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31st October 1992. Something strange happened. A simple television programme shook the nation and showed the power of good programme making, unfortunately, some people thought it was too good. That programme was Ghostwatch and no one would forget the impact it had on those that watched it.
The programme started with this announcement:
“Now on BBC1, Screen One presents an unusual and sometimes disturbing film marking Halloween. Over the centuries there have been countless reports of ghosts and ghouls, but the line between fact and fiction has always been unclear. Using the modern idiom of the outside broadcast, Michael Parkinson, Sarah Greene, Mike Smith and Craig Charles star in.... Ghostwatch.” (taken from http://www.redimp. freeserve.co.uk/ghostwatch/)
So it was with some surprise that many people later claimed to think this was all happening for real, perhaps they were unlucky enough to miss the start, or perhaps they just didn’t pay attention. Either way, it was easy to get caught up in the realistic environment of the outside broadcast and forget you were watching a drama, even if you did know what it really was.
So, what was this original ghostly tale all about? Writer Stephen Volk has described it as a ‘modern ghost story’ written in a new format that would be more accessible to the current generation of TV viewers. He had little idea how successful it would actually turn out to be, or how much affect it would have on the viewers. By the time the credits rolled, many people were already phoning in protest or to congratulate the BBC for such a daring feature. But it soon emerged that one person, a teenage boy with mental problems, had hung himself for fear that the ghost would get him and thus the film was locked in the BBC archive vaults, allegedly never to see the light of day again. This is a pity, seeing as the programme will be arriving at its 10th anniversary next year, perhaps the BBC may have a change of heart by then and release it again.
Similarities can be drawn between this programme and the War of the Worlds drama aired in the 50’s over American radio. The format that time was a series of news broadcasts and had unwary Americans running out of their houses to look at the skies, convinced they were under attack from the Martians. This time around, the warnings were given out before the show and Parkinson kept warning parents that children should not be watching, yet complaints came flooding in that many children were scared, so perhaps it was actually the parents that were scared of the programme? Certainly it challenged everyone’s preconceptions of what a documentary style could do to a narrative, but it also played on viewer’s fears and the fact that actors such as Parkinson (a straight faced chat show host), Sarah Greene (a former childrens TV presenter) and Mike Smith (another children’s presenter, and Sarah’s husband) made it all the more grusome and believable. It just shows how mass hysteria can be easily produced from the oldest of sources, that of the old fashioned ghost story.
A brief rundown of the events follow a further post from me, but you may wish to skip them if you think it may spoil your enjoyment of the programme. That is, if you can find a copy, as the only way you will currently get to see it is to find someone who still has it on tape (then let me know too!) If you can get a copy, please be warned that it’s not for the faint hearted, even when you know it’s only a drama, and fans of Sarah Greene may not want to see it at all!
Needless to say, Ghostwatch was one of the freshest things on TV during the nineties and caused much more mayhem than was originally intended. It proved that there is far more power to television than many people think. The image of Pipes still haunts people today...
The programme started with this announcement:
“Now on BBC1, Screen One presents an unusual and sometimes disturbing film marking Halloween. Over the centuries there have been countless reports of ghosts and ghouls, but the line between fact and fiction has always been unclear. Using the modern idiom of the outside broadcast, Michael Parkinson, Sarah Greene, Mike Smith and Craig Charles star in.... Ghostwatch.” (taken from http://www.redimp. freeserve.co.uk/ghostwatch/)
So it was with some surprise that many people later claimed to think this was all happening for real, perhaps they were unlucky enough to miss the start, or perhaps they just didn’t pay attention. Either way, it was easy to get caught up in the realistic environment of the outside broadcast and forget you were watching a drama, even if you did know what it really was.
So, what was this original ghostly tale all about? Writer Stephen Volk has described it as a ‘modern ghost story’ written in a new format that would be more accessible to the current generation of TV viewers. He had little idea how successful it would actually turn out to be, or how much affect it would have on the viewers. By the time the credits rolled, many people were already phoning in protest or to congratulate the BBC for such a daring feature. But it soon emerged that one person, a teenage boy with mental problems, had hung himself for fear that the ghost would get him and thus the film was locked in the BBC archive vaults, allegedly never to see the light of day again. This is a pity, seeing as the programme will be arriving at its 10th anniversary next year, perhaps the BBC may have a change of heart by then and release it again.
