Saturday 22 October 2011

GHOSTWATCH BACK ON DVD


Ah, Ghostwatch. One of the most controversial British TV shows of all time. In fact, I think it might still hold the record for most number of viewer complaints (over 30,000 calls to the Beeb), which, when you consider that it was a show that had no sex, violence or profanity is quite an achievement.
Despite being a pre-recorded drama it was "sold" as a live TV event in 1992. A studio host (chatshow lege Michael Parkinson) and a team of outside broadcasters investigate poltergeist activity in a house in Greater London, before inevitably being possessed by said ghost. It caused almost an entire nation to collectively shit it's pants as most people tuned in to it believing it to be real (bit like that whole Orson Welles-War-of-the-Worlds-radio-play-malarkey). It was pretty ballsy and innovative programme- making at the time and pretty influential (although it probably gave birth to such tripe as Most Haunted). In fact, Parky and the Ghostwatch team even turned up in issue 2 & 3 of Teddy Scarebear! I remember it being really good (and scary!) and am looking forward to watching it again this Halloween. Ghostwatch is on Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, YouTube and I think the shows creator Stephen Volk has a blog dedicated to it. Check it out.

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