone spawn a franchise" Mary Beth McAndrew, "High Tension, Cheap Scares: How Lesley Manning's Ghostwatch Shaped Found Footage Horror" in Grim Issue #6, Feb 2020
"This is now one of my all time favourite horror movies. The writing is so good. Subtle, scary. A seemingly ordinary scenario but with a tear in it... and through that tear, all things extraordinary. I think (seeing it broadcast "live") would have broke me, in a way, some part of me. I certainly couldn't have slept alone after that. Maybe ever" Josh Malerman, author of Bird Box
"Still one of the scariest movies ever made" Chad Collins, Dread Central (2020)
"Landmark TV" What To Watch When
"By far the most effective TV show about the paranormal was (Ghostwatch) broadcast 23 years ago yesterday" Sunday Telegraph, 1 Nov, 2015
"Extraordinary... a thrilling ghost story MR James would be proud of. A supernatural TV landmark" SFX
"A work as ingenious as it is notorious" The Zone
"Ghostwatch has rightly become one of the defining moments of British horror" James Rose (Lost Souls of Horror and the Gothic, 2016)
"I loved it! One of the better examples ever of how to properly do a mockumentary" Oren Peli, director of Paranormal Activity
"For sheer fright levels this has to be the one" Simon Clark
"A legend in the history of spooky television" Cornerhouse, Manchester
"One of the scariest TV shows I've seen" Hunter Peters, Suite 101
"One of the most complained-about BBC programmes ever" Joe McNally, Fortean Times
"One of the great 'Do you remember' moments of British television" Creature Corner
"They should all get a BAFTA for it" Letter to Radio Times (21-27 Nov 1992)
"The BBC's legendary Halloween special" - BFI
"A hugely prescient and perceptive moment in television history" - David Sutton, Fortean Times
"This BBC drama is legendary, and rightly so... years ahead of its time" Ian Berriman (DVD review, SFX magazine)
"About as subversive as TV can get" Jerry Glover in Headpress 22
"A brilliant and complex bit of television and outstanding work of horror. It used all the devices of television to frighten, and frighten to make a point. And that point is as relevant, perhaps even more so today as it was in 1992" Samhain magazine
"A rare instance of inspired, creative and challenging TV production... I'll never forget Ghostwatch" ShortList.com
"It's not a huge stretch to say we are living in a post-Ghostwatch world, where the blurring of the lines between fact and fiction has accelerated. Only (...) now the people putting on the frighteners are our political lords and masters, who use scare tactics to justify corrupt wars and (...) curtailment of civil liberties..." Peter Tennant's blog, Black Static online
"Ghostwatch, in its own little way, was as much of an epochal TV event as the Kennedy Assassination" thecustardtv.com
"Ghostwatch is a fabulous piece of work - it is played so dangerously - a genius satire of the media, but there is mischief too and we are skillfully drawn into a world of uncertainty, the 'play' destabilising the very medium we are watching it in" Mytho Geography
"Genius" Mark Gattiss
"Superb" Scott Mathewson, The Stage
"One of the highlights of modern television" Stephen Susco (screenwriter, The Grudge)
"Charlie watched the 1992 spooktacular Ghostwatch at four in the morning, and, having initially laughed at Sarah Greene's performance, soon found himself getting genuinely frightened" Charlie Brooker (Dead Set, Black Mirror) in The Guardian
"A complacent British public shaken to its core by Stephen Volk's TV play" Phil Alderman, Noise to Signal
"The single most terrifying thing I have ever seen in my life... A bloody brilliant piece of television - so controversial it was never shown again; so scary that it's seared on the mind of most people who saw it; and so ahead of its time that it inspired both Derren Brown and the makers of The Blair Witch Project." Thomas Bagnall, Narc Magazine
"Nightmare fuel of high calibre" You Tube
"The BBC gives over a whole evening to an investigation into the supernatural... Four respected presenters and a camera crew attempt to discover the truth behind The most haunted house in Britain, expecting a light-hearted scare or two and probably the uncovering of a hoax. They think they are in control of the situation. They think they are safe. The viewers settle down and decide to watch 'for a laugh'. Ninety minutes later the BBC, and the country, was changed, and the consequences are still felt today." Nubient
"Even the mere mention of Ghostwatch can reduce its viewers to gibbering messes" Digital Spy
"Genuinely terrifying TV, preying on people's primal fears and disguising it as a 'live, as it happens' experience" Read Horror
"Superb" "Amazingly creepy and brilliant" Den of Geek
"Mockumentary genius" Top10Horror
"Ghostwatch hideously scarred the psyche of a generation in the very best way" BleedingCool.com
"Ghostwatch showed clearly where the real ghosts of our society had gone to live... Ghostwatch was, of course, also about television... The extraordinary reaction rather proved the central aim of the drama... It demonstrated the truth about modern television... A brilliant piece of TV drama." Adam Curtis
"Unexpectedly terrifying telly... a piece of Halloween gold" Andrew Graham Dixon, The Culture Show (2012)
"Still a formidable and entertaining piece of television" Fear magazine (2012)
"Ghostwatch set the standard for thousands of other future horror movies and TV shows, influencing a generation of scriptwriters, horror writers and god knows who else" Smoke & Mirrors Magazine
"Perhaps the most notably feature of Ghostwatch is its willingness to use television against itself... using the BBC to critique the BBC. Ghostwatch is thus one of the best and purest examples of TV horror... With its term of semi-suppression ending... it may finally be allowed to take its place among the most significant works of twentieth century horror in any medium" Murray Leeder, Carleton University (Horror Studies, Vol 4 No 2)
"Brilliant piece of TV history" Reece Shearsmith (League of Gentlemen, Inside No9)
"A brilliant way of telling a ghost story - groundbreaking" Steve Pemberton (League of Gentlemen, Inside No9)
"Amazingly creepy and brilliant" Den of Geek ("50 Genuinely Creepy Horror Movies")
"Peerless, terrifying, unsurpassed" FrightFest, 2018
"Confirmed (Stephen Volk) as a luminary in his beloved horror genre" John Gilbert, Phantasmagoria, 2018
"Ghostwatch is one of the greatest horror movies of all time" Simon Bassett, screenwriter, The Guest, You're Next, Blair Witch
"Still one of my favourite things ever. One Halloween I'll be brave enough for a rewatch. Maybe not this particular year, though" Robert Shearman, award-winning writer of Doctor Who
"Without Ghostwatch such films as Paranormal Activity may not pack such a terrifying punch - or even exist, let alone spawn a franchise" Mary Beth McAndrew, "High Tension, Cheap Scares: How Lesley Manning's Ghostwatch Shaped Found Footage Horror" in Grim Issue #6, Feb 2020
"This is now one of my all time favourite horror movies. The writing is so good. Subtle, scary. A seemingly ordinary scenario but with a tear in it... and through that tear, all things extraordinary. I think (seeing it broadcast "live") would have broke me, in a way, some part of me. I certainly couldn't have slept alone after that. Maybe ever" Josh Malerman, author of Bird Box
"Still one of the scariest movies ever made" Chad Collins, Dread Central (2020)
"Landmark TV" What To Watch When
"By far the most effective TV show about the paranormal was (Ghostwatch) broadcast 23 years ago yesterday" Sunday Telegraph, 1 Nov, 2015
"Extraordinary... a thrilling ghost story MR James would be proud of. A supernatural TV landmark" SFX
"A work as ingenious as it is notorious" The Zone
"Ghostwatch has rightly become one of the defining moments of British horror" James Rose (Lost Souls of Horror and the Gothic, 2016)
"I loved it! One of the better examples ever of how to properly do a mockumentary" Oren Peli, director of Paranormal Activity
"For sheer fright levels this has to be the one" Simon Clark
"A legend in the history of spooky television" Cornerhouse, Manchester
"One of the scariest TV shows I've seen" Hunter Peters, Suite 101
"One of the most complained-about BBC programmes ever" Joe McNally, Fortean Times
"One of the great 'Do you remember' moments of British television" Creature Corner
"They should all get a BAFTA for it" Letter to Radio Times (21-27 Nov 1992)
