Screen One: GhostWatch (1992)

Date(s) of Broadcast: 31 October 1992
Running Times: 90 mins

PRODUCTION
Production Company: BBC
Executive Producer: Richard Broke
Producer: Ruth Baumgarten
Associate Producer: Derek Nelson
Production Manager: Jacmel Dent

SCRIPT
Script: Stephen Volk

DIRECTION
Director: Lesley Manning

PHOTOGRAPHY
Lighting: Clive Thomas
2nd Unit Camera: Dave Hill
Lighting Gaffer: Brian Johns

EDITING
Editor: Chris Swanton

MUSIC
Music: Philip Appleby

SOUND
Sound Designer: Winston Ryder
Sound Supervisor: Alan Machin
Sound Assistant: Paul Ostwind, Phil Gibbins

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up Designer: Caroline Noble
Costume Designer: Jackie Vernon

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Visual Effects: Steve Bowman
Video Effects: Dave Jervis

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Designer: Ken Starkey
Graphic Designer: Iain MacDonald
Construction Manager: Mark Collisson

MISCELLANEOUS
Psychic Consultant: Guy Lyon Playfair
Continuity: Charlotte Blair
Assistant Floor Manager: Theresa MacInnis, Adam Richards
Resource Co-Ordinator: Mike Chislett

LOCATIONS
Location Manager: Kate Power
Location Operative Supervisor: Dave Rogers

CASTING
Casting Advisor: Michelle Guish

We gratefully acknowledge the participation of members of the public who have come forward with their experiences of the the supernatural

CAST
Michael Parkinson (presenter)
Sarah Greene (reporter)
Craig Charles (interviewer)
Mike Smith (phone-in presenter)
Gillian Bevan (Dr Lin Pascoe)
Brid Brennan (Pamela Early)
Michelle Wesson (Suzanne Early)
Cherise Wesson (Kim Early)
Chris Miller (cameraman)
Mike Aiton (sound recordist)
Mark Lewis (Alan Demescu)
Lynda Broughton (Yvonne Etherly)
Katherine Stark (Wendy Stott)
Derek Smee (Arthur Lacey)
Roger Tebb (local TV presenter)
Colin Stinton (Dr Emilio Silvestri)
Keith Ferrari (ghost)
Ruth Sheen (Emma Stableford)
Diana Blackburn (Sandra Hughes)
Brendan O'Hea (Kevin Tripp)
Mark Drewry (anonymous man)

PLOT SUMMARY

The BBC stages a live outside broadcast from the most haunted house in Britain. At first, it looks like the show might be a flop - but before long, strange things are happening and the evil that lurks in the cupboard space beneath the stairs may be reaching out into the wider world...

Superb. Genuinely creepy and so disturbing that the BBC have refused ever to show it again or even release it on video, GhostWatch never really convinces that it's a genuine live broadcast but it's so damn scary that it really doesn't matter. The BBC have never been this courageous, provocative or controversial since - more's the pity. (Full Review)

UK
Television Distributor: BBC
Video Distributor: BFI (BFIV141)
DVD Distributor: BFI (BFIVD556)

UK
GhostWatch has only ever been screened by the BBC once. Shortly after it was shown, the British press were full of stories linking the apparent suicide of a young man with the play which he had allegedly watched before his death. As a consequence the BBC has become rather jumpy over the play and even now refuses even to discuss it, though it has been released on DVD and video by the British Film Institute.

1992
October
31: UK - television broadcast (on BBC1)

2002
October
31: UK - screening at the Horse Hospital, Bloomsbury, London; and at the Phoenix Arts Centre, Leicester

November
25: UK - video release (BFI (BFIV141)) and DVD release

MAGAZINES

Sight and Sound vol.3 no.1 (January 1993) p.55 (UK)
illustrated credits, synopsis, review (by Kim Newman)

Starburst no.255 (November 1999) pp.52-58 (UK)
illustrated article

NEWSPAPERS

The Daily Mail 2 November 1992 p.9 (UK)
article (Parky and the show that went bump in the night by Rebecca Hardy)

The Daily Telegraph 1 November 1992 p.4 (UK)
note (In brief: Ghostly drama scares viewers)

Daily Telegraph 2 November 1992 p.15 (UK)
review (by Max Davidson)

The Guardian 2 November 1992 p.4 (UK)
article (Halloween spoof riles BBC viewers)

The Guardian 4 November 1992 p.5 (UK)
review (by Adam Sweeting)

The Guardian 2 November 1992 Media Section p.8 (UK)
review (by Nancy Banks-Smith)

The Mail on Sunday 1 November 1992 p.5 (UK)
article (Viewers slam BBC Hallowe'en hoax by Howard Smith)

Today 2 November 1992 p.20 (UK)
review (by Pam Francis)

OTHER SOURCES

screen
credits

KEYWORDS

ghosts, haunted houses, seances, television, fake documentary, scientists, children, technology

Last Updated: 15 October, 2008