Similarities can be drawn between this programme and the War of the Worlds drama aired in the 50’s over American radio. The format that time was a series of news broadcasts and had unwary Americans running out of their houses to look at the skies, convinced they were under attack from the Martians. This time around, the warnings were given out before the show and Parkinson kept warning parents that children should not be watching, yet complaints came flooding in that many children were scared, so perhaps it was actually the parents that were scared of the programme? Certainly it challenged everyone’s preconceptions of what a documentary style could do to a narrative, but it also played on viewer’s fears and the fact that actors such as Parkinson (a straight faced chat show host), Sarah Greene (a former childrens TV presenter) and Mike Smith (another children’s presenter, and Sarah’s husband) made it all the more grusome and believable. It just shows how mass hysteria can be easily produced from the oldest of sources, that of the old fashioned ghost story.
A brief rundown of the events follow a further post from me, but you may wish to skip them if you think it may spoil your enjoyment of the programme. That is, if you can find a copy, as the only way you will currently get to see it is to find someone who still has it on tape (then let me know too!) If you can get a copy, please be warned that it’s not for the faint hearted, even when you know it’s only a drama, and fans of Sarah Greene may not want to see it at all!
Needless to say, Ghostwatch was one of the freshest things on TV during the nineties and caused much more mayhem than was originally intended. It proved that there is far more power to television than many people think. The image of Pipes still haunts people today...
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Thanks for the tip!
Head on over to
http://www2.r2-dvd.org/
article.jsp?sectionId =3&articleId=404 as the BBC are considering to release this great program on DVD. Thing is though they want to hear the views of the public to see if it would be viable to release it at all.
So get sending them lots and lots of emails.
http://www2.r2-dvd.org/
article.jsp?sectionId =3&articleId=404 as the BBC are considering to release this great program on DVD. Thing is though they want to hear the views of the public to see if it would be viable to release it at all.
So get sending them lots and lots of emails.
Well, I'm just glad someone is responding, it took me ages to write this!
Ghostwatch is good even after a replay, which shows its value as a ghost story, not merely as a spoof documentary. If you are not familiar with the presenters then I guess it does lose some of the effect, as these people were picked for what they represented to the audience. It does, however, still send a chill down my spine when I think of those cats and the cupboard. I'm just glad I don't have any ghosts living in my cupboards...
I'm still after another tape of the programme. I have seen it quite a few times already, but my mate lost his tape and I haven't got a copy myself. I'd buy it, of course, as soon as the BBC see fit to release it, but it doesn't look like they are planning this any time soon, although they have now recognised it as part of their cult website.
Ghostwatch is good even after a replay, which shows its value as a ghost story, not merely as a spoof documentary. If you are not familiar with the presenters then I guess it does lose some of the effect, as these people were picked for what they represented to the audience. It does, however, still send a chill down my spine when I think of those cats and the cupboard. I'm just glad I don't have any ghosts living in my cupboards...
I'm still after another tape of the programme. I have seen it quite a few times already, but my mate lost his tape and I haven't got a copy myself. I'd buy it, of course, as soon as the BBC see fit to release it, but it doesn't look like they are planning this any time soon, although they have now recognised it as part of their cult website.
Armitage Shanks wrote:
People watch TV, but hardly ever question, whats being shown in front of them.
Lets be honest...if anyone holds Sarah Green or Mike Smith to be authority figures, then they should probably be eating their dinner with plastic knives and forks... :)
I would prefer that they used their fingers (and thumbs, if they have evolved them), as a plastic utensil could splinter, causing the drone shovelling food down while transfixed with the cathode ray nipple to impale themselves.
People watch TV, but hardly ever question, whats being shown in front of them.
Lets be honest...if anyone holds Sarah Green or Mike Smith to be authority figures, then they should probably be eating their dinner with plastic knives and forks... :)
I would prefer that they used their fingers (and thumbs, if they have evolved them), as a plastic utensil could splinter, causing the drone shovelling food down while transfixed with the cathode ray nipple to impale themselves.
Thing is, I actually remember some of this.
Only a couple of bits, but I definately watched some of it. I would have been 11 when it was shown, I can't remember if I was scared or not.
Only a couple of bits, but I definately watched some of it. I would have been 11 when it was shown, I can't remember if I was scared or not.
Hooplah wrote:
It was actually
> broadcasted in 1938, on the night before Halloween strangely enough.
> Your point though is not changed by this shocking blunder in the
> realms of radio broadcasting. (;p
As far as Ghostwatch was
> concerned, people believe what they perceive as an authority figure,
> nobody expected Sarah Greene of all people to lie to them.
I think it shows the overt level of trust people put into television programms...
That, although a cast list was shown at the end of the program, people still believed it was real...
I think it also shows how much companies like the BBC underestimate their influence of the general populace...
People watch TV, but hardly ever question, whats being shown in front of them.
Lets be honest... if anyone holds Sarah Green or Mike Smith to be authority figures, then they should probably be eating their dinner with plastic knives and forks...
:)
It was actually
> broadcasted in 1938, on the night before Halloween strangely enough.
