Halloween 1992 and the BBC aired Ghostwatch as part of its Screen 1 Drama series. It was all told a horror mockumentary based around the Enfield Poltergeist investigation of 1977/8. Famed for family friendly fodder programming, the reaction to Ghostwatch shook the BBC to its core and the TV institution banned it for 10 years and has never shown it again on one of its channels. Problems arose because many viewers were unaware that the show was actually fake, this in spite of the many clues given both in written credits and the hiring of actors in critical roles!
Watching it now some 20 years after the fact, it's hard to believe so many were taken in by the unfolding events of the show. Certainly it's understandable that youngsters watching would be scared by the second half of the show, that is if they wasn't bored stiff by the first half which plods along at an almost lethargic pace? But grown adults besieging the switchboards with worries about the realism of the show? And a weight of complaints not seen since The Sex Pistols swore on TV in 76? Apparently so it seems.
Ghostwatch's legacy is tainted by over reaction on one hand, and sadness in the other. The show was cited as the cause for an 18 year old man hanging himself. Martin Denham had learning difficulties and after becoming obsessed with the show, committed suicide five days after the show was broadcast. There were other cases where children as young as 10 were said to have suffered post-traumatic stress because of the show. Sad for sure are these events, but they lend the film an aura of terror that it doesn't deserve. But on an influential front it deserves the utmost praise. It can be seen as a prototype of the reality TV shows that have dominated TV in the last decade, while you have to think that the makers of The Blair Witch Project saw it and took notes.
Ghostwatch does have genuine moments of creepiness, the number of sneaky visual placements of Pipes the ghost are very effective. As is his back story. The sound work is suitably chilling, where over emphasised knocking and the sound of wailing cats really hit the desired mark. The cast, too, are stoic and performing well with the material to hand. Michael Parkinson is the head link man hosting the show, a splendid bit of casting because we all trust Parky. Mike Smith plays it suitably tongue close to cheek, his wife, the beautiful Sarah Greene, is the most believable as she spends the night in the house with the Early family, while Craig Charles outside the house larks about and never once plays it seriously. But the others, including the two child actors, struggle to convince. But was they meant to anyway? Because ultimately it's a pastiche production. 6/10
Watching it now some 20 years after the fact, it's hard to believe so many were taken in by the unfolding events of the show. Certainly it's understandable that youngsters watching would be scared by the second half of the show, that is if they wasn't bored stiff by the first half which plods along at an almost lethargic pace? But grown adults besieging the switchboards with worries about the realism of the show? And a weight of complaints not seen since The Sex Pistols swore on TV in 76? Apparently so it seems.
Ghostwatch's legacy is tainted by over reaction on one hand, and sadness in the other. The show was cited as the cause for an 18 year old man hanging himself. Martin Denham had learning difficulties and after becoming obsessed with the show, committed suicide five days after the show was broadcast. There were other cases where children as young as 10 were said to have suffered post-traumatic stress because of the show. Sad for sure are these events, but they lend the film an aura of terror that it doesn't deserve. But on an influential front it deserves the utmost praise. It can be seen as a prototype of the reality TV shows that have dominated TV in the last decade, while you have to think that the makers of The Blair Witch Project saw it and took notes.
Ghostwatch does have genuine moments of creepiness, the number of sneaky visual placements of Pipes the ghost are very effective. As is his back story. The sound work is suitably chilling, where over emphasised knocking and the sound of wailing cats really hit the desired mark. The cast, too, are stoic and performing well with the material to hand. Michael Parkinson is the head link man hosting the show, a splendid bit of casting because we all trust Parky. Mike Smith plays it suitably tongue close to cheek, his wife, the beautiful Sarah Greene, is the most believable as she spends the night in the house with the Early family, while Craig Charles outside the house larks about and never once plays it seriously. But the others, including the two child actors, struggle to convince. But was they meant to anyway? Because ultimately it's a pastiche production. 6/10