Ghostwatch Review (1992)

Synopsis

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.

Ninety minutes later the BBC, and the country, was changed.

My Thoughts

In 1992, BBC One aired Ghostwatch, a mock documentary TV movie that was played out for viewers watching as if it was real, with phone in’s and familiar BBC presenters proceeding over it all including the late Michael Parkinson who was one of the biggest and most well known BBC presenters at the time.

If you have watched Late Night With The Devil, and enjoyed the way that film was played out, then you need to give Ghostwatch a go, as it is even better.

The idea for the event was very simple, the BBC wanted to make people believe they were watching events unfold live.

The program followed a family facing some supernatural experiences and featured home video footage of these strange occurrences, including an entity named Pipes.

Ghostwatch used call-in hotlines and pre-recorded segments that came across as live, and stirred up a lot of controversy.

Over 30,000 viewers called the BBC that night genuinely worried that what they was seeing was real and the show ended up causing a bit of a national outcry, with many media outlets criticizing the BBC for airing what they felt was a misleading and harmful program.

It was never aired again on the BBC I believe, and only those that recorded it that night had access to watch it again until more recent times, where it is now available online.

Ghostwatch has gained a new appreciation and fanbase among horror fans and you can tell the influence it has had on films like the above mentioned Late Night With The Devil and films like The Blair Witch Project.

It was ahead of its time in a lot of ways and is one you can rewatch over and over to try and see all the times Pipes makes an appearance, or you can just watch it on YouTube and have Pipes pointed out for you.

The amount of effort that was put into this cannot be underestimated, for its time it was pretty ground breaking, and even now it still holds up very very well.

Ghostwatch did exactly what it set out to do in one sense, but also stirred a lot of unwanted controversy as well in the aftermath of it airing on Halloween night in 1992.

Good Points

Ahead Of Its Time: Ghostwatch was definitely ahead of its time in many ways, especially for television, with people not witnessing anything like this before being played out on TV.

Authenticity: Despite the BBC revealing it was a drama in the magazine The Radio Times before it was aired, most of the 11 million viewers that tuned in thought what they were watching was real.

Cult Status: While Ghostwatch was lost for many years, it has gained a massive cult following since and is well appreciated as a significant piece of work in the horror genre.

Bad Points

The Aftermath: Unfortunately, the program garnered a lot of controversy following the airing, including one that involved a teen taking his own life and criticism around some ethical practises involved with the show.

Slow Pacing: If you don’t like slow burns and slow pacing, Ghostwatch may not be for you.

Is It Worth Watching?

Yes.

Even if you watch it now knowing it is of course all fake, it is still a really good ghost story at its core, even if you take out everything else about it.

Its innovative format and the way it was presented as a real time investigation into the paranormal help make it a ground breaking piece of television.

This is one every found footage fan should watch, or any fan of horror at all, really.

Ghostwatch on IMDB

Where To Watch

Amazon
Apple

Director and Cast

Director – Lesley Manning

Main Cast – Sarah Greene, Gillian Bevan, Michael Parkinson, Michelle Wesson, Cherise Wesson, Bríd Brennan, Derek Smee, Mike Smith