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A chilling TV programme aired on Halloween left a generation of viewers so traumatised that the BBC has never broadcast it again. The one-off show caused such panic among viewers that the BBC's phone lines became jammed, and regulators later criticised the programme. The Broadcasting Standards Commission (BSC) subsequently said that Ghostwatch intentionally fostered "a sense of menace." It deemed the show excessively distressing and graphic, airing too soon after the 9 pm watershed. The show's hosts included Sarah Greene, better known as a children's TV presenter , and the late chat show host Michael Parkinson, who died in August 2023. Despite the criticism, many praised the show's creativity, and it is said to have sparked the "found footage" style horror films that followed, including The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield. One 10 out of 10 review on IMDB says of Ghostwatch: "Quite simply, the most frightening television programme ever broadcast, 'Ghost Watch' pushed the edges of 'acceptability' so far that we'll probably never get the chance to see it again." Join the Manchester Evening News WhatsApp group HERE Ghostwatch aired only once on Saturday, October 31 ( Halloween night ), on BBC1 at 9.25pm in 1992. It was a mockumentary-style show investigating reports of a poltergeist in 'the most haunted house in Britain', as reported by the M.E.N. in 2023 . The show was inspired by the story of the Enfield Poltergeist, a supposed real-life haunting in the 1970s. This incident claimed that poltergeist activity occurred in a council house in London, between 1977 and 1979 . Ghostwatch, drawing inspiration from the Enfield case, was advertised as a drama but presented as a live BBC documentary broadcast. Adding to the perceived authenticity of the programme were its four presenters - Michael Parkinson, Sarah Greene, her husband Mike Smith and Craig Charles - all household names starring as themselves. The 'live ghost investigation' focused on two young girls, Kim and Suzanne Early, who were haunted by a terrifying poltergeist named Pipes at their west London home. The spectre was so named because the children heard noises in the house, and their mum dismissed it as 'just the pipes'. During the programme, viewers were encouraged to phone in with their ghost sightings on 081 811 8181 - the standard number for BBC phone-ins at the time, used on shows including Crimewatch and Going Live! The concept was that when people phoned up, they were met with a message informing them that the show was, in fact, fictional. But the phone lines were swamped by what was later calculated to be approximately a million calls flooding into the BBC switchboard. With just five operators taking calls, most viewers could only hear the engaged tone, reinforcing their belief that the programme might be genuine. In today's digital age, audiences can verify within moments whether it is fake. However, back then, people had no way of checking online, and imaginations were left to run riot. Ghostwatch's creator, Stephen Volk, later reflected on the programme. "You couldn't do what we did nowadays and get away with it," he revealed to the Daily Record. "People would know in 30 seconds what was going on really." What made the show even more disturbing was when it emerged that Pipes was the troubled ghost of a paedophile named Raymond Tunstall. Pipes' sinister presence was cleverly scattered throughout different moments in the show, including within the studio itself. At first, the hosts remained doubtful, but gradually they believed the strange goings-on might be real. Scratch marks appeared on the girls' faces, strange noises could be heard, and objects could be seen moving by themselves. Disturbing scenes in the children's bedroom were reminiscent of an infamous photo from the account of the Enfield poltergeist. By the end of the broadcast, a thoroughly creeped-out Greene is seen being pulled into the mist-filled cupboard under the stairs by Pipes. A wind then howls through the studio, and the lights blow out. Mayhem ensues, and the panicked staff flee. Smith can be heard asking after his wife's safety, and Parkinson, with only half his face showing on camera, begins to sing a nursery rhyme before being possessed by Pipes' voice. Following the show's broadcast, viewers duped by the hoax expressed their anger in droves. About 30,000 complaints were made to the BBC, including allegedly Parkinson's mum and a woman who claimed it had induced her labour. "A vicar phoned in to complain that even though he realised it wasn't real he thought the BBC had raised demonic forces," Volk told the BBC in 2017. "It was partly that it scared people, but the complaints were actually more that the BBC had made them feel like mugs. People felt the BBC was something they could trust, and the programme had destroyed that trust." A 10-year ban was imposed on it being shown again, but it has never been shown on British TV in full since and is now only available on DVD. It has, however, been repeated by international TV stations. More than 11 million people watched the show. But things took a tragic turn when it was blamed for the death of teenager Martin Denham. The 18-year-old, who had learning difficulties, took his own life after his parents said he was 'hypnotised and obsessed' with Ghostwatch . The complaint, however, was not upheld by what is now Ofcom. In 1994, Simons and Silveria published a report in the British Medical Journal that described cases of PTSD in two 10-year-old boys caused by Ghostwatch. After watching the show, one boy was said to have suffered a 12-months of nightmares, fear of the dark and of sleeping alone, fear of ghosts, intrusive thoughts and panic attacks which occurred immediately after watching the the broadcast. Originally, the show was meant to be a six-part drama series about a paranormal investigator. However, the BBC was unconvinced it warranted such length, so it was condensed into one episode. The reaction has been compared to supposed mass hysteria caused by Orson Welles's War of the Worlds radio broadcast 54 years earlier, in 1938, when listeners were told that aliens were invading the Earth. The public panic caused has since been played down, with the press at the time accused of exaggerating the impact of the event. However, even though a writer's credit was shown at the start of Ghostwatch and listed as a drama in Radio Times, people were convinced by its reality. The show's director, Lesley Manning, told the Guardian in 2020: "I definitely didn't set out to cause mass hysteria. But I wasn't trying to make it look like a conventional BBC movie, either. "I thought the fact that it was a drama was obvious: it was trailed as such by the continuity announcer, and it opened with a 'written by' credit." Ghostwatch's groundbreaking influence has only grown in the 30 years since It was shown. Its use of videotape instead of the typical 16mm film to make it look more homemade and the now-familiar shaky camera style of filming have been copied in everything from TV's Most Haunted to the Paranormal Activity franchise. While the programme's controversial success in fooling so many people is unlikely to happen again in this ultra-connected world, its presence is still felt. Volk said: "It's tremendously gratifying to hear people were scared and yet excited by it. To have that effect on other people who then want to do the same is like passing the baton on to those who now want to go on and scare another generation of people."