"The BBC's legendary Halloween special" - BFI
"A hugely prescient and perceptive moment in television history" - David Sutton, Fortean Times
"This BBC drama is legendary, and rightly so... years ahead of its time" Ian Berriman (DVD review, SFX magazine)
"About as subversive as TV can get" Jerry Glover in Headpress 22
"A brilliant and complex bit of television and outstanding work of horror. It used all the devices of television to frighten, and frighten to make a point. And that point is as relevant, perhaps even more so today as it was in 1992" Samhain magazine
"A rare instance of inspired, creative and challenging TV production... I'll never forget Ghostwatch" ShortList.com
"It's not a huge stretch to say we are living in a post-Ghostwatch world, where the blurring of the lines between fact and fiction has accelerated. Only (...) now the people putting on the frighteners are our political lords and masters, who use scare tactics to justify corrupt wars and (...) curtailment of civil liberties..." Peter Tennant's blog, Black Static online
"Ghostwatch, in its own little way, was as much of an epochal TV event as the Kennedy Assassination" thecustardtv.com
"Ghostwatch is a fabulous piece of work - it is played so dangerously - a genius satire of the media, but there is mischief too and we are skillfully drawn into a world of uncertainty, the 'play' destabilising the very medium we are watching it in" Mytho Geography
"Genius" Mark Gattiss
"Superb" Scott Mathewson, The Stage
"One of the highlights of modern television" Stephen Susco (screenwriter, The Grudge)
"Charlie watched the 1992 spooktacular Ghostwatch at four in the morning, and, having initially laughed at Sarah Greene's performance, soon found himself getting genuinely frightened" Charlie Brooker (Dead Set, Black Mirror) in The Guardian
"A complacent British public shaken to its core by Stephen Volk's TV play" Phil Alderman, Noise to Signal
"The single most terrifying thing I have ever seen in my life... A bloody brilliant piece of television - so controversial it was never shown again; so scary that it's seared on the mind of most people who saw it; and so ahead of its time that it inspired both Derren Brown and the makers of The Blair Witch Project." Thomas Bagnall, Narc Magazine
"Nightmare fuel of high calibre" You Tube
"The BBC gives over a whole evening to an investigation into the supernatural... Four respected presenters and a camera crew attempt to discover the truth behind The most haunted house in Britain, expecting a light-hearted scare or two and probably the uncovering of a hoax. They think they are in control of the situation. They think they are safe. The viewers settle down and decide to watch 'for a laugh'. Ninety minutes later the BBC, and the country, was changed, and the consequences are still felt today." Nubient
"Even the mere mention of Ghostwatch can reduce its viewers to gibbering messes" Digital Spy
"Genuinely terrifying TV, preying on people's primal fears and disguising it as a 'live, as it happens' experience" Read Horror
"Superb" "Amazingly creepy and brilliant" Den of Geek
"Mockumentary genius" Top10Horror
"Ghostwatch hideously scarred the psyche of a generation in the very best way" BleedingCool.com
"Ghostwatch showed clearly where the real ghosts of our society had gone to live... Ghostwatch was, of course, also about television... The extraordinary reaction rather proved the central aim of the drama... It demonstrated the truth about modern television... A brilliant piece of TV drama." Adam Curtis
"Unexpectedly terrifying telly... a piece of Halloween gold" Andrew Graham Dixon, The Culture Show (2012)
"Still a formidable and entertaining piece of television" Fear magazine (2012)
"Ghostwatch set the standard for thousands of other future horror movies and TV shows, influencing a generation of scriptwriters, horror writers and god knows who else" Smoke & Mirrors Magazine
"Perhaps the most notably feature of Ghostwatch is its willingness to use television against itself... using the BBC to critique the BBC. Ghostwatch is thus one of the best and purest examples of TV horror... With its term of semi-suppression ending... it may finally be allowed to take its place among the most significant works of twentieth century horror in any medium" Murray Leeder, Carleton University (Horror Studies, Vol 4 No 2)
"Brilliant piece of TV history" Reece Shearsmith (League of Gentlemen, Inside No9)
"A brilliant way of telling a ghost story - groundbreaking" Steve Pemberton (League of Gentlemen, Inside No9)
"Amazingly creepy and brilliant" Den of Geek ("50 Genuinely Creepy Horror Movies")
"Peerless, terrifying, unsurpassed" FrightFest, 2018
"Confirmed (Stephen Volk) as a luminary in his beloved horror genre" John Gilbert, Phantasmagoria, 2018
"Ghostwatch is one of the greatest horror movies of all time" Simon Bassett, screenwriter, The Guest, You're Next, Blair Witch
"Still one of my favourite things ever. One Halloween I'll be brave enough for a rewatch. Maybe not this particular year, though" Robert Shearman, award-winning writer of Doctor Who
Directed by Lesley Manning
Producer: Ruth Baumgarten
Executive Producer: Richard Broke
A BBC Drama Production for Screen One
Michael Parkinson...............Himself
Sarah Greene........................Herself
Mike Smith............................Himself
Craig Charles........................Himself
Dr Lin Pascoe.......................Gillian Bevan
Mrs Pamela Early.................Brid Brennan
Suzanne Early.......................Michelle Wesson
Kim Early...............................Cherise Wesson
Cameraman..........................Chris Miller
Sound Recordist...................Mike Aiton
Alan Demescu......................Mark Lewis
Dr Emilio Sylvestri................Colin Stinton
Arthur Lacey.........................Derek Smee
As yet, Ghostwatch has only ever been repeated on television outside of the UK, on stations such as Canadian digital channel SCREAM (for Halloween 2004) and the Belgian channel Canvas in 2008. In 2002, the British Film Insitute released a "10th Anniversary" edition on VHS and DVD.
Read the Wikipedia entry on "Ghostwatch" here
Producer: Ruth Baumgarten
Executive Producer: Richard Broke
A BBC Drama Production for Screen One
Michael Parkinson...............Himself
Sarah Greene........................Herself
Mike Smith............................Himself
Craig Charles........................Himself
Dr Lin Pascoe.......................Gillian Bevan
Mrs Pamela Early.................Brid Brennan
Suzanne Early.......................Michelle Wesson
Kim Early...............................Cherise Wesson
Cameraman..........................Chris Miller
Sound Recordist...................Mike Aiton
Alan Demescu......................Mark Lewis
Dr Emilio Sylvestri................Colin Stinton
Arthur Lacey.........................Derek Smee
As yet, Ghostwatch has only ever been repeated on television outside of the UK, on stations such as Canadian digital channel SCREAM (for Halloween 2004) and the Belgian channel Canvas in 2008. In 2002, the British Film Insitute released a "10th Anniversary" edition on VHS and DVD.
Read the Wikipedia entry on "Ghostwatch" here
Join the fan site: "Ghostwatch: Behind the Curtains" YouTube channel (includes "Biteback" extract, clips, and many viewer comments
Become a Follower of "Ghostwatch: BtC" at the GW BtC Blogspot
Watch the shameless spoof of Ghostwatch on NOEL'S HOUSE PARTY (BBC1: Season 7 ep 5 TX: 15.11.1997)
In the 31 Jan-6 Feb 2004 edition of Radio Times, "Ghostwatch" made an appearance as 3rd most spooky TV show ever, beaten only by "The X-Files" and "Stephen King's It"
Ghostwatch was also cited by the BMJ as being the first television programme to be responsible for post-traumatic stress disorder in children (4 Feb 1994).
New Scientist article entitled "Smart Kids Not Fooled By Fiction" - researcher specifically mentions Ghostwatch (New Scientist, 1995)
There is a section devoted to Ghostwatch in the book "Panic Attacks: Media Manipulation and Mass Delusion" by Robert E Batholomew & Hilary Evans (Sutton Publishing). The programme features in the chapter "Media-Made Monsters: Four Tall Tales and Why People Believed Them".
Ghostwatch also features as a case study in the book "Media Studies: Texts, Production & Context" by Dr Paul Long and Tim Wall (Longman, 2009) in the chapter "Media Texts and Meaning" (p120-121): "Case Study: Snuff Movies and the Boundaries of the Real".
