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BBC Ghostwatch (1992 Television Pseudo-Documentary)

Apparently, the director of the show still gives lectures to University students and media studies dept. - you could contact her directly. It'd also be worth buying the DVD too!

Cheers
Paul

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http://www.paullee.com
 
The director...

Ooh, what a brilliant idea. Thanks for that one! Good to have some stuff 'straight from the horse's mouth'...

Jenny.
 
If you're still looking for help, if you join the mailing list associated with the above website I think there is some good stuff (articles, photos, etc) in the archives of the mailing list.
 
Jenny, I remember the night well. I'd split up with my first boyfriend and spent Halloween at home - my parents were out - on the Saturday night. Just me and the cat.

I am a very cynical person. The programme had been trailed and I really, really wanted paranormal things to happen. But before the programme started, the announcer stated that it "starred" Michael Parkinson and Sarah Greene. Kind of gave the game away for me.
But the programme was rather spooky, although I was 90% convinced of it's fakery (because of the old adage- if something seems too good to be true, it must be)
Some things seemed to stretch credibility. For instance, at one point the poltergeist was thumping on the floor, walls and ceiling simultaneously. Then the mother suggested to her daughter that it was time for her to go up to bed. "ok mum" the little girl replied, and scampered upstairs alone into the darkness.
In that situation, there isn't a person in the world who would comply, surely?
The scariest thing of all was the infra-red/cctv camera set up in the children's bedroom. It just showed a black and white shot of the room. Then Parky or Greene told us that viewers had called in to say they'd seen a figure on the infra-red image (clever!) and duly showed the image again. This time was the clear figure of a man standing at the foot of the bed. Me and a friend chatted about this particular scene about a year ago and even with the definite knowledge now that it was fake, that scene still made us shudder.
I think a couple of times the ghost - I can't recall his name - sneaked up on Sarah Greene. Once his reflection was clearly seen in the patio windows and I think the camera clumsily panned away from him when he "appeared" in the cupboard under the stairs.
Another thing that didn't satisfy my cynical mind was Sarah Green's apparent calmness. I think she looked confused rather than scared when the ghost breathed down her neck. Surely most women would scream and void themselves. I know I would.
Well, it's been many years since the thing was aired and I'm sure the passage of time has distorted some of my memories. I remember a depressed lad killing himself afterwards, apparently he told his family or left a note saying that he now knew there was an afterlife, or something. Poor kid.
 
I remeber watching it when it was first on, I must have only been about 9 or 10. It terrified the pants off me. But i loved it so much I bought it recently.
Even now when I watch it and know thats its a brilliant fake I cant help but get a bit scared.
The ghost was called pipes, this was because the first time the ghost began to make noises the mother had told the children that it was just the central heating pipes and it was the youngest girl who gave the ghost the knick name pipes after that.
And to quote Hayzee comet

Some things seemed to stretch credibility. For instance, at one point the poltergeist was thumping on the floor, walls and ceiling simultaneously. Then the mother suggested to her daughter that it was time for her to go up to bed. "ok mum" the little girl replied, and scampered upstairs alone into the darkness.
Click to expand...
This didnt happen. What did happen was at the hight of the activity in the show the mum and Sarah Green where trying their hardest to get the girls out of the house. then a lot of thumping and banging started and the eldest girl started to talk in the voice of pipes. The eldest girl refused to leave the house and started arguing with the mothewr and as all this was happening the youngest girl ran off on her own. Sarah Green realised she was gone and started to search for her and found her in the kitchen, holding the eyes of her cuddly toy that she claimed pipes had ripped out of the toy.
It is true that you see pipes a number of times during the program. I have spotted hime 5 times but there is supposed to be more. The times I spotted him where the first time that was obviouse because everyone was talking about it, the second time was when craig charles was interviewing people in the park and pipes was standing in the crowd, the third was in the window like Hayzee Comet said, the fourth was in the bedroom when the mum is trying to get the girls out of the house and the fifth is when they open up the door under the stairs.

I think it's safe to say at this point that I am a bit of a fan of it. Lol.:D .
Anyway thats about all I have to say for the moment because I can't remember any other points that would be of interest, but if I think of them I will add them later.

Netty
x
 
He also appears in the studio when Parky and the Psychologist are standing by the big tape machine listening to the recording. He appears behind her, I think, when the lights dim.
I, too, remember seeing it when it was first broadcast. I was, what, 13 at the time. It scared the c**p outta me. So much so that I had to leave the room after the bit where you see Pipes behind the door under the stairs, so I missed the end.
But I'm a bit girl now, I know its all faked, and anyway these things don't scare me anymore, so I bought the DVD a few weeks ago. I watched it. It scared the c**p outta me. I watched it a week later, with the commentry track on. It STILL scared the c**p outta me.
I don't know what it is, it just presses the right buttons.
 
Bump! :mad:

(One of Jenny's threads merged here - two others deleted.
Please keep the board tidy - don't cross-post.
And Search first... :rolleyes: )
 
Just wanted to add my 2p.

