It was a massive gamble by the BBC and one which backfired spectacularly.
Or did it?
Ghostwatch. The very name still conjures nightmares for many.
But 34 years after what was promoted as a live investigation of the paranormal at an ordinary house in an ordinary street was screened on our TVs and it is still talked about today.
Fans of the spooky season love nothing more than settling down to watch something fright-worthy come Hallowe’en.
With streaming services widely available today, there is no shortage to choose from; there’s something there to deliver jumps and scares for whatever age of audience.
In times past there was fun to be had in racing to the pages of the TV Times or RTE Guide to see what good movies or shows lay in store on the big night itself.
If nothing appealed, there was always a pre-planned visit to the video store as an option to satisfy that frightening fix.
Then, in October 1992, a rather curious production beckoned…Ghostwatch. It certainly sounded interesting…
Film crews were due to visit and broadcast from inside a house close to London, where a terrified mother and her two young daughters were reported to being subjected to poltergeist activity.
It was billed as a ‘live’ broadcast, with none other than Michael Parkinson at the helm. Sarah Greene was inside the house, along with the family, to see if anything otherworldly would happen when the cameras began to roll – and undoubtedly it did!
Back in the studio, Sarah’s husband Mike Smith was fielding telephone calls, as the public were urged to phone in as they watched the action unfold.
The Beeb even rolled out comedian Craig Charles to interview neighbours on the street.
In terms of presenters, the production rolled out some of the biggest names of the day. These were faces many had grown up with and with Parky as host, we could trust them. Couldn’t we?
What transpired was an excursion into real and genuine terror which began in the street and spread to the studio. Unsettling, shocking, groundbreaking television, but alas the joke was on us!
For – spoiler alert – it was later revealed the show was not in actual fact live but a dramatised piece, one based on the premise of the Enfield Haunting. We had been well and truly duped!
It was talked about the next day, in schools and workplaces, and still is. Greeted with reverence and revulsion in equal measure, there’s no doubt it made televisual history.
The BBC fielded tens of thousands of complaints over the broadcast and it has never dared to screen it since.
But for all the controversy and complaints, the fact it still is fresh in so many minds so many years later surely makes it a piece of commissioning genius from within the BBC boardroom.
The furore which followed has sparked documentaries and other programmes being made about the show and it is often called to mind at this time of year.
Hallowe’en fell on a Saturday in 1992, as it does this year too.
And for those who remember and dare to revisit the show, Channel 5 will bring those memories – and nightmares – fast flooding back tonight (Saturday), with a special programme, ‘Ghostwatch: The Night That Terrified Britain’, going out at 9.15pm.
For those of a nervous disposition who would rather leave it in the past, BBC One has tamed things down a bit all these years later, with a Strictly Come Dancing Hallowe’en Special set to go out, although it could be argued that that in itself is a scary prospect too!