On 29 October 2009 Ghostwatch featured on "Reece Shearsmith's Haunted House" on BBC Radio 4. Mark Gattiss said Ghostwatch was "genius", while Vic Reeves had never heard of it (though he said he had heard of Michael Parkinson!). Hear the clip via YouTube
Become a Follower of "Ghostwatch: BtC" at the GW BtC Blogspot
Watch the shameless spoof of Ghostwatch on NOEL'S HOUSE PARTY (BBC1: Season 7 ep 5 TX: 15.11.1997)
In the 31 Jan-6 Feb 2004 edition of Radio Times, "Ghostwatch" made an appearance as 3rd most spooky TV show ever, beaten only by "The X-Files" and "Stephen King's It"
Ghostwatch was also cited by the BMJ as being the first television programme to be responsible for post-traumatic stress disorder in children (4 Feb 1994).
New Scientist article entitled "Smart Kids Not Fooled By Fiction" - researcher specifically mentions Ghostwatch (New Scientist, 1995)
There is a section devoted to Ghostwatch in the book "Panic Attacks: Media Manipulation and Mass Delusion" by Robert E Batholomew & Hilary Evans (Sutton Publishing). The programme features in the chapter "Media-Made Monsters: Four Tall Tales and Why People Believed Them".
Ghostwatch also features as a case study in the book "Media Studies: Texts, Production & Context" by Dr Paul Long and Tim Wall (Longman, 2009) in the chapter "Media Texts and Meaning" (p120-121): "Case Study: Snuff Movies and the Boundaries of the Real".
On 29 October 2009 Ghostwatch featured on "Reece Shearsmith's Haunted House" on BBC Radio 4. Mark Gattiss said Ghostwatch was "genius", while Vic Reeves had never heard of it (though he said he had heard of Michael Parkinson!). Hear the clip via YouTube
Interesting new blog on web site MSSV; The Reality Artificers. Subtitled: "How the BBC (i.e. Ghostwatch), Orson Welles, ancient Egyptian scribes and alternate reality game designers all follow the same 3900 year old tradition."
Ghostwatch featured in an article on hoaxes in the media in The Guardian dated 14 March 2010, entitled: Bad News: Broadcast Hoaxes.
Ghostwatch was also discussed on the comedy quiz show The Bubble, 18 March 2010 on BBC2, after a discussion of the hoax Russian invasion of Georgia. Host David Mitchell, ignorant of the original broadcast, said: "If I'd seen Sarah Greene and a ghost called Pipes I'd have shat myself!"
On April 1st, 2010, it was announced that "Pipes" from Ghostwatch would appear on a future episode of The Simpsons alongside an appearance by Ghostwatch writer Stephen Volk. (The news turned out to be a rather devious hoax.)
And you can play "spot the ghost" at The Medium Is Not Enough TV Blog.
In October 2010 Ghostwatch featured in FANGORIA horror magazine issue #297 (Halloween Special):
Ghostwatch featured in an article on hoaxes in the media in The Guardian dated 14 March 2010, entitled: Bad News: Broadcast Hoaxes.
Ghostwatch was also discussed on the comedy quiz show The Bubble, 18 March 2010 on BBC2, after a discussion of the hoax Russian invasion of Georgia. Host David Mitchell, ignorant of the original broadcast, said: "If I'd seen Sarah Greene and a ghost called Pipes I'd have shat myself!"
On April 1st, 2010, it was announced that "Pipes" from Ghostwatch would appear on a future episode of The Simpsons alongside an appearance by Ghostwatch writer Stephen Volk. (The news turned out to be a rather devious hoax.)
And you can play "spot the ghost" at The Medium Is Not Enough TV Blog.
In October 2010 Ghostwatch featured in FANGORIA horror magazine issue #297 (Halloween Special):
The programme was cited in The One Show (BBC1) on 24/09/2010 as part of Kim Newman's "60 Seconds of Huge Hoaxes", naturally including Orson Welles' War of the Worlds broadcast, the BBC spaghetti harvest, and Nanook of the North.
October 2010: New reviews appeared on British Horror Television, Beyond Fiction and "100 Top Horror Films". Ghostwatch also featured in SFX magazine's feature on "The Classic British TV Ghost Story":
October 2010: New reviews appeared on British Horror Television, Beyond Fiction and "100 Top Horror Films". Ghostwatch also featured in SFX magazine's feature on "The Classic British TV Ghost Story":
In 2011, writer/broadcaster/satirist Charlie Brooker devoted a chunk of one of his programmes in the series How TV Ruined your Life to Ghostwatch and the furore it caused in 1992. "A cunning blurring of fact and fiction" he called it. (See YouTube clip above)
Some highly perceptive observations re: Ghostwatch on "The Medium and The Message" blog by Adam Curtis, outstanding documentary film-maker of the likes of The Power of Nightmares: it's called The Ghosts in the Living Room. Well worth watching in full the clip from 1963 of the much-imitated (at the time) Fyfe Robertson on the BBC Tonight programme with a proto-Derek Acora (unconvincing schtick, even then), plus a suburban haunting in Swindon circa 1973, and several clips of the Enfield poltergeist featuring the late Maurice Grosse. I particularly like Curtis's name check of The Innocents with regard to GW - and I've lifted a quote from this blog to join the others at the top of this page. Praise indeed. (December 22, 2011)
"A perfect pastiche..." to quote another piece on Ghostwatch in the context of "the persuasing power of the simulated live broadcast" which appears on Electric Sheep (January 2012) whilst another new, enthusiastic review appears on Fear Theatre.
A special, in-depth interview with Stephen Volk on the subject of Ghostwatch appeared in "Scope" magazine (March 2012), conducted by University of Nottingham's Dr Elizabeth Evans. It focuses on the "hoax" the audience feld played upon them, and the "trust" they felt implicit in the BBC brand.
On April 1st 2012, a New Range of Exclusive Ghostwatch Merchandise was announced on the Ghostwatch BtC web site ...including this astonishingly realistic, fully articulated figure of "Pipes":
Some highly perceptive observations re: Ghostwatch on "The Medium and The Message" blog by Adam Curtis, outstanding documentary film-maker of the likes of The Power of Nightmares: it's called The Ghosts in the Living Room. Well worth watching in full the clip from 1963 of the much-imitated (at the time) Fyfe Robertson on the BBC Tonight programme with a proto-Derek Acora (unconvincing schtick, even then), plus a suburban haunting in Swindon circa 1973, and several clips of the Enfield poltergeist featuring the late Maurice Grosse. I particularly like Curtis's name check of The Innocents with regard to GW - and I've lifted a quote from this blog to join the others at the top of this page. Praise indeed. (December 22, 2011)
"A perfect pastiche..." to quote another piece on Ghostwatch in the context of "the persuasing power of the simulated live broadcast" which appears on Electric Sheep (January 2012) whilst another new, enthusiastic review appears on Fear Theatre.
A special, in-depth interview with Stephen Volk on the subject of Ghostwatch appeared in "Scope" magazine (March 2012), conducted by University of Nottingham's Dr Elizabeth Evans. It focuses on the "hoax" the audience feld played upon them, and the "trust" they felt implicit in the BBC brand.
On April 1st 2012, a New Range of Exclusive Ghostwatch Merchandise was announced on the Ghostwatch BtC web site ...including this astonishingly realistic, fully articulated figure of "Pipes":
Directed by Richard Lawden for LawMan Productions. Ghostwatch: Behind the Curtains is a fascinating behind-the-scenes "making of" documentary with exclusive interviews with all the key cast and crew including Michael Parkinson, Sarah Greene, Mike Smith, Craig Charles, the director (LM), writer (SV), producer Ruth Baumgarten and exec producer (RB), as well as critics and broadcasters such as Andy (Ghost Stories) Nyman and Sight & Sound's Kim Newman - a fascinating insight into the programme and its aftermath. ...And a "must-have" for all Ghostwatch fans.
"The Spooky Movie That Caused Post Traumatic Stress Disorder" says this article (23 April 2012) on 109, with a link to the full, original article: "How Ghostwatch Haunted Psychiatry" on the Mindhacks web site by Tom Stafford and Matt Webb. Interesting stuff about GW changed the definition of a medical condition.
A fascinating memoir of seeing Ghostwatch on that first BBC1 transmission here on the Kindertrauma web site - entitled: "Traumaconfessions: Reader Alex on Pipes from Ghostwatch"
Check out this new write up on HeyYouGuys talking about the anniversary and forthcoming documentary. "Twenty years ago Ghostwatch affected me like no other programme before or since."