I saw Ghostwatch for the very first time at UnCon and it freaked me out a bit. I find it extraordinary that some people thought that it was real. Does the BBC normally treat traumatised families in such a contemptuous, mocking manner? Perhaps it does :p

I thought it was a good story. It made the hairs on the back of my neck tingle. :eek!!!!:
 
I thought it was still a very effective horror story. Regardless of whether it made you believe it was real or not, it was still very creepy in places. While watching it at Uncon, in quite a large auditorium, there was still some nervous shuffling from people in the audience, and some of the laughter sounded a little forced and strained.
All in all, it was as good as I remember it being. And having to go back by myself to try and sleep in my flat, which has the noisiest plumbing in the western world, wasn't an appealling prospect :D
 
I saw it for the first time at Uncon., and although I knew that it was a fake, ( An hours interview with the writer and director will do that!) I found it pretty spooky. If anything would have given it away as a drama, I think that it would have been the youngest daughter's acting- but I can't judge really since I have only ever known it as a hoax type programme.
The scariest concept for me was seeing a violent polt. haunting in the setting of a normal house. Usually the scary films I see are set in woods or gothic mansions that already have an atmosphere of tension and strangeness. It was the invasion of someones home that gave me the willies -it seemed to say " this could be your house next!"
I was dead worried about going back to my hotel with it's high ceilings, long staircases and lack of staff after 11.30pm, but copious amounts of alcohol at the Scarsdale put paid to that problem!
 
Saw it for my first time at the uncon too, loved every minite :)
Mike reed's acting was quite poor, he didn't seem anywhere near enougth conserned about his wife :rolleyes:
But Craig Charle's, Parky's and Sarah Green's perfomances were very convinceing :)
The "I told you so" bit was shear gold as was the moveing sandwhich phone call and the bit at the very end (being pourposly vauge here so as not to ruin it for anyone who still hasn't seen it :) ).

What I don't understand are all the legends surrounding the showing, Alright I can understand some folks watching the first 20 minites or so and still thinking it was real and perhaps getting spooked but things like the teanager killing himself myth how was that related?
 
Lord_Flashheart said:
What I don't understand are all the legends surrounding the showing, Alright I can understand some folks watching the first 20 minites or so and still thinking it was real and perhaps getting spooked but things like the teanager killing himself myth how was that related?
Click to expand...

in the same nonexistant way as Judas Priest;s songs making teenagers kill themeslfs.

;)
 
Maybe the program's absurdity and crassness helped it to insert itself into people's psyche. The program also used some of our primal fears quite well - the dark, the small dark room, the locked room, unknown noises, possession, fleeting images. I think someone has already said this - the combination of 'ordinariness' with our primal fear made a potent and disturbing mix.

It certainly disturbed me and I'm not normally very sensitive to these kinds of things. I don't fear the unknown, I fear reality ;)
A couple of nights ago, I had to get up very late that evening and the whole business with 'Pipes' popped into my mind while fumbling with light switches etc. Had to give myself a swift kick up the butt and tell myself to stop acting like a twonk (blame it on a cold-induced fever), before I'd go downstairs for a drink :eek:

So if Ghostwatch affected me in that way, who knows what effect it had on persons of a 'nervous disposition'?
 
Mana said:
The dark, the small dark room, the locked room, unknown noises, possession, fleeting images. I think someone has already said this - the combination of 'ordinariness' with our primal fear made a potent and disturbing mix.
Click to expand...

This is precisely what got me about The Exorcist, too. I didn't see it until a couple of years ago, and while I'm normally unaffected by horror films (a deep and abiding childhood love of the Alien and Poltergeist series(es) will do this to you) I was completely floored by The Exorcist and couldn't sleep for about 2 weeks -- not because of the spinning head or projectile vomit, but because the realistic, likeable characters juxtaposed against malevolent bed shaking and bangs in the attic produce inexplicably, gut-wrenchingly ominous results! I'm not sure I can ever watch it again, in fact.

I missed Ghostwatch the first time, too, but got it on DVD for Christmas and enjoyed an excellently spooky day watching it as I chomped down on my Christmas lunch. Yum.
 
I got annoyed by the laughing after a while and I get the feeling some people were trying to be 'oh -so- sophisticated'. There were naff bits I admit but it's still frightening, as somebody said it's the horror of the mundane that scares the cr*p out of you........the bit that un-nerves me is the call from the woman whose glass table has shattered, not sure why, it's just so off the wall as to be authentic.
 
I must admit to a chortle when Parky told a caller that her children should be in bed. It's one of those things that I think when people are having a whinge!
 
Cider said:
it seemed to say " this could be your house next!"
Click to expand...

The writer originally wanted Parky to say "The ghost is probably in your house".
 
Ghostwatch at Unconvention

The best part of the screening was the part where the cameraman panned across the children's bedroom and saw the ghost. When the panned back, it had gone (how did they do that?). When the ghost was shown, some male members of the audience laughed, somewhat nervously I thought, but a few ladies let out a frightened little squeak! Very funny if you knew it was going to happen!
 
Understand

Lord_Flashheart said:
What I don't understand are all the legends surrounding the showing, Alright I can understand some folks watching the first 20 minites or so and still thinking it was real and perhaps getting spooked but things like the teanager killing himself myth how was that related?
Click to expand...

