Castle Vanian Halloween Special: TV Tuesday: Ghostwatch (1992)

We spent an awful lot of time humming and hawing over this one. You suggested “The House that Bled to Death” from Hammer House ofHorror. I pushed for Rose Red. In the end, we dismissed them both – “The House that Bled to Death” because it wasn’t technically a haunting and Rose Red because it was a whole mini-series, rather than an episode. In the end, we ended up going for something very different. We opted for Ghostwatch which, to be fair, isn’t a TV episode and isn’t a miniseries. It’s a made for TV movie.

Well, it’s not really a movie. It’s more of a mockumentary. They called it a movie, but it plays more like reality, like a real special report type of thing.

Talk to me about Ghostwatch, what it is and why you suggested it to break the deadlock.

Ghostwatch was kind of a play on Unsolved Mysteries, which was popular at the time. It was one of those shows where people go to haunted houses looking for ghosts like Ghost Hunters now.

The BBC decided to pull a scare using that format, making it similar to the Enfield haunting. It really did terrify people – so much so that one man killed himself afterward. The fallout was so massive that the Beeb buried it and only ever released it on DVD, never on television. It was just a prank, a Halloween scare on Halloween night, with a number of well-known personalities.

There was a very brief announcement before Ghostwatch started and, to be fair, they did call it a movie. Even so, it went totally Orson Welles on the UK. Did you believe it was real?

No.

Are you just saying that to save face now?

I would have loved for it to have been real because I never liked Sarah Greene. Hah. I mean… it was on Halloween, for Pete’s sake.

You had actors and presenters on a TV special – ACTORS AND PRESENTERS – but everyone ate it up. The gullible fuckers totally believed it. But it was so well done and so convincing, you can see why they fell for it. You can practically hear the little old ladies saying, “But it’s Parky. I know Parky, he wouldn’t do anything like that to me. I trust him.”

What was it like here immediately after it aired?

I remember the papers the next day. There was outrage. They had so many complaints from people who were convinced it was real. Parents were mad their kids had been allowed to see such a terrifying thing. People were calling in, worried about Sarah Greene. It was mayhem.

Do you think people were dumb for believing it?

Yes… and no. You watched it knowing that it was a prank, at the time… maybe it wasn’t clear that it was – but shouldn’t it have been? On. Halloween.

Ghostwatch has a lot going on. You’ve got Michael Parkinson in the studio, the guy watching the phonelines, Craig Charles on the street, and Sarah Greene in the house. The… (mockumentary?) movie flicks between each set of people, never staying too long on any of them. It’s got an interview ongoing on with aa woman who claimed to be involved with the Enfield Haunting. There are callers warning them about strange shapes in the background and sharing info about the house.

It was slick, the way it cut from one to the other, and so well-executed. With it being live, anything could have gone wrong. Someone could have fluffed their lines, props and effects could have failed, the camera crew could have fucked up… But it came together perfectly.

Which moving part do you think was most effective in making Ghostwatch convincing? What was most convincing for you?

The actors. The cast in general. If they hadn’t all been 100% onboard, it would have flopped. If any one of them had played it for laughs, they would have ruined the whole thing.

You mentioned Enfield earlier. Ghostwatch draws pretty heavily on the infamous haunting, arguably the most haunted house in Britain. I assume it was done deliberately to make people think of that, remember that. Do you think it helped?

I think the Enfield haunting was in the 70s. A lot have people would have remembered it so I think they definitely would have made that connection. There had been so many movies and TV shows and re-enactments… it garnered a lot of attention. It’s weird, I didn’t really hear about it until The Conjuring series came about. I look back now and wonder how I missed it.

Like you said, they banned Ghostwatch because someone killed themselves after it. That seems pretty BBC, doesn’t it? They pull off a great prank and then punish themselves for how well it went. Honestly? I’m a little surprised it was the BBC. I would have expected it from Channel 4 or something. Something a bit more… fun.

Right? Who in the BBC – because you know what sticks in the mud they are – authorized Ghostwatch? They’ve obviously put the time, effort, and money into it, which means they believed in it and that’s not like the Beeb at all.

The last… about five minutes are really something else. It builds very well and ends on a WTF moment. What are your thoughts on the ending now and how are they different from what they were right after it happened?

If anything, it’s made me think more now how well done it was. It’s a masterclass in manipulation. A living magic show.

I’d forgotten about the guy calling in about the paedophile in the house. It adds extra credibility. They give you everything you need to put it together yourself. Like you said, all those moving parts. It’s about what you don’t show, right?