BBC fans remember ‘terrifying’ Parkinson mockumentary that never aired again

Horror fans are remembering BBC’s fake investigation film, Ghostwatch, ahead of the anniversary of when it first aired.

On Halloween night in 1992, the supposedly ‘live’ investigation into paranormal activity aired on BBC One at 9.25pm.

The mockumentary special was presented by famed talk show host Michael Parkinson, as well as children’s TV star Sarah Greene and broadcaster Mike Smith.

Ghostwatch followed the fictionalised Early clan, who lived in Northolt, north-west London, and documented the eerie goings on at their family home.

Viewers were first invited into the “most haunted house in Britain” where Pamela Early and her two children were being troubled by an unearthly being.

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Viewers were also told that a team of “researchers” had been investigating the movements of a poltergeist called Pipes.

During the film, Sir Michael urged terrified viewers to ring in with their own ghost stories before they watched Pipes “seize control” of the TV cameras.

Back at the Early’s house, Greene was seen disappearing into blackness while she searched for Pamela’s daughters. Police and paramedics were also seen arriving on the scene.

It’s said that if Ghostwatch viewers did ring the BBC hotline, they were allegedly met with a message that told them the show was a hoax.

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But the BBC switchboard was reportedly overwhelmed with roughly one million calls, lending to the idea that the mockumentary was truly “live” television.

Speaking about the jammed phone lines, Ghostwatch writer Stephen Volk said: “Ruth [Baumgarten] arrived with a white face and said the switchboard had been jammed at the BBC. I kind of laughed lightly and she said very seriously, ‘No, they really are jammed with people very irate’. That was a bit of a ‘gulp’ moment.”

Following the broadcast, the BBC received around 30,000 complaints, with some women claiming the horror special had induced their labour.

As per BBC, Volk continued: “A vicar phoned in to complain that even though he realised it wasn’t real he thought the BBC had raised demonic forces.

“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.”

The show itself, which was banned from being shown on British TV for 10 years, was inspired by the Enfield Poltergeist.

In 1977, Peddy Hodgson called the Metropolitan Police and claimed there was supernatural activity taking place at her home in Enfield, London.

Over 18 months, journalists and investigators looked into the claims but the case eventually went cold in 1979.

Ghostwatch has never aired again by BBC but is available to buy via DVD.

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