How to Survive: Ghostwatch (1992)

How to Survive

How to Survive is now on Patreon! Support us at Patreon.com/HowtoSurvivePod to get every episode one week early, plus monthly bonus episodes and more.

It’s episode 295…and what big eyes you have, what big hands you have.

Ghostwatch (1992) was broadcast ‘as live’ on BBC 1, on Halloween night in 1992, and saw TV stalwarts Michael Parkinson and Sarah Greene trying to prove the existence of the paranormal by taking a camera crew to ‘the most haunted house in Britain’. While the show documented the Early family’s suffering at the hands of Mr Pipes, the poltergeist, the real story began after the show’s broadcast, where tens of thousands felt duped by its immaculate recreation of 1990s live broadcasting tropes.

We break down an underrated shout for the most influential horror movie of all time, discuss a directorial tour-de-force that left a nation unable to trust some of its most beloved presenters, ponder the various reasons for the furore that followed its broadcast and wonder whether Ghostwatch could ever be made today.

All of which leads to one question: How would you survive?

Whatever happens, one thing's for sure: the studio's...completely dark. Just... just blackness.

Next time on the main feed, we’re watching Censor (2021), while on the Patreon we’re looking at cult classic Possession (1981).