Ghostwatch: Behind the Curtains

Greetings, Ghostwatchers. Fandom naturally engenders a protective atmosphere. Even fair-minded criticism can be instinctively resisted, and often-times repelled by fans of their particular, chosen following. Far too often, opinions are misconstrued as personal attacks, testing the cotton-swaddled bonds of joy & emotional connectivity through uncaring logic. In my experience, topics often ripe for heartless joy-shredding include spaghetti hoop continuity, blisteringly outdated political commentary, or the media in question otherwise not standing-up to the test of time [i.e. the crushing realisation that your favourite show was actually always a bit shit].

Greetings, Ghostwatchers! In 1999, it was hard not to be excited by the oncoming arrival of instant, Indie classic, The Blair Witch Project; least of all given its groundbreaking marketing campaign. As a production, it was daring, it was creative, and it was bloody scary. For those reasons and more, it has long-remained a firm favourite of mine. Ironically, I didn't get the chance to see the film in cinemas. Nevertheless, I was determined to finally check it out on VHS as soon as it landed at the now long-lost 321 Video rental store, up the road.

Greetings, Ghostwatchers! During a previous episode of popular Channel 4 show, The Last Leg, co-host, Josh Widdicombe dared fellow co-host Adam Hills to find a copy of Ghostwatch . Given the nature of most topical satire magazine shows, you'd be forgiven for assuming the following week's instalment might - just might - feature a fairly insignificant follow-up to that altogether encouraging recommendation. Well, who'd have thought the ectoplasm would well-and-truly hit the fan?

Greetings, Ghostwatchers! Thanks so much once again for joining us for National Séance Live . Such was the planning & build-up this year, not counting the deep sleeps that followed, that our usual next-day write-up has taken a little longer to put together. Well, 2020 has been a challenge for most of us, to be fair. It's heartening to know that with great obstacles can come extraordinary workarounds. 

Greetings, Ghostwatchers! NATIONAL SÉANCE LIVE  //  SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31st, 2020 Right, now that that's taken care of, if you'd like to take part in this year's special 10th Anniversary, National Séance Live event, all you need is a DVD or VHS copy of Ghostwatch, and the following YouTube links... The first is the ORIGINAL CONTINUITY ANNOUNCEMENT as recorded and shared by long-time supporter and friend of the project, Stephen Freestone. For 'added authenticity', play this approximately ONE MINUTE before we start (21:24). As soon as it's finished, HIT PLAY on your DVD or VHS copy of Ghostwatch. The second video is/will be the EMBEDDED NATIONAL SÉANCE LIVE YOUTUBE STREAM. We expect to start the proceedings at 21:00 with the main presentation commencing at 21:25, as always. Why? That's exactly the same time Ghostwatch aired 28 years ago - which also happened to be a Saturday. If you don't have a copy of Ghostwatch handy, don't worry. You're ...

Greetings, Ghostwatchers! To mark the upcoming, special anniversary edition of National Séance, writer-creator, Stephen Volk has very kindly shared his original Series Outline for Ghostwatch [sorry, better make that, "Ghost Watch" ] to check out, and it's a fascinating, if inescapably eerie read. Not only that, but Stephen has kindly written a few words to accompany the pages, below... So this, arguably the distilled concept for the first iteration of the programme – then envisioned as a five-part serial – largely came about due to the then-soaring response to Martin Campbell & Troy Kennedy Martin's seminal 1985 eco-thriller, Edge of Darkness. Famously, Stephen's agent suggested to him at the time that the BBC might be receptive to a 'darker' mode of storytelling, and this is what he produced.

Greetings, Ghostwatchers! In anticipation of this year's National Seance Live event, I was fortunate enough to speak with Rob from the Hidden Britain Sign Co, regarding their exciting new creation, now available to pre-order... a real-life Foxhill Drive street sign! Ironically, despite the now-iconic nature of the film's fictitious locale, such a prop never appears during the programme, itself. Given the many opportunities, as there always are, you'd be forgiven for thinking there was time to sneak-in a quick shot during the opening titles, or even a fleeting glimpse when Craig wanders up the road to speak with Yvonne Etherley... but, alas not. Even so, that hasn't stopped Rob from expertly crafting something striking and evocative - so much so that you'd be forgiven for thinking that it came straight from the 1992 BBC Props Department.