"The Spooky Movie That Caused Post Traumatic Stress Disorder" says this article (23 April 2012) on 109, with a link to the full, original article: "How Ghostwatch Haunted Psychiatry" on the Mindhacks web site by Tom Stafford and Matt Webb. Interesting stuff about GW changed the definition of a medical condition.
A fascinating memoir of seeing Ghostwatch on that first BBC1 transmission here on the Kindertrauma web site - entitled: "Traumaconfessions: Reader Alex on Pipes from Ghostwatch"
Check out this new write up on HeyYouGuys talking about the anniversary and forthcoming documentary. "Twenty years ago Ghostwatch affected me like no other programme before or since."
Blog on Ghostwatch on Digital Spy
Ghostwatch "still has the capacity to scare", according to Mr K's Geek Cornucopia
20th Anniversary for Ghostwatch parody spook show that sparked a new TV genre says Tom Steward, Lecturer in Television Studies at the University of Warwick.
Ghostwatch appears on chud.com as "movie of the day" and is reviewed on Horror In Pure Form, where it is called "a horror classic."
Psychologist Dr Ciaran O'Keefe gives an insightful profile of Ghostwatch and its impact in Looking Back: The Ghost in the Living Room in The Psychologist magazine (Vol 25 Part 11: Nov 2012)
Ghostwatch "still has the capacity to scare", according to Mr K's Geek Cornucopia
20th Anniversary for Ghostwatch parody spook show that sparked a new TV genre says Tom Steward, Lecturer in Television Studies at the University of Warwick.
Ghostwatch appears on chud.com as "movie of the day" and is reviewed on Horror In Pure Form, where it is called "a horror classic."
Psychologist Dr Ciaran O'Keefe gives an insightful profile of Ghostwatch and its impact in Looking Back: The Ghost in the Living Room in The Psychologist magazine (Vol 25 Part 11: Nov 2012)
Feature article including an exclusive interview with Stephen Volk and update feature on the GW:BTC documentary in SFX magazine's A-Z of Sci-Fi TV Special (Nov 2012)
"50 Genuinely Creepy Movies" on Den of Geek - which includes Ghostwatch (June 2012)
Flashback: Television Horror and BBC1's Ghostwatch (1992) by Rebecca Williams, media studies academic at the University of Glamorgan. (June 2013)
A Mysterious Universe blog on the subject of Ghostwatch, War of the Worlds, and Unreality Broadcasting, by Michael Rose.
Murray Leeder (Carleton University) has written an excellent, comprehensive and informative piece called "Ghostwatch and the Haunting of Media" in Horror Studies Volume 4 Number 2. You can purchase a PDF of the journal here. (Copyright Intellect Ltd.)
Interesting view from "across the pond": British Horror Cult Classic: Ghostwatch - well worth a read.
A fresh appraisal of Ghostwatch and The Stone Tape (now released as a Haunted Double Feature) in The Guardian, Thursday 24 October.
A nice remembrance of Ghostwatch from comedian Josh Widdicombe in The Guardian, 30 November: "I think it's one of the most astonishing televisual feats there's ever been".
Friday 6 December: very special "REUNION" SCREENING of Ghostwatch at the BFI South Bank, followed by a Q&A with Sir Michael Parkinson, producer Ruth Baumgarten, exec producer Richard Broke, director Lesley Manning, myself, and actors Craig Charles and Gillian Bevan. "Ghostwatch can sit proudly alongside such classics as Nigel Kneale's The Stone Tape." So says Simon McCallum on the BFI web site here in his article "Why I love... Ghostwatch"
Watch the edited BFI GHOSTWATCH REUNION post-screening panel discussion at the BFI here (If you can access)
"50 Genuinely Creepy Movies" on Den of Geek - which includes Ghostwatch (June 2012)
Flashback: Television Horror and BBC1's Ghostwatch (1992) by Rebecca Williams, media studies academic at the University of Glamorgan. (June 2013)
A Mysterious Universe blog on the subject of Ghostwatch, War of the Worlds, and Unreality Broadcasting, by Michael Rose.
Murray Leeder (Carleton University) has written an excellent, comprehensive and informative piece called "Ghostwatch and the Haunting of Media" in Horror Studies Volume 4 Number 2. You can purchase a PDF of the journal here. (Copyright Intellect Ltd.)
Interesting view from "across the pond": British Horror Cult Classic: Ghostwatch - well worth a read.
A fresh appraisal of Ghostwatch and The Stone Tape (now released as a Haunted Double Feature) in The Guardian, Thursday 24 October.
A nice remembrance of Ghostwatch from comedian Josh Widdicombe in The Guardian, 30 November: "I think it's one of the most astonishing televisual feats there's ever been".
Friday 6 December: very special "REUNION" SCREENING of Ghostwatch at the BFI South Bank, followed by a Q&A with Sir Michael Parkinson, producer Ruth Baumgarten, exec producer Richard Broke, director Lesley Manning, myself, and actors Craig Charles and Gillian Bevan. "Ghostwatch can sit proudly alongside such classics as Nigel Kneale's The Stone Tape." So says Simon McCallum on the BFI web site here in his article "Why I love... Ghostwatch"
Watch the edited BFI GHOSTWATCH REUNION post-screening panel discussion at the BFI here (If you can access)
"Pipes" has been voted No.2 in SFX magazine's poll of "Top 40 Ghosts" in its special Ghostbusters edition, out this month to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the classic film. They say Ghostwatch, the BBC's 1992 "fake documentary has achieved almost legendary status in the 22 years since its first (and only UK terrestrial) broadcast". It began "a cheerfully lighthearted bit of fluff" they continue, but "by the end of the show's 90 minutes viewers were left bewildered and some terrified by the apparently real ghostly attacks that had taken place". Of me, its writer, SFX says, "his genius was in giving the haunting an ambiguous personality". All in all "A brilliant Halloween horror story by ghost writer extraordinaire Stephen Volk". (September 2014)
Was Ghostwatch the scariest TV programme ever made? In the run-up to Halloween, the Daily Telegraph Online considered the evidence in a pertinent article by Ben Lawrence, while our friends at Den of Geek gave us "13 Scary TV episodes That Truly Terrified Us" - with Ghostwatch providing a suitable freak-out experience for the reporter.
Ghostwatch has a whole chapter devoted to it in the new book Found Footage Horror Films: Fear and the Appearance of Reality by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas (MacFarland & Co, 2014). In addition, a wonderful in-depth article on Ghostwatch by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas has appeared in the current edition of Supernatural Tales - Special Issue: Television and the Supernatural (Volume 2, Issue 1: Winter 2015). The piece is called "Ghostwatch: Supernatural and Technological Presence in Early 1990s Britain".
Was Ghostwatch the scariest TV programme ever made? In the run-up to Halloween, the Daily Telegraph Online considered the evidence in a pertinent article by Ben Lawrence, while our friends at Den of Geek gave us "13 Scary TV episodes That Truly Terrified Us" - with Ghostwatch providing a suitable freak-out experience for the reporter.
Ghostwatch has a whole chapter devoted to it in the new book Found Footage Horror Films: Fear and the Appearance of Reality by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas (MacFarland & Co, 2014). In addition, a wonderful in-depth article on Ghostwatch by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas has appeared in the current edition of Supernatural Tales - Special Issue: Television and the Supernatural (Volume 2, Issue 1: Winter 2015). The piece is called "Ghostwatch: Supernatural and Technological Presence in Early 1990s Britain".
