Guest Author - Andy Boxall

The 1992 broadcast of Ghostwatch on the BBC was a Screen One drama. There was no ‘live’ outside broadcast, no Early family and no Foxhill Drive haunting. The programme was written by Stephen Volk, writer of the Ken Russell film, Gothic and originally planned as a six-episode serial. At the BBCs request it was trimmed down to an hour-and-a-half special and the result was Ghostwatch.

It was filmed and directed in a documentary style, using serious TV presenters who were all active in everyday programming. At the one-hour mark, viewers were told anyone ‘just tuning in’ that the scheduled show was to be delayed while Ghostwatch stayed with the ‘live action’. There were also convincing live interviews with so-called experts and even a telephone number flashed on screen for viewers to call in with their thoughts on the events. On the surface it was a very convincing 91 minutes of a ghost filled live show.

But there were clues as to the dramatic nature of Ghostwatch. For those who are not aware, Screen One was a section where the BBC showcased dramatic programming and was not associated in anyway with factual shows. The BBC insisted that the Screen One leader be played before the start of Ghostwatch. They also insisted that a ‘written by’ credit was placed on the opening crawl and it had the word ‘Drama’ under it in any of the TV listing magazines. In addition to that, the actresses who played the part of Suzanne and her mother, Pamela had both been seen in various TV shows before. Viewers who were compelled to call the onscreen number were greeted with the news that the show was fictional and that all was well.

Viewed today, Ghostwatch is a little clunky and the benefit of hindsight allows you to smile about the people taken in by it. When it was broadcast on TV though, it was a different story. The excellent pacing and subtle build up of tension, combined with convincing performances and some truly intense sequences transported the viewer to the simple home on Foxhill Drive. It felt as real as any newsreel showing the inside of Parliament or the plight of a foreign country. I was 19 when Ghostwatch was broadcast and still remember watching it with my parents and being honestly frightened by what I was seeing. I have the sneaking suspicion that they were too.

Likened by many to Orson Welles’ broadcast of War of the Worlds in America (occurring 54 years earlier to the day) and the public reaction that caused, Ghostwatch was talked about for month’s afterwards by everyone who had seen it. Those that hadn’t could only listen in awe and quietly regret not watching some ghost program on TV at Halloween. Ghostwatch was more than some ghost program, more than a drama and more than a hoax documentary. It was and still is a cult phenomenon, caused by the famously inoffensive British Broadcasting Corporation.