September 15th 2023.
Sir Michael Parkinson fans have been begging the BBC to air Ghostwatch, the cult horror show that was broadcast on Halloween in 1992. The show featured late husband and wife Mike Smith and Sarah Greene, as well as the legendary Sir Michael, who sadly died in August 2023 at the age of 88.
The pseudo TV documentary saw Greene 'reporting live' from a haunted house in Northolt, Greater London, to capture activity from a malevolent entity called 'Mr. Pipes'. Parkinson was seen presenting from the studio, while Smith took calls from the public. During the broadcast, viewers watched as Mr. Pipes took over the house and possessed Parkinson in the studio, after creating a nationwide seance.
The show was deemed too terrifying for viewers and resulted in thousands of complaints. In recent years it has gained a cult audience, and fans have been calling for the BBC to air it again. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like they'll get their wish.
Greene, who is now 65, has revealed on the Beyond The Title podcast that the BBC are too nervous to show it again. She says: “They won’t even repeat it, people have repeatedly asked the BBC to repeat and they won’t, they won’t repeat it. I think it would be fun. But part of me thinks actually it’s probably best they don’t because then it stays in that kind of slightly cult, niche area.”
Greene believes that it's unlikely the show will be re-made either, as modern audiences are too smart to be duped. She adds: “I don’t think you could do another one, because it’s been done and people would spot it a mile off. They’d say, ‘Well, this is a drama.’ I don’t know if you could do that again, really. I think the BBC would be very nervous of it.”
Despite this, Greene is proud of the impact the show had and the fact that it inspired the found-footage horror genre, which was popularised by movies like The Blair Witch Project. She says: “It went out and it had a huge audience and it had an amazing reaction. It got a massive audience on the night but it sort of gets more popular every year, it gains a new audience and even though it now looks quite old-fashioned, I think there’s something about the story, the energy of it that still holds up for people watching it for the first time. I think that’s down to the writing of it and certainly down to Lesley’s direction. I don’t think we realised it was going to be ground-breaking.”
It's clear that Ghostwatch has left a lasting impression on viewers, and although fans may not get their wish to see it aired again, it can still be enjoyed by horror fans around the world.
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