Ghostwatch features in The 10 Most Notorious Paranormal Hoaxes in History at 109.com. (December 2014)
Grace Dent on Sky's drama The Enfield Poltergeist in The Independent: "This *based on true events* poltergeist tale would have been perfect for Halloween spooking, ever a few long dark nights, when we could send ourselves half-daft with netherworld terror. The BBC got it so right with Ghostwatch on Halloween in 1992..." (May 8, 2015)
Ghostwatch gets a mention here in 7 Found Footage Movies that Predate The Blair Witch Project over on Dread Central, which calls it "a brilliant bit of faux-realism" (July 2015)
A fascinating first-hand reminiscence of the impact of Ghostwatch on horror writer Ray Cluley in his blog Here Be Monsters: A Personal history of Fear (August 2015)
Horrorgami: the dark side of Paper Cut-Outs is an astonishing article about Marc Hagan-Guirey, who recreates horror film scenes in origami! He was scared to death by Ghostwatch (The Guardian, 28 October 2015) and this is the result:
Grace Dent on Sky's drama The Enfield Poltergeist in The Independent: "This *based on true events* poltergeist tale would have been perfect for Halloween spooking, ever a few long dark nights, when we could send ourselves half-daft with netherworld terror. The BBC got it so right with Ghostwatch on Halloween in 1992..." (May 8, 2015)
Ghostwatch gets a mention here in 7 Found Footage Movies that Predate The Blair Witch Project over on Dread Central, which calls it "a brilliant bit of faux-realism" (July 2015)
A fascinating first-hand reminiscence of the impact of Ghostwatch on horror writer Ray Cluley in his blog Here Be Monsters: A Personal history of Fear (August 2015)
Horrorgami: the dark side of Paper Cut-Outs is an astonishing article about Marc Hagan-Guirey, who recreates horror film scenes in origami! He was scared to death by Ghostwatch (The Guardian, 28 October 2015) and this is the result:
Toby Venables' name-check for Ghostwatch in his TLE "Top 5 Films for Halloween" (October, 2015)
Ghostwatch comes in at number 7 in Hammer Films' list of The Scariest TV Episode Ever! by David Girvan
Phantoms in the four-poster: will The Living and The Dead outspook TV's scariest ghosts? - Mark Lawson chimes in about the impact of Ghostwatch in (The Guardian, 28 June 2016)
Ghostwatch is given No.1 status in this list of "The 10 Most Terrifying TV Shows of All Time" by Michael Hogan (The Telegraph Culture, 5 July 2016)
Den of Geek: "Ghostwatch: remembering a TV Classic"
Vulturehound: "Darkness and nothing more: Ghostwatch (Retrospective)"
AV Club: "Read this: The Night the BBC'S Halloween Stunt Went Horribly Wrong"
That's Not Current: "31 Days of Terror: A Look Back at Ghostwatch (1992)"
Cynical Celluloid's Halloween Special on Ghostwatch (14 minutes analysis): "PDSD on BBC" says the blogger; "It stands as a classy piece of writing - it just worked" and that Ghostwatch "remains pretty damned creepy"
Sawbones: Ghostwatch - a medical-related blog, in which Dr Sydnee and Justin discuss "a movie that might have gone too far"
The BBC Halloween Hoax That Traumatized Viewers by Jake Rossen (Mental Floss, April 17, 2017)
'Menacing' BBC Horror Movie that was blamed for one viewer's suicide is set to be screened again for the first time in 25 years (The Sun, April 19, 2017) "A terrifying TV special that drew tens of thousands of complaints when it aired (...) is about to see the light of day once more... Ghostwatch's underground cult status has grown since it was banned and some fans hold special Ghostwatch screenings each Halloween."
Why "Ghostwatch", the BBC's Controversial Mockumentary, is a Genuine Horror Classic by Brendan Morrow, (Bloody Disgusting) "This masterly and revolutionary piece of horror storytelling that truly stands the test of time"
Cult Corner: Shudder is now Streaming "Ghostwatch," The Terrifying British Horror Mockumentary Blamed for a Viewer's Suicide (Cult Corner, May 3 2017) "May well be the one film in the history of horror to produce the most chilling real world effects"
Ghostwatch Continues to Manifest Fear Decades Later (Stacy Cox, Decay Mag, April 20 2017) "This simple yet complex concept scared thousands of viewers into widespread panic. This is film-making at its finest"
See this round up on Indiewire of Best British Horror Films of All Time - Ghostwatch comes above Hitchcock's Frenzy and Hammer's Dracula. By Michael Nordine and William Earl (May 15, 2017)
William Hughes on A.V. Club was asked "Which Film or TV do you wish you'd seen when it first came out?" and chose Ghostwatch.
Flickside.com rates Ghostwatch as no.2 in its list of the best found footage/mockumentary films of all time (Aug 22, 2017). Ghostwatch also gets a mention in Scary TV's What is the Scariest TV Programme of All Time?
In-depth article by Kate Mossman in The New Statesman on Ghostwatch, including extensive new interviews and analysis (Oct 19, 2017)
Tom Fordy in the Daily Telegraph online (Oct 27, 2017), and this by Louise Rhind-Tutt on inews - "The BBC mockumentary still haunting us after 25 years" (Oct 26, 2017).
Terrific piece is on boingboing - "Ghostwatch: the greatest Halloween hoax of all time" (24 Oct). And an anonymous blog here.
Ghostwatch comes in at number 7 in Hammer Films' list of The Scariest TV Episode Ever! by David Girvan
Phantoms in the four-poster: will The Living and The Dead outspook TV's scariest ghosts? - Mark Lawson chimes in about the impact of Ghostwatch in (The Guardian, 28 June 2016)
Ghostwatch is given No.1 status in this list of "The 10 Most Terrifying TV Shows of All Time" by Michael Hogan (The Telegraph Culture, 5 July 2016)
Den of Geek: "Ghostwatch: remembering a TV Classic"
Vulturehound: "Darkness and nothing more: Ghostwatch (Retrospective)"
AV Club: "Read this: The Night the BBC'S Halloween Stunt Went Horribly Wrong"
That's Not Current: "31 Days of Terror: A Look Back at Ghostwatch (1992)"
Cynical Celluloid's Halloween Special on Ghostwatch (14 minutes analysis): "PDSD on BBC" says the blogger; "It stands as a classy piece of writing - it just worked" and that Ghostwatch "remains pretty damned creepy"
Sawbones: Ghostwatch - a medical-related blog, in which Dr Sydnee and Justin discuss "a movie that might have gone too far"
The BBC Halloween Hoax That Traumatized Viewers by Jake Rossen (Mental Floss, April 17, 2017)
'Menacing' BBC Horror Movie that was blamed for one viewer's suicide is set to be screened again for the first time in 25 years (The Sun, April 19, 2017) "A terrifying TV special that drew tens of thousands of complaints when it aired (...) is about to see the light of day once more... Ghostwatch's underground cult status has grown since it was banned and some fans hold special Ghostwatch screenings each Halloween."
Why "Ghostwatch", the BBC's Controversial Mockumentary, is a Genuine Horror Classic by Brendan Morrow, (Bloody Disgusting) "This masterly and revolutionary piece of horror storytelling that truly stands the test of time"
Cult Corner: Shudder is now Streaming "Ghostwatch," The Terrifying British Horror Mockumentary Blamed for a Viewer's Suicide (Cult Corner, May 3 2017) "May well be the one film in the history of horror to produce the most chilling real world effects"
Ghostwatch Continues to Manifest Fear Decades Later (Stacy Cox, Decay Mag, April 20 2017) "This simple yet complex concept scared thousands of viewers into widespread panic. This is film-making at its finest"
See this round up on Indiewire of Best British Horror Films of All Time - Ghostwatch comes above Hitchcock's Frenzy and Hammer's Dracula. By Michael Nordine and William Earl (May 15, 2017)
William Hughes on A.V. Club was asked "Which Film or TV do you wish you'd seen when it first came out?" and chose Ghostwatch.
Flickside.com rates Ghostwatch as no.2 in its list of the best found footage/mockumentary films of all time (Aug 22, 2017). Ghostwatch also gets a mention in Scary TV's What is the Scariest TV Programme of All Time?
In-depth article by Kate Mossman in The New Statesman on Ghostwatch, including extensive new interviews and analysis (Oct 19, 2017)
Tom Fordy in the Daily Telegraph online (Oct 27, 2017), and this by Louise Rhind-Tutt on inews - "The BBC mockumentary still haunting us after 25 years" (Oct 26, 2017).
Terrific piece is on boingboing - "Ghostwatch: the greatest Halloween hoax of all time" (24 Oct). And an anonymous blog here.
Rebecca Woods writing for the BBC news website penned Ghostwatch: The BBC Spoof That Duped A Nation. Remarkably, she managed to get comments from the family of Martin Denham. This article is an astonishing turnaround for the BBC who clamped down on Ghostwatch after it saired, effectively burying it for ten years.
