In May 2010, at a public screening of the film at The Invisible Dot in Camden, director Lesley Manning revealed that she provided the voice of Pipes the ghost after the professional voice artist hired for the production could not accurately replicate the style of voice she had intended. [7] Technology [ edit ] Since October of 2007, plans to develop a retrospective documentary on the "legendary" Screen One, Hallowe'en special, Ghostwatch, have been slowly gathering a head of steam." In its ruling, the BSC stated that "The BBC had a duty to do more than simply hint at the deception it was practising on the audience. In Ghostwatch there was a deliberate attempt to cultivate a sense of menace." They ruled that the programme was excessively distressing and graphic–referring to the scratches on the children and the reference to mutilated animals–and that it had aired too soon after the 9pm watershed. They further stated that "the presence in the programme of presenters familiar from children's programmes ... took some parents off-guard in deciding whether their children could continue to view." [13] [14] Ghostwatch was originally conceived by writer Stephen Volk as a six-part drama (similar to Edge of Darkness) in which a fictional paranormal investigator and a TV reporter investigate poltergeist activity at a North London housing estate, gradually discovering more elements of the mystery each week. This would have culminated in the final episode in a live TV broadcast from the property, in the vein of Nigel Kneale's The Quatermass Experiment and Quatermass and the Pit, in both of which "all hell breaks loose". However, when producer Ruth Baumgarten doubted the viability of an entire mini-series and recommended instead a 90-minute TV special, Volk suggested that they "do the whole thing like Episode Six", portraying it as an actual "live" broadcast fronted by well-known TV personalities.

Ghostwatch - 60 Minutes With Review: Ghostwatch - 60 Minutes With

https://web.archive.org/web/20101214115633/https://www.stephenvolk.net/31-10.pdf PDF file of '31/10' – the sequel to Ghostwatch Ghostwatch itself is still as unnerving as ever. As much as one can keep repeating it isn’t real, Manning’s craftwork still has you questioning certain aspects. What really helps sell Ghostwatch is the presenters involved. At the time of broadcast, Sarah Greene was a staple of BBC programming. Working across both kids shows like Going Live and magazine format show Pebble Mill; it made sense that she might be involved in a new programme for the channel. Similarly, the inclusion of Michael Parkinson added credibility to the project. The only slight indicator that something was awry is the addition of Craig Charles. He slightly over-egs his part as the silly cynic, but his segments are short and so audience attention remains on the other two.

And the thing that held the uncanny terror altogether was Pipes, the apparition formerly known as Raymond Tunstall, the undead child molester who in death now walked the corridors of the ill-fated Early family’s residence. Pipes didn’t get much screen time, but sure made an impact with each glimpse of his partially eaten-by-cats features adding to the sense of dread and menace. “Did you see the ghost?” people asked each other the next day. Indeed, they had, but no one could really figure out how many times he had made his presence felt. The whole thing is very well put together, and it's directed in such a manner that it keeps up at a very fast pace. Casting real life news reporters in prominent roles helps to add to the illusion, as this very much does feel like a live news broadcast from the early nineties. There are all sorts of great moments that foreshadow the conclusion and if you pay close attention to details, you'll be rewarded with some nice little scares in the latter half of the production. Shudder – On Halloween 1992, the BBC aired GHOSTWATCH as a..." Facebook. 17 April 2017. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022 . Retrieved 31 October 2017.

Ghostwatch - Wikipedia Ghostwatch - Wikipedia

Baillie, M; Thompson, A; Kaplan, C (12 March 1994). "The terror of television. Made worse by family stress". British Medical Journal. 308 (6930): 714. doi: 10.1016/S0378-7206(96)01068-3. PMC 2539415. PMID 8142802. A false rumour persisted that Sarah Greene had advertised the programme on her Saturday morning children's show Going Live, including a visit to the location of the "haunting," and gave the impression that she was taking part in a "reality show." This rumour was debunked via the Ghostwatch: Behind the Curtain blog (which gathered information for a documentary about the show). After acquiring the three most likely episodes of Going Live (the week before, the day Ghostwatch was shown, and the week after) the blog's editors found no reference to the show. [9] Greene did however appear on the following Monday's Children's BBC strand to reassure younger viewers the show was not real. Considering the big deal around the original broadcast was that this was coming to you live (or at least you'd have the illusion that it was), Ghostwatch is still an exceptionally well done piece that is not only interesting but oft times genuinely tense and even actually scary. We don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it, but man, there is some seriously messed up stuff going on in this film and while you sort of see it coming and it's more than a little bit predictable, it still grabs you and gets under your skin.

Maybe, it would be a relief if you can see him too. Not for you, dear reader. For I am no longer ever truly alone. But maybe you could join us and, like me, see one more special appearance? For, if you can spot Raymond Tunstall too, looking out from Foxhill Drive’s waste ground toward the camera, watching you… you too will one day be woken up but the sound of banging. Late one night. National Seance Live - 31st October 2020". ghostwatchbtc. 3 November 2020 . Retrieved 7 November 2020. A retrospective documentary, Ghostwatch: Behind the Curtains, based on the film's lasting impact, was released on DVD in 2013 (having been in production between 2007 and 2012), featuring interviews with many of the original cast and crew. It too was made available as part of the BBC Store Frightmares collection, and shortly after release, the BFI Mediatheque. It's the most wonderful time of the year..." Ghostwatchbtc.com. 24 October 2011 . Retrieved 31 October 2017.

Ghostwatch Blu-ray - Zavvi UK Ghostwatch Blu-ray - Zavvi UK

Limited Edition Booklet: Includes ‘Extra Sensory Perception Management’ by Sarah Appleton, ‘Ghostwatch – As it Happened’ by Tim Murray and short story ‘31/10’ by Ghostwatch writer Stephen Volk The programme concludes with Pipes taking over the studio, causing all on-set save Parkinson to flee. Parkinson wanders about in the darkened studio, beginning to show signs that he has been possessed by Pipes. Records the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie. What if Raymond Tunstall really did get into the machine – all our machines? Because he’s here now. On my screen, at home with me, where only I seem to see him.

Ghostwatch: Other Editions

Ghostwatch arrives on Blu-ray from 101 Films in an AVC encoded 1080i high definition transfer framed at 1.33.1, which would likely have been its original broadcast aspect ratio. Shot using television broadcast video cameras, this doesn’t have the same sort of detail and texture that something that was shot on film or higher end digital video might have, but it very much does look like an early nineties TV broadcast, which is exactly how it should look. There’s definitely more depth and noticeably better compression here than on previous DVD offerings. What if Ghostwatch wasn’t a hoax? That those events millions of us witnessed were real? What if Ghostwatch depicted a real-life haunting but the BBC had to cover it up as a drama? A show they were not ashamed of, as the public perception of it was, but, terrified of – of the very real monster it had created. Further adding weight to its authenticity were the trusted presenters, Sarah Greene, Michael Parkinson, Craig Charles and Mike Smith.