Anyone remember Ghostwatch with Craig Charles?

[p2p_productions]

Hi, all.

They’re looking for fans to write in and comment on the infamous BBC special, Ghostwatch, for a new retrospective documentary.

http://www.youtube.com/GhostwatchBtC

Anyone else here remember seeing it (back in the early nineties)? Very scary! Craig was great in it, too.

Topic

[Andrew]

Remember it?! It scared the life out of me at the time. I kept it on VHS, used it in a media class during my A-levels (man, we’re going back now) and eventually replaced my tape with the DVD. (Kudos to the BFI for the commentary and script/treatment PDFs.) A few hard-to-fake performances aside, it’s still superb.

[Pete Part Three]

Missed it on its original airing but still remember the reaction the following day at school. Rented it on DVD a few years ago and was rather bemused by the whole thing.

I guess the most recent equivalent is Derren Brown : S?ance, which provoked a similar sort of response.

[Zombie Jim Undead]

Didn’t see it at the time…but did see it in recent years. You probably had to be there.

Nice idea but the whole thing was so impossibly hammy it was hard to believe anyone thought it was real.

[Seb Patrick]

There’s an article detailing all the Pipes appearances on NTS. I’d link to it, but then I’d have to look at it again. Suffice to say, my one viewing of this thing has SCARED THE BEJEEZUS OUT OF ME FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE. It’s the fact that it lulls you into a false sense of security by being so crap for about half to three quarters of an hour, and then suddenly THE ENTIRE WORLD GOES TO HELL. Nyarg.

[Baz]

I recall seeing the original. Very scary, very atmospheric, even though I knew it was a drama-docu. There were reports of the BBC switchboard jamming up with people screaming “For God’s sake stop this madness!”. Despite the fact that the credits ran after Parkie was possessed with a credit for both the visual effects AND the guy who played Pipes. The announcer beforehand said it was all made up, the Radio Times said it was made up and you still had people wetting themselves. A few children were supposed to have suffered Post Traumatic Stress disorder because of it, even a suicide was reported. It was pitched perfectly for the times though, got the DVD and watching that it wasn’t the same.

I almost wrote in to complain that Sarah Greene had NOT in fact been dragged into a cellar to be messily devoured. I had such hopes.

[Zombie Jim Undead]

Wish I’d seen it at the time cos I’m sure it would’ve scared the shite out of me.

I remember being scared of a CBBC show called “Moondial”…and after tracking it down on video many years later was stunned about how utterly tame it was.

[ChrisM]

I haven’t seen this. From that clip there appears to be some genuinely jump-worthy stuff, and the reactions of the house-members was realistic (are they acting, or did they think it was for real when it filmed?)

Yeti man in the cupboard though?

Really?

[p2p_productions]

Actually, the ‘Yeti-man’ was Craig Charles in a mask trying to frighten Sarah Greene for a bet with Mike Smith!

[ChrisM]

Ah, ok. Context certainly helps.

[Seb Patrick]

[p2p_productions]

Mr. Pipes makes an appearance at the end of this clip, too.

[hummingbird]

Remember it? Abso-fuckin-lutely.
Scared the shit out of me.

To tell the truth, I’d forgotten that Craig was in it.

[Tanya Jones]

I watched it on DVD years after it was aired, and it scared me. Brrr.

[John Hoare]

Ghostwatch is fucking great, anyway, yes, and still unnerves me today. (At the time, I kind of half-knew and half-didn’t-know that it was a play. I think I *wanted* it to be real more than anything!) I love the pace of it – I just can’t imagine a show properly building up the atmosphere like that for three-quarters of its running time. The temptation must have been to go straight into it, even just at the halfway point, but it would have utterly ruined it.

The only issue I really have – apart from the odd dodgy bit of acting from the mother – is the ending. It so nearly works brilliantly – the exploding lights and dark studio are great – but there’s one shot of Parky in a windy studio with the lights flashing that looks hokey. It’s just ONE shot that doesn’t work, and it annoys me every time I see it.

The real genius of the show is in the casting – Parky, Mike Smith, Sarah Green, and Craig Charles are all superb – and do the job FAR better than getting actors in would have done. They’re the ones who sell the show.

It definitely unnerved me for several weeks after, anyway – to the point of getting properly scared, and not wanting to be alone. But then I’m still terrified by Knightmare!

[Phil]

>and Craig Charles are all superb – and do the job FAR better than getting actors in would have done.

I know you’re not his biggest fan, but don’t begrudge him the fact that he’s an actor!

[ChrisM]

I used to quite like that ‘Most Haunted’ show.

It got old fast though, what with all the screaming at every little noise etc… (And I’m quite open-minded where the so called* supernatural is concerned.)

It was quite funny though everyone winding themselves up. (I understand ‘Ghostwatch’ was essentially a gag though.)

