"I didn't sleep for a week but it was the best TV show the BBC ever made": 25 years fr
The Halloween evening of 1992, a TV show was broadcast and it duped an entire nation. 25 years after Ghostwatch was shown for the first, and only, time, it has influenced a new genre of television as well as a subgenre of horror.
The BBC show was written by Stephen Volk, originally meant as a conventional drama. However the BBC wanted to focus on one of the last parts of the script, creating a "War of the Worlds effect". The most important part of this anecdote is the experimentation, seeing if the concept could work where it would capture the beginning of reality TV.
The audience were supposed to be frightened, but also questioned the current state of the media, especially with television. A sense of trust created by the nature of TV and the BBC was supposed to be broken and leave the audience culpable.
How Ghostwatch created a new TV genre
Factual and fictional TV genres were already 'borrowing' elements from one another, for example the use of handhold cameras, the sense of drama. Ghostwatch took these elements and amplified it to create something that was fiction while pretending to be real.
Thus was born the 'factual entertainment' genre. Despite being a drama, the use of famous presenters, 'experts', the 'live' aspect and scientific equipment/methods made it seem real, and many viewers complained about this. The basis of Ghostwatch contains elements that are now seen in every factual entertainment show since the 90s. 33,000 complaints came in, resulting in the BBC phone lines being jammed - something that "every writer craves".
Viewers were frustrated by their trust being broken by the BBC and being taken for fools. However, the producers were not allowed to explain the motives until 10 years later when the show was released to the public. They were not just "rabbits in the headlines", the BBC higher-ups had thrown these rabbits to the wolves without defending the decision to broadcast the show.
Modern factual entertainment shows have still been hitting the news and creating controversy, e.g. Great British Bake Off's 'Bin-gate'. But there are very few instances where a controversy was so large, the show was shut away. The BBC pretended the show never existed for a number of years and was never officially discussed or shown on TV. Even on it's 25th anniversary, the BBC still has a heavy focus on its negative impact - even blaming the show for a suicide.
Regardless of the more immediate impact, the show has had a lasting effect on British TV. And the fact it was hidden away and become a cult favourite makes it even more important to understanding the history of British TV.
Who you gonna call?
It's not just TV that has been inspired by Ghostwatch. Films such as The Blair Witch Project and the Paranormal Activity franchise were also created off the back of the show. These powerhouses of films helped popularise the 'found footage' sub-genre of horror too.
While not being a piece of 'found footage', Ghostwatch shares a number of similar elements. The events on screen are being told by a number of characters, with naturalistic acting, especially as the calls come in and more dramatic events occur on location and set.
It also shares similar criticisms. The sub-genre is often fiction masquerading as fact. Again, the first generation of, The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity perfected this. For example, The Blair Witch Project, was the first film to use mass-marketing primarily via the internet - prompting debate as to whether the film was fictional or factual. Sound familiar?
Something goes bump in the night...
In his TEDx talk, Volk mentions how the use of scientific equipment and methods inspired shows such as Most Haunted. They wanted capture the paranormal in a similar way in order to make their show seem more 'authentic'. But, they also used a psychic medium to help 'communicate' with the paranormal, something that even a fictional show didn't use.
However, Most Haunted has lead to an even larger array of 'ghost-hunting' shows. Often they are - ironically - on 'lifestyle' TV channels, the home of factual entertainment shows. These shows are usually even more dramatic than other factual entertainment shows, a useful tool when the scientific results aren't very exciting.
Influenced by these shows and 'para-celebrities', the ghost-hunting business over the last 20 years has been boo-ming (sorry). Equipment can cost thousands and professional 'ghost hunters' can make hundreds with tours generally costing $22 per person but can go above $200 for a night in a haunted hotel.
See the full TEDx talk below...