There was a kid who was under part time psychiatric care, who lived in Nottingham. I remember it well since I lived East of his home at the time, in my late teens, and watched the show at a friend's who lived West of the poor guys house.

He apparently watched the "play" all the way through, got to the end and was too scared to do anything much. Except that is to make it out to his garden shed, find some hose pipe and a beam and make up a crude gibbet.

I get the right hairy back neck every time I think about it, picturing a terrified me driving past in the background to his limp form.

It was a world class hoax, the deffence that it was sold as a play in the listings is crap. The makers intended nothing other than to scare the living poo out of the viewers. I hope that helps?
 
Sightings of Pipes on Ghostwatch

Sorry if this has been discussed before. Until recently I hadn’t seen Ghostwatch, but from what I’d heard about it I was aware that there were a number of times where the "ghost" (i.e. actor) could be briefly glimpsed lurking in the background, reflected in windows, etc.

So having recently got hold of the DVD I settled down for a bit of Pipes-spotting. I've spotted some glimpses, but I'm not sure if I missed any. Here’s what I did spot:

1, In the part where Craig Charles interviews the 2 neighbours about weird goings-on in the playground down the street, as he walks back to speak to one of the on-lookers we glimpse Pipes at the back of the crowd with a white, skull-like head and a single red eye (as per the girls’ description).
2, In the studio when Dr Pascoe and Michael Parkinson are listening to the tape of the ghostly voice, a dark figure can be seen over Dr Pascoe's left shoulder (or is it one of the studio crew?)
3, In the scene where Sarah Greene finds the children’s drawings scattered across the kitchen floor, we see Pipes reflected in the patio windows, but this time we see him full-length and can see his mode of dress matches the girls’ description (black, buttoned up to the neck).
4, Following the scene where the girls are ushered out of the bedroom, the camera pans across the bedroom and we see Pipes standing in front of the curtains. When the camera quickly pulls back as second later (i.e. where the film is cut), the ghost has gone.
5, When Sarah Greene and the soundman open the door to the cellar, it swings open and there is a brief blink-and-you’ll-miss-it glimpse of a figure (man or woman?) doesn't appear to be Pipes, this one just looks like an old person.

Has anyone got a definitive version of sightings throughout the programme?
 
there's a page on the FT main site Here - with links to other sites that probably will have
Link is dead. No archived version found.
 
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No matter how long ago it first appeared, this programme still remains one heck of a spooky show. I had to buy it one DVD when it was released!

Now I eagerly await The Stalls of Barchester to add to my 'Up yours, Blair Witch Project - This is scary!' collection!
 
Slytherin said:
I still scared the pants off me, though not so much the programme itself, but the memories of the utter fear I felt when I saw it the first time, aged 11. I slept with the light on, yes I damn well did! Parts of it seem a bit crappy now, and you wonder how you ever thought the stilted delivery of the family were real - (come on, I was 11!) but Parky's great, and Craig Charles I think takes the prize for being the most naturalistic.


I'm smug and think I've spotted all the Pipes. Wanna play spot the Pipes? Uh.... let me think...

Visible in the footage of the girls in bed at the beginning, against the curtain. (and again, when they replay the footage the first time- but not the second time, because they are CUNNING)

Quite blatantly appears over the para-psychologist's shoulder when she plays that voice tape in the darkened studio....

Uh, when Craig Charles interviews those women in the playground, he's standing at the back of the crowd of spectators.

His reflection visible in french window, behind the camera crew in the kitchen scene where all the kid's paintings are on the floor...

uh, in the scene with the scratches on the girl's face, as the camera man leaves the room, he scans round it, and the ghost is standing against the curtains again. He snaps the camera back and the ghost is gone...

When they open the glory hole under the stairs, as the door swings open, there's a figure behind it. Then it swings closed again, and open again and there's nothing there.

In the final scene in the studio, where "all hell breaks loose", he's standing on the scaffolding overhead.

Anyone got anymore?
Click to expand...

Just after Sarah Greene disappears into the cellar and the door slams shut behind her, the image breaks up and we lose the picture before the scene switches to the studio. For a split second (you'll have to be quick on the pause button) we get a full-face close-up view of the Pipemeister, and pretty grisly it is too...
 
I saw the screening at uncon too, for the first time since it's original broadcast. Come the credits, I felt as if I'd held my breathe throughout the entire thing, my knuckles were white and my butt hurt from sitting on the edge of my seat. Classic stuff. I eye the DVD warily from where I sit ...
 
I must have said this before on here (too lazy to look) but here goes again, I started watching this with my kids and we rumbled it right away. Atrocious acting gave it away! :lol:
 
Yes, I do. Got the DVD and enjoy it regularly. So, you've started a fan site? Good work!
 
I had moved into the flat I lived in then the day before this was shown.

I'd put up a new shelf unit in the bathroom that afternoon, and was quite pleased with myself.

The unit fell off the wall with a resounding crash, right in the middle of Ghostwatch, just after the glimpse of the ghost in the bedroom. :shock:

It took about an hour for my heartrate to return to normal.
 
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