> Your point though is not changed by this shocking blunder in the
> realms of radio broadcasting. (;p
As far as Ghostwatch was
> concerned, people believe what they perceive as an authority figure,
> nobody expected Sarah Greene of all people to lie to them.
I think it shows the overt level of trust people put into television programms...
That, although a cast list was shown at the end of the program, people still believed it was real...
I think it also shows how much companies like the BBC underestimate their influence of the general populace...
People watch TV, but hardly ever question, whats being shown in front of them.
Lets be honest... if anyone holds Sarah Green or Mike Smith to be authority figures, then they should probably be eating their dinner with plastic knives and forks...
:)
Here it is, my own highlights from the 90 Minutes of madness that was Ghostwatch. Thanks to both the BBC and other website I mentioned before for the bits I forgot.
Ghostwatch – the events.
***SPOILER*** THIS IS THE WHOLE THING!!
It all starts in a small room in London. We are introduced to Mrs Early, a single mother with two children, Kim and Suzanne. We see video footage of poltergeist activity and then we cut back to the studio, where Michael Parkinson tells the audience that there may be frightening scenes and the programme is not suitable for children. We learn that the mother calls the ghost ‘Pipes’ after the noises he makes on the pipes.
As Parkinson explains the situation, letting viewers know that there is a number they can ring to explain their own ghostly problems or comments (answered by real para-psychologists) a call is put through from a lady saying she has seen a figure in front of the curtain in the girls bedroom. Meanwhile, Craig Charles is outside the house, interviewing residents of the area and getting many spooky tales about the last owners of the house. Standing by two of the women in the crowd is a strange grotesque man with cuts on his face, but if you blink you’d miss it.
A tape of Suzanne being possessed is heard, it includes lots of strange voices, but none so chilling as a deep voice reciting the nursery rhyme ‘round and round the garden, like a teddy bear….’ We then hear from a sceptic in New York that dismisses the whole case, but noises in the bedroom bring us back to the house, where we find that it was only one of the girls, trying to scare them all. Parkinson dismisses the case as a hoax, but they still film the house.
After an initial dismissal of the figure in the curtains as ‘simply a shadow’ by Dr Pascoe, the para-psychologist, the tape is finally spooled back, and to everyone’s amazement a shadow of a figure is clearly seen for a couple of frames. Then the noise of cats is heard. What sounds like the howling of hundreds of cats in pain makes the viewers shiver and we hear that the previous owner kept cats in the cupboard under the stairs. Looking out of the patio windows, cats can clearly be seen running away from the scene. As they turn around, Suzanne rushes downstairs, covered in scratches, her nails are too short to have done them herself and the family huddles together for support.
After Parkinson recounts a few events with the help of the Para-psychologist, we enter the house again and find Suzanne speaking in tongues. A picture flies off of the wall and Sarah goes to pick it up. It’s at this point that they realise little Kim is missing. They find her huddled up and then rush over to the under-stairs cupboard, where the noise of cats is building to a crescendo. The soundman tries hard to open it and is struck by the door, as it opens with great speed. At this point we lose contact with the house and head back to Craig Charles outside. He sees the ambulance, called for the soundman, and a tense atmosphere is felt all around.
We then go to the studio where a bewildered Parkinson tries to make sense of the events and a frightened Mike Smith demands to know what is happening to his wife. Callers phone the show to give stories of past owners and their tales of ‘pipes’ and that he kept some cats in the house without feeding them, it seems that they may have eventually eaten him. Then Dr Pascoe realises that the calm and quiet look of the house is because the video footage is old, the picture is still on the wall. At this point the footage is scrambled and the studio is hit by a gust of wind. The footage returns to show the services escorting everyone from the house, but Sarah and some of the film crew are frantically searching inside for Suzanne. They follow screams to the cupboard, which they find open and Sarah goes in, despite the film crew’s objections. As she does, the cats start howling like mad and we lose the picture.
Cameras an equipment start falling and smashing apart as the studio crew run for cover. Michael is left there with the room getting darker as light bulbs explode. He turns to the remaining camera, and in a possessed voice, starts saying ‘round and round the garden…’
End Credits.
Ghostwatch – the events.
***SPOILER*** THIS IS THE WHOLE THING!!
It all starts in a small room in London. We are introduced to Mrs Early, a single mother with two children, Kim and Suzanne. We see video footage of poltergeist activity and then we cut back to the studio, where Michael Parkinson tells the audience that there may be frightening scenes and the programme is not suitable for children. We learn that the mother calls the ghost ‘Pipes’ after the noises he makes on the pipes.
As Parkinson explains the situation, letting viewers know that there is a number they can ring to explain their own ghostly problems or comments (answered by real para-psychologists) a call is put through from a lady saying she has seen a figure in front of the curtain in the girls bedroom. Meanwhile, Craig Charles is outside the house, interviewing residents of the area and getting many spooky tales about the last owners of the house. Standing by two of the women in the crowd is a strange grotesque man with cuts on his face, but if you blink you’d miss it.
