Ghostwatch: Behind the Curtains

One more to add to the ever-widening online collection of Ghostwatch fan-art, check out this truly demonic custom DVD cover from customaniacs.org . Taking its cues from the good-old Ceefax layout and, um... The Exorcist , the full-size image is available to download providing you first register with the site. Quite an interesting design choice, I think you'll agree, from creators, 'Boonsaint' and 'heirofthedog' - particularly the television set border, and spooky static distortion...   

Back when the Behind the Curtains project was just a gleam in our eyes, there was Ghostwatch.info - the very first fan-site dedicated to everyone's favourite Hallowe'en Hoax. To mark the recent updating of the BtC blog, we thought it might be interesting to look back and interview Stephen Freestone, the man behind the now sadly closed-down website, and find out what inspired him to take Ghostwatch for its first ride on the Information Super-Highway... Hi, Stephen! So, what are your earliest memories of Ghostwatch ? My earliest memories were from the night itself – October 31 1992. Three of us were together at a friend’s house, Dinsdales – not his real name, but a nick-name taken from the chant of Spiny Norman in Monty Python’s Flying Circus ! We were just chilling; playing Sensible Soccer and Speedball 2 on the classic Amiga 1500 computer, an amazing machine that sadly was superseded quickly by PCs. Anyway, come nearly 9.30 we looked to see what was on and the BBC ...

It's been so long since I last saw the fantastic Brit flick, Withnail & I , that I completely forgot about this little trivia tidbit. It goes without saying, it was real treat to catch the cult classic again on Film Four, recently. If you haven't done so already, I highly recommend you pick up a copy on DVD - if only to discover that at least one of Pipes' dozen cats was previously owned by Richard Griffith's character, Uncle Monty...

Wow, it's been a while since we last updated the blog, hasn't it? But then, we have been rather busy of late... An interesting excerpt here from E4's, X Rated: Top 20 Most Controversial TV Moments , hosted by the truly indomitable, Bronx Bunny and Teddy T. First broadcast back in 2005, the countdown/clip show/special discussed twenty controversial moments in TV history, with everyone's favourite Hallowe'en Hoax coming in at a well-deserved first place. Coming in at Number Four was the rather splendid, Séance , which according to its creator, Derren Brown, was partly inspired by Ghostwatch , too. Check out the segment, below - if only to discover that Terry Nutkins is apparently a fellow Ghostwatcher... Download Video as MP4

Shortly before the segment on Ghostwatch during the most recent episode of How TV Ruined Your Life , Charlie Brooker briefly mentioned Alternative 3 - a show with a similar premise which centered on the discovery of a government secret that could make or break the future of humanity. As a kind of spiritual precursor to the hugely enjoyable National Séance 2010 , coming April 1st 2011 will be the Alternative 3 Live Tweet Screening ! It's almost exactly the same setup as before - we'll be starting our copies of Alternative 3 at precisely the same time and ask you to do the same and tweet about what you're seeing on Twitter - although for this particular event, the date will reflect Alternative 3's originally planned broadcast rather than its actual transmission (the show was intended to be shown on April 1st 1977, but was pushed back to June 20th of the same year). The time to start your personal recording will be 21:00 sharp. A fitting date, I think you'l...

Last night, during the concluding episode of critic/cultural commentator Charlie Brooker's absorbing BBC series, How TV Ruined Your Life (specifically, at the 13:30 minute mark), the show took a unexpectedly spooky turn... Whilst on the subject of television's seemingly inherent ability to subjugate audiences' perceptions by blurring the lines between fact and fiction, we the audience were treated to a fleeting/erudite hark back to everyone's favourite Hallowe'en horror show. Most remarkable, and not to mention genuinely heartening to behold, was the overwhelmingly positive response that this little trip down (repressed) memory lane seemed to generate at near lightning-speed via The Online Voice Of The People™, Twitter - with news coming through at one point that the word 'Ghostwatch' had even taken on the intermittently distinguished title of Trending Topic. It's also worth noting how thoroughly encouraging it was to see even just a couple of m...

Of course, the real question here is why? ...and also, what? ...and where? and when? ... and finally maybe even, who? Not very likely to be heading to a toy shop near you any time soon is this curious little photo set recently found drifting across the increasingly haunted Interwebs... It's interesting to note how the creator of this eerily reminiscent reproduction of the seldom glimpsed Mr. Pipes seems to have gone for their own interpretation of the character's macabre appearance rather than just imitate the as yet only published photograph of actor Keith Ferrari in full make up and costume. Behind the Curta... --sorry-- ... scenes , Pipes' actual dress had more of a blue-greyish hue with a repeating pattern, but here, his funky threads seem to have more in common with the various tallying descriptions 'phoned in' to Mike Smith's studio hotline by concerned viewers, and later confirmed by Kim Early's university interview with Lin Pascoe: old man...