Roisin O'Connor ran a piece in The Independent Ghostwatch: BBC Halloween spoof that "gave children PTSD" turns 25 (30 Oct 2017), while there was a further piece in The Independent by David Barnett called Ghostwatch: The 1992 paranormal investigation that just had to be true, because it was on the BBC (31 Oct 2017)
The Irish News ran with Cult Movie: Ghostwatch scared the hell out of us before TV spoofs were commonplace by Ralph McLean (27 Oct 2017), while www.heyuguys.com reported "25 Years of Ghostwatch and Why You'll Never Experience Anything Like It Again" in which Jon Lyus says: "It marked a turning point for the horror genre" and "Its cult status grown each year, as does its prestige" (31 Oct 2017)
Spoof Doctor Who covers (2017):
Roisin O'Connor ran a piece in The Independent Ghostwatch: BBC Halloween spoof that "gave children PTSD" turns 25 (30 Oct 2017), while there was a further piece in The Independent by David Barnett called Ghostwatch: The 1992 paranormal investigation that just had to be true, because it was on the BBC (31 Oct 2017)
The Irish News ran with Cult Movie: Ghostwatch scared the hell out of us before TV spoofs were commonplace by Ralph McLean (27 Oct 2017), while www.heyuguys.com reported "25 Years of Ghostwatch and Why You'll Never Experience Anything Like It Again" in which Jon Lyus says: "It marked a turning point for the horror genre" and "Its cult status grown each year, as does its prestige" (31 Oct 2017)
Spoof Doctor Who covers (2017):
Ghostwatch makes it into The Occult Museum's list of 10 Best Haunted House Horror Movies Ever (Oct 2017)
Check out the The 8th Dimension Podcast on Ghostwatch (October 2017) and join the forum BBC's Ghostwatch Was The Scariest Thing...
Listen to the Evolution of Horror Podcast GHOSTS 11: Ghostwatch - Ghostwatch was voted in at #3 in the Top Ghost Stories of All Time hall of fame.
Film director Aislinn Clarke selecting Ghostwatch as her favourite Halloween viewing on Daily Grindhouse (28 Oct 2018). (Russell T Davies is said to watch it every Halloween, too.)
Check out the The 8th Dimension Podcast on Ghostwatch (October 2017) and join the forum BBC's Ghostwatch Was The Scariest Thing...
Listen to the Evolution of Horror Podcast GHOSTS 11: Ghostwatch - Ghostwatch was voted in at #3 in the Top Ghost Stories of All Time hall of fame.
Film director Aislinn Clarke selecting Ghostwatch as her favourite Halloween viewing on Daily Grindhouse (28 Oct 2018). (Russell T Davies is said to watch it every Halloween, too.)
The glorious pair Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton did a fond homage (or remake!) in their Inside Number 9 "live" Halloween Special (28 Oct 2018). Reece said in a personal message to Stephen Volk that it was a "love letter" to Ghostwatch. It seems The Guardian got the references, too. Also see this review in The Times by Hugo Rifkind remarking on the link between Number 9's live special and Ghostwatch.
Stephen Volk talks about Ghostwatch to Chris Stachiw of Kultureshocked (31 Oct 2018)
Chapter in "TV Geek" ed Simon Brew (Octopus Books, 2018)
Stephen Volk talks about Ghostwatch to Chris Stachiw of Kultureshocked (31 Oct 2018)
Chapter in "TV Geek" ed Simon Brew (Octopus Books, 2018)
Six Times the Audience were Fooled (Radio 4, BBC) "By the end, a frazzled audience was unsure if that nice Sarah Greene actually had just been captured by a ghost. It caused such controversy that it was not shown for 10 years after its initial broadcast, but it's now become something of a cult classic." (Jan 2019)
As seen on The Chase (2019)...
As seen on The Chase (2019)...
Orin Grey medidates upon the subject of Ghostwatch: An Under-Appreciated Horror Movie Gem on Graveyard Shift (June 2019)
Harry Hill's Alien Fun Capsule (ITV) - with a segment on Ghostwatch to celebrate guest Sarah Greene (TX: 13 July 2019)
"Ghostwatch: The Birth of Paranormal TV" by MJ Steel Collins on The Spooky Isles (19 June 2019)
"Ghostwatch: Infamous BBC Horror Film Still Scares After 25 Years" by Mitchell Corner on Grizzly Bomb (3 October 2019)
Harry Hill's Alien Fun Capsule (ITV) - with a segment on Ghostwatch to celebrate guest Sarah Greene (TX: 13 July 2019)
"Ghostwatch: The Birth of Paranormal TV" by MJ Steel Collins on The Spooky Isles (19 June 2019)
"Ghostwatch: Infamous BBC Horror Film Still Scares After 25 Years" by Mitchell Corner on Grizzly Bomb (3 October 2019)
Ghostwatch: The Day England Was Haunted a podcast on Weird World (14 June 2019)
10 Scariest Haunted House Movies Ranked - good to see Ghostwatch in at #1. Thank you, ScreenRant! (12 Oct 2019)
Ghostwatch - Movie Review (YouTube) (22 Oct 2019)
Jersey Evening Post (Oct 2019):
10 Scariest Haunted House Movies Ranked - good to see Ghostwatch in at #1. Thank you, ScreenRant! (12 Oct 2019)
Ghostwatch - Movie Review (YouTube) (22 Oct 2019)
Jersey Evening Post (Oct 2019):
2019 Halloween Special: Podcast Interview with Stephen Volk at Following The Nerd and another at The Spooktater Podcasts about all things scary and paranormal. Especially Ghostwatch. (31 Oct 2019)
Blog by Ghostwatch fan Lesley Gabriel (presently doing a PhD) is called Ghostwatch: Proper Horror, the Radio Times, and the BBC Star System of the 1990s - She says: "For me the power of Ghostwatch has definitely not diminished over the years. Even hearing the word 'pipes' on TV or in everyday conversation in subsequent years has took me back to a series of uncomfortable images or sounds from the Ghostwatch show" (22 Oct 2019)
It's also fascinating to peek in at Ghostwatch on VHISTORY part of the Vhistory Project. "A horror classic... Forget the Blair Witch. Pipes is really scary."
Blog by Ghostwatch fan Lesley Gabriel (presently doing a PhD) is called Ghostwatch: Proper Horror, the Radio Times, and the BBC Star System of the 1990s - She says: "For me the power of Ghostwatch has definitely not diminished over the years. Even hearing the word 'pipes' on TV or in everyday conversation in subsequent years has took me back to a series of uncomfortable images or sounds from the Ghostwatch show" (22 Oct 2019)
It's also fascinating to peek in at Ghostwatch on VHISTORY part of the Vhistory Project. "A horror classic... Forget the Blair Witch. Pipes is really scary."
