Entertainment

The ‘scariest TV show ever’ – which was was so terrifying it only aired once

Ghostwatch. Michael Parkinson (centre)
Halloween is traditionally a time for scaring yourself stupid with horror movies, jump scares and things that go bump in the night – and no doubt many of us will be settling down to a scary film or a creepy TV show to mark the big day. But anybody who decided to skip the trick or treating and watch TV on Halloween night in 1992 might well have found it to be an experience they’ve never forgotten. Because that’s when the BBC screened the notorious Ghostwatch, a nail-shredding haunted house docudrama so convincing that many of those watching thought it was real. (Picture: BBC/Ghostwatch)
BBC show traumatises the nation and reportedly sent women into labour
It wasn’t. But the show had such a profoundly terrifying effect on the viewing public that it’s only ever been aired once on TV – and to this day many of the people who saw it can still remember the effect it had on them .But just what was it all about exactly – and how did it become so infamous? Here, in case you’ve forgotten – or in case you weren’t even born then – is how it all happened… (Picture: BBC PICTURE ARCHIVES)

What was Ghostwatch all about, exactly?

Ghostwatch
Presented by Michael Parkinson, Sarah Greene and her late husband Mike Smith – with Craig Charles along for the outside broadcast bit – Ghostwatch claimed to be an actual live investigation of a haunted house in West London. The haunting was purported to be by a malevolent spirit – known as Pipes – who had a habit of making banging noises and generally frightening the life out of the woman who lived in the house with her two daughters. So far, so standard, and for the first half of the show everything appeared relatively straightforward. Until Pipes made his presence known, at which point all hell broke loose and things gradually became scarier and scarier. (Picture: BBC)
Ghostwatch
Ultimately it transpired that Pipes was the ghost of a disturbed man called Raymond Tunstall, who in turn was being troubled by the spirit of a 19th century child killer known as ‘Mother Seddons’ – and in a particularly pant-soiling twist, it transpired that the show had been acting as a seance of sorts which allowed him to increase his power.Which led to an ending that saw him effectively assume control of the BBC studios, dragging Greene off to an unknown fate and possessing Parkinson, leaving him wandering round the studios muttering to himself at the very end before the studio was plunged into darkness. Cue much of the country wetting itself in fear. (Picture: BBC)

Was it really that realistic?

Ghostwatch
Well in fairness, the fact that the BBC One announcer introduced it as a ‘Screen One presentation’ (indicating it was a work of the BBC drama department), and the blackout ending was followed by closing credits featuring a cast list should have made it fairly obvious that it was a work of fiction.But of course not everybody necessarily takes in what the announcer says or watches credits that closely (especially not if you’ve been so freaked out that you now believe the entire BBC is under the control of a vengeful spirit) – so from that point of view we can well believe that people were taken in. (Picture: BBC)
Ghostwatch
It was OK though because the announcer came back to reassure us all after the next programme, Match Of The Day, had finished:We’re still quite amazed that nobody stopped to question Match Of The Day being on as normal – but hey, maybe Pipes was just a really big football fan.We can only imagine what the reaction would have been had social media existed back then. (Picture: BBC)

So what happened next?

Ghostwatch
Quite a lot, actually – for starters the BBC fielded calls from around 30,000 concerned and furious viewers that evening, but it didn’t end there, as it seems the psychological effect had already made its mark. As one person who remembers watching the show told us: ‘I was taken in until right at the end when it was too OTT. But Mike Smith really sold it with his panic about what happened to Sarah.’ Another had a more troubling recollection of it all, saying: ‘Ghostwatch traumatised me so badly I couldn’t go upstairs on my own for two years. Because of my upstairs phobia, one day my parents were out and I had no-one to accompany me upstairs so I had to wee in a coffee cup! That is my worst confession.’ (Picture: BBC)
Gillian Bevan and Michael Parkinson on the horror mockumentary Ghostwatch in 1992 Ghostwatch, a horror mockumentary that aired on BBC1 on Halloween night in 1992. The show was prerecorded, but it was presented as if it were a live broadcast.
However there was a more serious side to all of this, Five days after it aired Martin Denham, an 18-year-old boy with learning difficulties, took his own life – with his parents holding the show responsible after claiming he had become ‘obsessed’ with it and complaining to the Broadcasting Standards Commission – which, after a protracted legal battle ruled that the show had been too distressing and graphic, and was shown too soon after 9pm when children could still be watching. Two ten-year-old boys who had tuned in were also found to be suffering from PTSD – the first reported cases which were apparently caused by a TV show. (Picture: BBC PICTURE ARCHIVES)

But wait! There’s more…

Ghostwatch
Sarah Greene – a children’s TV favourite at the time thanks to Going Live! and (previously) Blue Peter, showed up on Children’s BBC the following Monday to assure terrified younger viewers that she was safe; meanwhile the producers Ruth Baumgarten and Richard Broke later ended up having to defend the show – pointing out that it was clearly signposted as fiction – on the BBC consumer show Biteback. And of course the tabloids had a field day.
But the show’s legacy has also been far-reaching – with Doctor Who’s 2006 episode Army Of Ghosts featuring references to a show called Ghostwatch – while Derren Brown has said that it also served as inspiration for his own controversial 2010 TV hoax Seance. (Picture: BBC)
BBC show traumatises the nation and reportedly sent women into labour
Clearly writer Stephen Volk achieved his aims on this front. ‘I wanted the whole nation to be terrified,’ he explained. ‘And yet they would be creating the very thing they’re terrified of. What if they wanted to see a ghost to the extent that they actually created it? What if they supernaturally held hands in the dark, millions of people all wanting the same thing to happen at the same time?’ Although the BBC has never repeated it, you can still see for yourself what all the fuss was about – as Ghostwatch is available on DVD, as well as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV Plus and the horror movie streaming service Shudder. Just don’t blame us if you need to sleep with the lights on afterwards. (Picture: BBC/Ghostwatch)
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