A tape of Suzanne being possessed is heard, it includes lots of strange voices, but none so chilling as a deep voice reciting the nursery rhyme ‘round and round the garden, like a teddy bear….’ We then hear from a sceptic in New York that dismisses the whole case, but noises in the bedroom bring us back to the house, where we find that it was only one of the girls, trying to scare them all. Parkinson dismisses the case as a hoax, but they still film the house.
After an initial dismissal of the figure in the curtains as ‘simply a shadow’ by Dr Pascoe, the para-psychologist, the tape is finally spooled back, and to everyone’s amazement a shadow of a figure is clearly seen for a couple of frames. Then the noise of cats is heard. What sounds like the howling of hundreds of cats in pain makes the viewers shiver and we hear that the previous owner kept cats in the cupboard under the stairs. Looking out of the patio windows, cats can clearly be seen running away from the scene. As they turn around, Suzanne rushes downstairs, covered in scratches, her nails are too short to have done them herself and the family huddles together for support.
After Parkinson recounts a few events with the help of the Para-psychologist, we enter the house again and find Suzanne speaking in tongues. A picture flies off of the wall and Sarah goes to pick it up. It’s at this point that they realise little Kim is missing. They find her huddled up and then rush over to the under-stairs cupboard, where the noise of cats is building to a crescendo. The soundman tries hard to open it and is struck by the door, as it opens with great speed. At this point we lose contact with the house and head back to Craig Charles outside. He sees the ambulance, called for the soundman, and a tense atmosphere is felt all around.
We then go to the studio where a bewildered Parkinson tries to make sense of the events and a frightened Mike Smith demands to know what is happening to his wife. Callers phone the show to give stories of past owners and their tales of ‘pipes’ and that he kept some cats in the house without feeding them, it seems that they may have eventually eaten him. Then Dr Pascoe realises that the calm and quiet look of the house is because the video footage is old, the picture is still on the wall. At this point the footage is scrambled and the studio is hit by a gust of wind. The footage returns to show the services escorting everyone from the house, but Sarah and some of the film crew are frantically searching inside for Suzanne. They follow screams to the cupboard, which they find open and Sarah goes in, despite the film crew’s objections. As she does, the cats start howling like mad and we lose the picture.
Cameras an equipment start falling and smashing apart as the studio crew run for cover. Michael is left there with the room getting darker as light bulbs explode. He turns to the remaining camera, and in a possessed voice, starts saying ‘round and round the garden…’
End Credits.
pb wrote:
Similarities can be drawn between this programme and the War of the Worlds drama aired in the 50’s over American radio. The format that time was a series of news broadcasts and had unwary Americans running out of their houses to look at the skies, convinced they were under attack from the Martians.
Except that this wasn't intended to come across in that way, but owed more to the creative readings of Orsen Welles.
Besides, startling Americans into running about cornfields with shotguns hardly requires much effort.
'Dang Enus, I'ma gunna bag me one o' dem greeen men fa ma porch rocker, says I'
It was actually broadcasted in 1938, on the night before Halloween strangely enough. Your point though is not changed by this shocking blunder in the realms of radio broadcasting. (;p
As far as Ghostwatch was concerned, people believe what they perceive as an authority figure, nobody expected Sarah Greene of all people to lie to them.
Just as an aside, I wonder why it is that people don't get so worked up by April fools hoaxes in newspapers and so on? Plenty of people get made to look like idiots by those, take the Zoe Ball/Keving Greening bust up on the Radio One Breakfast Show for example. Loads of people fell for that one.
Similarities can be drawn between this programme and the War of the Worlds drama aired in the 50’s over American radio. The format that time was a series of news broadcasts and had unwary Americans running out of their houses to look at the skies, convinced they were under attack from the Martians.
Except that this wasn't intended to come across in that way, but owed more to the creative readings of Orsen Welles.
Besides, startling Americans into running about cornfields with shotguns hardly requires much effort.
'Dang Enus, I'ma gunna bag me one o' dem greeen men fa ma porch rocker, says I'
It was actually broadcasted in 1938, on the night before Halloween strangely enough. Your point though is not changed by this shocking blunder in the realms of radio broadcasting. (;p
As far as Ghostwatch was concerned, people believe what they perceive as an authority figure, nobody expected Sarah Greene of all people to lie to them.
Just as an aside, I wonder why it is that people don't get so worked up by April fools hoaxes in newspapers and so on? Plenty of people get made to look like idiots by those, take the Zoe Ball/Keving Greening bust up on the Radio One Breakfast Show for example. Loads of people fell for that one.
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