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Ghostwatch
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Premise: Shown on BBC1 on Halloween in 1992, Ghostwatch is the stuff of legend – presented as “live” television the 90-minute special purported to show BBC reporters performing an investigation into a house in Northolt, London where a poltergeist – Pipes – was suspected of terrorising a family. It included interviews with neighbours, a background “investigation” of the history of the house and reporters on the scene (including Red Dwarf ‘s Craig Charles) as well as a team back in the studio dealing with viewers calling in on a special phone number with any spooky goings on in their area.
Best in-joke: Not an in-joke, but the phone number viewers could call was 081 811 8181, known to a generation of kids as the standard Saturday morning Going Live TV show number. Anyone who called heard a message reassuring them the show was fictional – although the Beeb was besieged with calls which meant thousands of people got an engaged tone which just added to the terror.
Best line:
Michael Parkinson: “We’ve got some lights in the studio… I don’t know… There’s cameras but I don’t know which one’s working, I mean there are no cameramen! It’s difficult to know if anybody’s still… still with us, but it they are this is the scene in this studio… This totally deserted studio. Autocue’s still working! Round and round the garden… like a teddy bear?! Fee… fie… fo… fum.”
Verdict: Utterly terrifying, utterly brilliant, and showing kids’ TV favourite Sarah Greene “killed” by the ghost before it escaped into the BBC transmitter network, possessing Michael Parkinson and then manifesting poltergeist activity throughout the country, this is arguably the most effective mockumentary seen in British telly and, perhaps because of the controversy (which included children allegedly suffering from post traumatic stress) has never been shown again, although it’s available on DVD. Great stuff.
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