*Here’s the Terry Pratchett bit. I say ‘so called supernatural’, because, if it were real, if ghosts etc, exist, they’d be a natural part of the world surely? I.e. not ‘super’ just not understood… And I don’t mean that in a ‘he’s a good spook really, he just had a poor upbringing’ kind of way. ;)

[John Hoare]

I know you?re not his biggest fan, but don?t begrudge him the fact that he?s an actor!

I added Craig Charles to the end after I’d written the sentence.

I really like Craig’s acting in the first six series – he gets an unfair rap. It’s only in VII – and this isn’t a general slagging off of the series, just a specific criticism – that he starts getting dodgy. (I know some people – including himself – dislike his Series 1 performance, but I think, with the odd exception, he’s great.)

[ChrisM]

>(I know some people – including himself – dislike his Series 1 performance, but I think, with the odd exception, he?s great.)

I agree. I thought he was a bit dodgy in the first scene of The End, but then he was pretty new to the acting thing then. He certainly came into his own very quickly.

[Phil]

Ah, I’m just giving you a hard time. Granted, it took him a short time to really “become” Lister, but that’s perfectly understandable, and it probably only stands out because both Chris and Norm started off with a close to perfect handle on their characters.

[John Hoare]

I must admit, I find it difficult to figure out how much everyone changed their performances for Series III.

It *feels* like they changed them massively… and yet I’m not sure this is the case. It’s just that all the other changes – set, costumes, and of course the writing – mean that I can’t quite isolate the changes in performance, as stupid as that sounds.

Rimmer is definitely written as a softer character in most of III though, and I think that’s what Barrie plays.

[pfm]

He’s already softer in series 2. Up until V there is genuine character development (then VI hits and it’s like ‘oh look at how stupid and self-aware we all are’, though that’s majorly down to the writing, the performances are still all great).

As much as I love the first two series’ I think in III everything was taken a touch more seriously and more effort was put into performances. Maybe with Robert coming in the core three from 1 and 2 subconsciously upped their games. Also, when you’ve got scripts like Marooned to deal with, how could you not?

Regarding Ghostwatch I absolutely love it. I so wish I’d seen it originally and not after it had been on every clip show related to the ’90s over the years. I wonder whether the BBC will reshow it, perhaps on BBC Four. It’s true that even though some of the performances of the family are dodgy you STILL believe it in the end, you certainly want to dare to believe it’s really happening. And this is when watching it on DVD 15 years after broadcast FFS!

The very end does ruin it though. They shouldn’t have kept it to the house. I genuinely think that they thought everyone would take it as a joke if they did the crazy stuff at the end in the studio. The thing is, people had already lost it and complained by that stage! It’s proof that you can’t do a truly compelling piece of TV without getting shot down by people who shouldn’t even own a ruddy tellybox *said in the style of an E4 trail* Craig, Parky and the others are believable because what you have to say and do as a presenter on genuine programmes is just as full of bollocks. Most things are done as scripted anyway. Sarah Greene (who’s career was badly affected by Ghostwatch, believe it or not) had the hardest job.

[John Hoare]

Oh, I know Rimmer’s softer in 2. But that’s the bit that’s always mentioned – I think his performance and the writing for the character changes significantly between 2 and III… and it’s never really talked about. But I can’t figure out how *much* he changes, because of all the other changes to the show – whereas the difference in the character between 1 and 2 is essy to see, because there’s less other changes.

[Tanya Jones]

Crikey, I didn’t realise the helicopter accident Sarah Greene had with Mike Smith left her unable to have children; that’s really sad. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Greene

I always liked Sarah on Going Live! and thought she was excellent on Ghostwatch.

[p2p_productions]

http://www.ghostwatchbtc.blogspot.com

[hummingbird]

> http://www.ghostwatchbtc.blogspot.com

Aw. Why do these thing never feed to livejournal?
Yes, I know lj’s kind of sad, but I like sad.

[Andrew]

> http://www.ghostwatchbtc.blogspot.com

I’d be far more interested in this whole Ghostwatch project if someone actually explained what it is.

I got as far as the YouTube page a long time ago – I’m a big fan of the show – and was immediately put off contributing in any way. It talks of plans for a documentary, asks for contributions…but gives zero indication of WHO is asking, or what form the thing will take.

It may just be the result of a few cynical years of contracts and production, but without that information, I really don’t trust anything.

[Seb Patrick]

>Aw. Why do these thing never feed to livejournal?
Yes, I know lj?s kind of sad, but I like sad.

Anyone with a paid LJ account can turn an RSS feed into an LJ one. If you’ve not got one, let me know and I’ll sort one out.

[Mnoooah]

This is kind of neat, but I couldn’t imagine how anyone could take this for real, before I realised that ‘reality’ acting hadn’t been invented yet and they had to make do with regular acting.

[Ian Symes]

Are you Chris M in disguise?

[ChrisM]

There is a saying in the Bible “Out of the mouths of two or three witnesses, a matter is established.”

I rest my case.

Not really, just kidding.

I’ve yet to see this ‘Ghost Watch’, apart from a clip on youtube posted a while back. Wish I’d seen it at the time wondering for myself if it were real or not.

[Author]

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