Poltergeist Girls, Part 4: The Enfield Variations by Doris V. Sutherland includes references to Ghostwatch in its "fact and Fakery" section. An interesting comparison of GW's BBC drama fiction with the "facts" of the Enfield case. (31 Oct 2019)
Interesting, if controversial, blog by Tychy about the connections between Ghostwatch and subsequent ghost stories on BBCTV - "The phenomenon of tremulous 'snowflake' students is conceivably just the psychological damage done from being exposed to Ghostwatch... Thereafter the BBC's decisions was firm. Sure, it could continue to broadcast ghost stories... but they couldn't be frightening, Because packed within the muscle memory of the BBC was now an aversion to horror that ran all the way back to its Ghostwatch scar tissue" (26 Dec 2019)
Check out this excellent rendering of characters from Ghostwatch in cartoon form (2020):
Interesting, if controversial, blog by Tychy about the connections between Ghostwatch and subsequent ghost stories on BBCTV - "The phenomenon of tremulous 'snowflake' students is conceivably just the psychological damage done from being exposed to Ghostwatch... Thereafter the BBC's decisions was firm. Sure, it could continue to broadcast ghost stories... but they couldn't be frightening, Because packed within the muscle memory of the BBC was now an aversion to horror that ran all the way back to its Ghostwatch scar tissue" (26 Dec 2019)
Check out this excellent rendering of characters from Ghostwatch in cartoon form (2020):
New podcast on Ghostwatch with The Journey of the Writer (Podcast 17), 45 minute interview with Stephen Volk. (Feb 15, 2020)
A new interview with Stephen Volk about Ghostwatch on Janine's Ghost Stories (March 5, 2020)
Check out this piece by Joseph Pine ("I was an easily spooked child") called Cultural Moments: Ghostwatch 1992 - Part 1 (April 23, 2020): Also the follow-up piece: "This probably is also why Pipes is so horrible as a spectre, he represents that very British trait of repression and otherness"- in Cultural Moments: Ghostwatch - The Aftermath by the same author (May 4, 2020)
And more fan artwork - this time of Pipes - very creepy (Feb 2020):
A new interview with Stephen Volk about Ghostwatch on Janine's Ghost Stories (March 5, 2020)
Check out this piece by Joseph Pine ("I was an easily spooked child") called Cultural Moments: Ghostwatch 1992 - Part 1 (April 23, 2020): Also the follow-up piece: "This probably is also why Pipes is so horrible as a spectre, he represents that very British trait of repression and otherness"- in Cultural Moments: Ghostwatch - The Aftermath by the same author (May 4, 2020)
And more fan artwork - this time of Pipes - very creepy (Feb 2020):
A new interview with Stephen Volk (Ghostwatch) on The Hidden Station podcast (July 2020)
Courtesy of Janine's Ghost Stories, Jed Shepherd (writer), Rob Savage (director) and Stephen Volk discuss the new Zoom-based "found footage" film Host, and how Ghostwatch was a prime influence on the film-makers (August 2020). The viral success of the new movie lit the fuse of a die hard Ghostwatch fans, notably Adi Tentimedh, who wasted no time in penning Ghostwatch: The BBC 1992 TV Play That Terrified a Nation on bleedingcool.com, and the review on theshiznit.co.uk which declares unequivocally: "Savage and co. have created what will be recognised as one of the defining horrors of our times, as The Blair Witch Project and Ghostwatch have done before it."
Rob Savage, director of Host, says: "I put on Ghostwatch last night for the zillionth time and it scared the hell out of me all over again. Conception, staging, execution - all deft and brilliant. Incomparable scares and set pieces. Totally ahead of its time and probably the best 'found footage' movie ever made."
The Independent features 8 of the most complained about TV moments of all time, and Ghostwatch is on the list (September 20th 2020)
A terrific new appraisal by Chad Collins on Dread Central called Ghostwatch: Still One of the Scariest Moviest Ever Made -
Chad says: "There is a pretty resonant message congenital to Ghostwatch’s narrative– the more we will evil to be true, the truer it becomes... Collectively, the thrilling subtext and sublime scares result in Ghostwatch still feeling so terrifyingly fresh even 28 years later. It’s a dynamite movie, one of considerable historic value, and a presage to last decade’s found-footage craze."
Director Lesley Manning and actor Gillian Bevan reminisce about their roles in How we made: BBC Mockumentary Ghostwatch in The Guardian (26 Oct 2020)
"This totally deserted studio..." Ghostwatch: A Roundtable Retrospective. Part of the Weekday Night Bites series from the BAFTSS Horror Studies Special Interest Group, this panel explored its controversial reception, subsequent attempts to recreate its distinctive style, and its lasting cultural impact. Panellists: Dr. Stacey Abbott (University of Roehampton), Dr. Kate Egan (Northumbria University), Dr. Derek Johnston (Queen's University Belfast) and Dr. Shellie McMurdo (University of Hertfordshire/University of Roehampton). Chair: Dr. Stella Gaynor (University of Salford). (28 Oct 2020)
A recollection by Sean Murphy in the Daily Record: Remembering Ghostwatch: the BBC TV show that terrified a generation on Halloween (Oct 30, 2020) There's also this new commentary by the guys at Track 14. And Steve O'Brien's flashback to "1992's soul chilling BBC classic" that traumatised the nation over at Yahoo Movies UK (27 Oct 2020)
On the Horrified Magazine website: A Nationwide Seance: The Unremitting Terror of Ghostwatch by Graham Williamson. "Ghostwatch is not the simple, cynical prank its tabloid detractors branded it as, it's a beautifully constructed, intelligent, well-paced and terrifying ghost story... This century's avalanche of found-footage horror hasn't made it any less unique... Ghostwatch's true power comes from being transmitted on the medium it undermines. It is, simply, too powerful a virus to be allowed (by the BBC) to re-infect television" (Oct 30, 2020)
"Arguably with no other shows like this at the time, the backlash to Ghostwatch was understandable, but looking back on it nearly 30 years later, it’s time to start recognising it for what it actually was: a piece of genius. The subtle ways it engaged the audience in order to blur fiction and reality were truly brilliant and paved the way for future horror classics such as The Blair Witch Project, and so I think it’s fair to say that Stephen Volk’s concept was years ahead of its time – if it were aired today, I’m certain it would have been loved and celebrated instead of shunned. Besides, given the rise in fake news and the internet’s general unreliability, perhaps it’s a good idea we start to question the truth behind the media we consume a little more often..." Robyn Hunter, theboar.org (Oct 31, 2020)
Ghostwatch mentioned in the October 2020 "Horror Special" of Sight & Sound:
Courtesy of Janine's Ghost Stories, Jed Shepherd (writer), Rob Savage (director) and Stephen Volk discuss the new Zoom-based "found footage" film Host, and how Ghostwatch was a prime influence on the film-makers (August 2020). The viral success of the new movie lit the fuse of a die hard Ghostwatch fans, notably Adi Tentimedh, who wasted no time in penning Ghostwatch: The BBC 1992 TV Play That Terrified a Nation on bleedingcool.com, and the review on theshiznit.co.uk which declares unequivocally: "Savage and co. have created what will be recognised as one of the defining horrors of our times, as The Blair Witch Project and Ghostwatch have done before it."
Rob Savage, director of Host, says: "I put on Ghostwatch last night for the zillionth time and it scared the hell out of me all over again. Conception, staging, execution - all deft and brilliant. Incomparable scares and set pieces. Totally ahead of its time and probably the best 'found footage' movie ever made."
The Independent features 8 of the most complained about TV moments of all time, and Ghostwatch is on the list (September 20th 2020)
A terrific new appraisal by Chad Collins on Dread Central called Ghostwatch: Still One of the Scariest Moviest Ever Made -
Chad says: "There is a pretty resonant message congenital to Ghostwatch’s narrative– the more we will evil to be true, the truer it becomes... Collectively, the thrilling subtext and sublime scares result in Ghostwatch still feeling so terrifyingly fresh even 28 years later. It’s a dynamite movie, one of considerable historic value, and a presage to last decade’s found-footage craze."
