Any UK people watch Ghostwatch 'Live' 18 years ago?


second exodous

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All I can say is Holy Crap but I'll go on.


I have never heard about the show until last night I was reading about The Blair Witch Project and on the site I was reading it mentioned this show as the people that made The Blair Witch might have seen this before making their own film.


I live in the US and have never heard of it but apparently it holds the BBC record of the most call ins during a live show because everyone thought it was freaking happening. Did anyone here watch it live and think it was happening? I read that it didn't full as many people because some of the people in it were established actors, it wasn't just BBC media and the acting was stale. Being American I didn't recognize any of the actors and I meet real people from the UK and think they act stale so for me the acting was believable.


Anyway, I did not expect anything really, I thought it would be the tame Blair Witch but I thought it was much much better.

I can only imagine seeing it live and thinking the world was going to implode due to a giant seance. The coolest part about it is it has replay value, after I watched it I found out Pipes was in it a few times, I watched it again and saw him twice although I've read he is in it more, have to watch it again, late at night alone with the lights off again logically.


Wikipedia also notes that the BBC refused to re-air or release it for 10 years because people were so upset about it. It was also planned to be a yearly thing but after the first year the BBC didn't think it would be a good idea to keep doing it. Basically, for anyone who has never heard of it, it was 'The War of the Worlds' for the UK, I would think it was worse because it was visual not just audio.
 
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Yes! I saw it live as a kid and it was friggin brilliant! :D I was really into ghosts and horror films so (what I thought was) a live haunting on the telly was like a dream come true. I didn't realise it was fake until the end when it all went a bit over the top in the studio, IIRC.


My favourite bit was in the house: the camera panned round and went past the ghost stood in the corner, then snapped back when the cameraman saw it but it was gone :eek:


I've never seen it since, I keep meaning to try and find a copy.
 
After searching the net it looks like the BBC never rebroadcast it and it only saw a small release on VHS and DVD. Copies are really high right now, I just downloaded it. You can also watch it on youtube in parts, I hate that, but at least you won't have to pay 1000's of dollars in pirate costs or be forced into a labor camp for the rest of your life.


How old were you when you saw it Tickles? I would have been 12 and I think at that age it probably would have really freaked me out.
 
After searching the net it looks like the BBC never rebroadcast it and it only saw a small release on VHS and DVD. Copies are really high right now, I just downloaded it. You can also watch it on youtube in parts, I hate that, but at least you won't have to pay 1000's of dollars in pirate costs or be forced into a labor camp for the rest of your life.


How old were you when you saw it Tickles? I would have been 12 and I think at that age it probably would have really freaked me out.

I remember seeing it but not thinking much of it at the time (ie I didn't think it was real but at school the next day other people did), it did scare me though, especially the part where the camera scans the bedroom quickly and you see the figure standing over the bed for about 2 frames. Very spooky.


BBC4 did a fantastic documentary on it and other similar programs from the 1940s onwards a few months ago but it's not on the iPlayer right now, it's called 'Ghosts in the Machine' http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nk9yw maybe it's on youtube? You will enjoy it.


It used to be a tradition on the BBC to show a specially made horror movie/event every Christmas, you should check some of those, some are really creepy. A lot of people are freaked out by 'Whistle and I'll come to you'. More recently they did 'Crooked House' - part of the last episode of that was one of the scariest things I've seen in a long time (probably since 'Ringu').
 
I would've been 13, could've sworn I was younger when I saw it but obviously not. I don't remember being freaked out, more excited I think. I'll have to ask my sister to see if she remembers, she's two years younger and is still easily frightened now :lol:


The experience of watching this back then is actually what I keep in mind when I watch films like Blair Witch or Paranormal Activity; it allows me to pretend I'm watching something real and so I enjoy them a lot more than other people I know.


I consider myself very lucky to have seen it live, its just one of those "right time, right place" things that you can't pass on to someone else. Actually it shows how good it was that I still remember some of it quite vividly eighteen years on.


Just checked ebay, cheapest buy it now for a DVD is £35. Now that's scary :p
 
My favourite bit was in the house: the camera panned round and went past the ghost stood in the corner, then snapped back when the cameraman saw it but it was gone :eek:
Those are always my least favourite parts. I always think "can you be any more obvious?" A regular person would not scan past like that: if the audience saw it, the cameraman saw it and could have stopped. I sit there going "there's something... you passed it... bravo, you missed it completely. Worst. detective. ever." Totally ruins the illusion for me.
 
Those are always my least favourite parts. I always think "can you be any more obvious?" A regular person would not scan past like that: if the audience saw it, the cameraman saw it and could have stopped. I sit there going "there's something... you passed it... bravo, you missed it completely. Worst. detective. ever." Totally ruins the illusion for me.
I don't know, I agreed with you at first but then when I thought of what a camera mans job is, to film the reporter or kids, basically the living people in the household, I can see things being passed over. I think most of their training as a normal news camera man would have them mentally block out everything but the subject being filmed. Also, on top of filming subjects they are operating a complex piece of equipment so some of their conscious is focused on that as well.


Like I said, that is what I think when the camera man passes over things but, 'what the heck', but when I think about it in a real life scenario a lot of this would have been passed over by the camera man.


@Craigix: Wow, a whole treasure trove of stuff I have never even heard of to look for this October. Something to watch every night to get into the Halloween spirit. Thanks.
 
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Those are always my least favourite parts. I always think "can you be any more obvious?" A regular person would not scan past like that: if the audience saw it, the cameraman saw it and could have stopped. I sit there going "there's something... you passed it... bravo, you missed it completely. Worst. detective. ever." Totally ruins the illusion for me.
It panned pretty quickly as I remember. I think there was something happening downstairs and he was just turning quickly to leave the room, then whizzed back round a split second later when he saw it. I don't think you would have got past "there's..." before he had the camera back on the spot where it was.


Or maybe I'm just remembering it with rose tinted glasses... maybe I shouldn't revisit this after all :p
 
It panned pretty quickly as I remember. I think there was something happening downstairs and he was just turning quickly to leave the room, then whizzed back round a split second later when he saw it. I don't think you would have got past "there's..." before he had the camera back on the spot where it was.


Or maybe I'm just remembering it with rose tinted glasses... maybe I shouldn't revisit this after all :p
Ok, maybe it was a quicker pan. I haven't seen it. I'm just thinking of several other movies (none of which I can specifically remember details about) where the protagonist makes a slow pan with their camera or flashlight, casually passes over something that obviously shouldn't be there, and quickly jumps back to find it gone. Every time it happens (and it's apparently happened enough that it's become a pet peeve, even though I can't recall any specific instances of it) it makes me pseudo rage.
 
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