Director Lesley Manning and actor Gillian Bevan reminisce about their roles in How we made: BBC Mockumentary Ghostwatch in The Guardian (26 Oct 2020)
"This totally deserted studio..." Ghostwatch: A Roundtable Retrospective. Part of the Weekday Night Bites series from the BAFTSS Horror Studies Special Interest Group, this panel explored its controversial reception, subsequent attempts to recreate its distinctive style, and its lasting cultural impact. Panellists: Dr. Stacey Abbott (University of Roehampton), Dr. Kate Egan (Northumbria University), Dr. Derek Johnston (Queen's University Belfast) and Dr. Shellie McMurdo (University of Hertfordshire/University of Roehampton). Chair: Dr. Stella Gaynor (University of Salford). (28 Oct 2020)
A recollection by Sean Murphy in the Daily Record: Remembering Ghostwatch: the BBC TV show that terrified a generation on Halloween (Oct 30, 2020) There's also this new commentary by the guys at Track 14. And Steve O'Brien's flashback to "1992's soul chilling BBC classic" that traumatised the nation over at Yahoo Movies UK (27 Oct 2020)
On the Horrified Magazine website: A Nationwide Seance: The Unremitting Terror of Ghostwatch by Graham Williamson. "Ghostwatch is not the simple, cynical prank its tabloid detractors branded it as, it's a beautifully constructed, intelligent, well-paced and terrifying ghost story... This century's avalanche of found-footage horror hasn't made it any less unique... Ghostwatch's true power comes from being transmitted on the medium it undermines. It is, simply, too powerful a virus to be allowed (by the BBC) to re-infect television" (Oct 30, 2020)
"Arguably with no other shows like this at the time, the backlash to Ghostwatch was understandable, but looking back on it nearly 30 years later, it’s time to start recognising it for what it actually was: a piece of genius. The subtle ways it engaged the audience in order to blur fiction and reality were truly brilliant and paved the way for future horror classics such as The Blair Witch Project, and so I think it’s fair to say that Stephen Volk’s concept was years ahead of its time – if it were aired today, I’m certain it would have been loved and celebrated instead of shunned. Besides, given the rise in fake news and the internet’s general unreliability, perhaps it’s a good idea we start to question the truth behind the media we consume a little more often..." Robyn Hunter, theboar.org (Oct 31, 2020)
Ghostwatch mentioned in the October 2020 "Horror Special" of Sight & Sound:
October 31, 2020: In celebration of the 10th Anniversary for the "National Séance" Tweet-Cast, "Behind the Curtains" co-producer, Rich Lawden hosts a special live event featuring writer Stephen Volk, director Lesley Manning, actors Mike Aiton, Gillian Bevan, and Sarah Greene, and set designer, Richard Drew, in which they discuss their experiences both making and reflecting upon the BBC Screen One special drama, Ghostwatch:
A delightful audio reminiscence on Box of Delights.com by the actor Tony Way at the terror induced by his viewing of Ghostwatch as a slightly tipsy teenager (22 mins). (Dec 2, 2020)
Last Leg Presenters terrified as studio lights 'explode' after seance segment in supernatural spectacular said METRO of the episode of the Channel 4 comedy programme starring Adam Hills, Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker in which the cast discussed the impact of watching Ghostwatch then and now (TX: Jan 29, 2021) with alarmingly spooky results. See the opening and closing segments here.
See the same homage to Ghostwatch covered here by Higgypop. (Jan 30, 2021)
Read a new analysis of Ghostwatch on What Sleeps Beneath by Laura Kammerer (May 16, 2021) containing a link to High Tension, Cheap Scares: How Lesley Manning's Ghostwatch Shaped Found-Footage Horror by Mary Beth McAndrews
Ghostwatch pops in at #7 in this roundup of 10 Best Haunted House Movies by Mark Sammut at gamerant: "Realistically shot, inventive, and terrifying when the horror really gets going, Ghostwatch is a work of art." (Oct 2, 2021)
Ghostwatch: The Scariest Hoax in TV History by Paul Le on Bloody Disgusting (Oct 29, 2021) "Listing off the achievements both good and bad of a telefilm mired in controversy is easy. The harder task is looking beyond the scandal and hype and deciding if this holds up as a legitimate and worthwhile horror movie after all these years. To put it simply — yes, it absolutely does. The instant things go south, Ghostwatch earns its status as one of the most effective and unnerving pseudo-documentaries to date."
And now, decades later, the article on Totum Paranormal TV show was Banned... tells us clips from the show are doing the rounds on TikTok, reminding us all of just how horrifying it was. (February 2022)
Below: artwork by Paul Draper
See the same homage to Ghostwatch covered here by Higgypop. (Jan 30, 2021)
Read a new analysis of Ghostwatch on What Sleeps Beneath by Laura Kammerer (May 16, 2021) containing a link to High Tension, Cheap Scares: How Lesley Manning's Ghostwatch Shaped Found-Footage Horror by Mary Beth McAndrews
Ghostwatch pops in at #7 in this roundup of 10 Best Haunted House Movies by Mark Sammut at gamerant: "Realistically shot, inventive, and terrifying when the horror really gets going, Ghostwatch is a work of art." (Oct 2, 2021)
Ghostwatch: The Scariest Hoax in TV History by Paul Le on Bloody Disgusting (Oct 29, 2021) "Listing off the achievements both good and bad of a telefilm mired in controversy is easy. The harder task is looking beyond the scandal and hype and deciding if this holds up as a legitimate and worthwhile horror movie after all these years. To put it simply — yes, it absolutely does. The instant things go south, Ghostwatch earns its status as one of the most effective and unnerving pseudo-documentaries to date."
And now, decades later, the article on Totum Paranormal TV show was Banned... tells us clips from the show are doing the rounds on TikTok, reminding us all of just how horrifying it was. (February 2022)
Below: artwork by Paul Draper
Above image by James Miller @james_miller
Below - first episode of Screenshot (BBC Radio 4: April 1st, 2022). Hear Mark Gatiss discussing Ghostwatch here
Below - first episode of Screenshot (BBC Radio 4: April 1st, 2022). Hear Mark Gatiss discussing Ghostwatch here
Ghostwatch chosen by BFI/BBC as one of 100 BBC TV "gamechangers" - programmes that changed the face of television in the last 100 years. In the chronological list, Ghostwatch came in at 75. (April 28, 2022)
75. Ghostwatch (1992)
This controversial ‘live’ haunting reinvented the language of TV drama, terrifying and inspiring a generation of viewers, writers and filmmakers.
How it changed TV:
Trailed in the run-up to Halloween night 1992 as a live broadcast from an ordinary north London house – haunted, it turns out, by a malevolent spirit nicknamed ‘Pipes’ – Ghostwatch was in fact a scripted drama by Stephen Volk. Fronted by familiar personalities playing themselves (Michael Parkinson, Sarah Greene, Mike Smith and Craig Charles) and filmed some months before for the Screen One slot, it was inspired in part by the real-life Enfield Poltergeist case of the late 1970s. Many of its 11 million viewers failed to clock the cast list printed in the Radio Times or Volk’s on-screen writing credit; many were terrified long after realising it was an elaborate fiction. Ghostwatch lulls the viewer into a false sense of security by drawing on the mundane tropes of live TV, director Lesley Manning dispensing with Screen One’s usual 16mm film format by shooting on videotape and using the latest technology, including infra red cameras.
Complaints flooded in, and sections of the press whipped itself into such a frenzy at the BBC’s ‘deception’ that comparisons were drawn with Orson Welles’ infamous 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast. As a result, the programme has yet to receive a repeat broadcast, and in the decade between its original transmission and the BFI’s DVD release in 2002 a veritable Ghostwatch cult sprang up, its influence extending as far as horror cinema’s ‘found footage’ subgenre. Volk’s “massive séance” is a perfect metaphor for the shared experience of television at its most powerful.
Simon McCallum
75. Ghostwatch (1992)
This controversial ‘live’ haunting reinvented the language of TV drama, terrifying and inspiring a generation of viewers, writers and filmmakers.
How it changed TV:
Trailed in the run-up to Halloween night 1992 as a live broadcast from an ordinary north London house – haunted, it turns out, by a malevolent spirit nicknamed ‘Pipes’ – Ghostwatch was in fact a scripted drama by Stephen Volk. Fronted by familiar personalities playing themselves (Michael Parkinson, Sarah Greene, Mike Smith and Craig Charles) and filmed some months before for the Screen One slot, it was inspired in part by the real-life Enfield Poltergeist case of the late 1970s. Many of its 11 million viewers failed to clock the cast list printed in the Radio Times or Volk’s on-screen writing credit; many were terrified long after realising it was an elaborate fiction. Ghostwatch lulls the viewer into a false sense of security by drawing on the mundane tropes of live TV, director Lesley Manning dispensing with Screen One’s usual 16mm film format by shooting on videotape and using the latest technology, including infra red cameras.
Complaints flooded in, and sections of the press whipped itself into such a frenzy at the BBC’s ‘deception’ that comparisons were drawn with Orson Welles’ infamous 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast. As a result, the programme has yet to receive a repeat broadcast, and in the decade between its original transmission and the BFI’s DVD release in 2002 a veritable Ghostwatch cult sprang up, its influence extending as far as horror cinema’s ‘found footage’ subgenre. Volk’s “massive séance” is a perfect metaphor for the shared experience of television at its most powerful.
Simon McCallum
- Ghostwatch is available to view free in the BFI Southbank Mediatheque alongside feature-length documentary Ghostwatch: Behind the Curtains (2012)
- Ghostwatch was re-released on DVD in 2019
Ghostwatch comes in at #1 in Top 10 Terrifying Things to Air on British TV, by wmojo.com (see at 12.45 below):
