Ghostwatch (1992) (Black Label 028 101 Films)

[oddbox83]

Originally Posted by tony mitchell

Amazon.UK still shows Oct 31 release but Zaavi just cancelled my pre-order so something is afoot.

It may well be delayed, but Zavvi are a law unto themselves.

[indisposed]

Originally Posted by RossyG

Same. I was a kid and I laughed because I thought it was part of the show. I watched it one more time when it appeared on YouTube and his collapse seemed to have perfect comedy timing, so I understood why I thought that.

In fact, the whole family watched the rest of the show oblivious and didn’t find out until my brother came home late and said that he’d had a heart attack. It was obviously pre-internet so he must’ve heard it on the radio driving home.

I’ve encountered people online who swear they remember watching Michael Lush fall to his death on The Late Late Breakfast Show, which is odd as it happened during a midweek rehearsal and was never filmed.

I was only a year old when the Tommy Cooper death was televised, but I grew up hearing about it through my mother. According to her, my father (who was a paramedic and died the following year from a similarly random heart attack) turned to her during the program and said "something seriously wrong just happened, there". After the program had finished, the "News at Ten" came on and they reported that he had died. Again, this is the way my mother has always recounted what happened, so I can't say for sure.

As for Michael Lush's death... Maybe they are confusing it with this close-call...

Noel Edmonds Stunt Crash - YouTube

Even the usually unflapable John Peel seems shaken up by it, while Noel Edmonds seems to take gleeful pleasure in a stunt that has no concern for the spectators watching, never mind the person partaking in the stunt itself ; it's been said that Peel never spoke to Edmonds again after that. The way the show ends with the audience robotically clapping, further adds to how cold and calculated the situation was.

[CompleteCount]

Originally Posted by indisposed

I was only a year old when the Tommy Cooper death was televised, but I grew up hearing about it through my mother. According to her, my father (who was a paramedic and died the following year from a similarly random heart attack) turned to her during the program and said "something seriously wrong just happened, there". After the program had finished, the "News at Ten" came on and they reported that he had died. Again, this is the way my mother has always recounted what happened, so I can't say for sure..

Your mother is absolutely right! It's exactly how I vividly remember it.

I was 10 when it was broadcast, and it initially just seemed like a bit of Tommy Cooper "business", and I remember the audience laughing at it. It was when he was slumped, barely sitting up, for a little too long, everyone in my family knew that something was very wrong. The hand reaching in to pull him behind the curtain confirmed it was serious - the audience hadn't entirely cottoned on, and were chuckling as he slumped onto his back as the band hastily started up to usher in a hasty cut to adverts, confirming what my family had thought. I remember the eerie atmosphere in my front room during the break, and the how it all felt "off" when Les Dennis & Dustin Gee tried to jolly up the rest of the show.

After Live From Her Majesty's finished, the ITV News At Ten confirmed that Cooper had died on stage.

Watching the footage now, it's really unsettling. Not long after he hit the floor, life just left him - his face had instantly lost its colour and his body had gone limp. It's almost a miracle that he ended up in a cross-legged position, as he could have pitched straight forward and literally cracked his head open, leaving the audience (both in the theatre and at home) absolutely freaking out.

[RossyG]

Ha ha, I must come from an obtuse family. I was watching the Cooper incident with my parents and maternal grandfather and we all assumed it was part of the act. I remember my dad saying something along the lines of “What’s so funny about that?”

We were also regular Late Late Breakfast Show viewers (along with millions of others) and my parents were very critical of the Whirly Wheel stunts, saying that someone could get killed doing those. We definitely saw that car stunt that went wrong (the first one. I didn’t remember until watching the video above that unbelievably they allowed the second attempt to happen). I didn’t remember Edmonds’s reaction to it, either, but maybe my family were expressing their shock. He definitely comes across as uncaring. If Peel was disgusted by that then he goes even further up in my estimation.

I recall someone who appeared on Telly Addicts saying they were in the green room with the other contestants (competing families) before the show and Edmonds entered. They all expected him to introduce himself and welcome them, but he just crossed to the buffet, selected a sandwich, then departed without a word. But during the show he acted like they were his mates. And then the show ended and he just walked away.

Makes him sound very egotistical and calculating.

I remember another Whirly Wheel stunt where someone jumped from a bridge onto a moving train. They just needed to mistime it and they’d have dropped between the carriages and been crushed.

According to Wikipedia, there was another planned stunt that was banned not by the BBC who were all for it but by the authorities. The intent was for someone to be rescued from an industrial chimney by helicopter just before it was brought down Fred Dibnah style.

They definitely were an accident waiting to happen and the disregard for safety shown by the BBC was astonishing.

[steve dubbleyoo]

In a podcast interview with Richard Herring, Les Dennis confirmed that Cooper was actually revived and passed away in hospital later that evening.

[RossyG]

My memory, faulty as it is, is that the official news on the night was that Cooper was still alive. It wasn’t until the next day that his death was announced.

[indisposed]

Off topic here (well, slightly), but I ended up re-watching this fascinating Channel 4 documentary from 2004...

Who Killed Saturday Night TV ? (part 1 of 7) - YouTube

It's in parts and it's a fairly long doc (about two hours), but they interview Edmonds who shows something resembling remorse. It's interesting that they interview the producer of "The Late, Late Breakfast Show", who seems to take great pleasure in tearing into Edmonds, but maybe he's just passing the buck.

The documentary is well worth watching for the shameless way they hyped up the audience for The Price is Right.

[ZombieTwin2]

Originally Posted by CompleteCount

It was when he was slumped, barely sitting up, for a little too long, everyone in my family knew that something was very wrong.

…apart from our dear mother who broke the eerie silence by exclaiming:

“That last joke wasn’t very funny…”

Kev W

[drush9999]

I was 9 at the time and did watch it, but never clocked he died on air until years later.

[IVI13]

Coming up on Radio 3 on October 27

The director and writer of Ghostwatch Lucy Manning and Stephen Volk join Matthew Sweet and academic Lucy Arnold to look back at the reality–horror/pseudo-documentary TV, which aired on British tv screens on Halloween night 1992. The BBC switchboard received an estimated 1,000,000 phone calls on the night of the broadcast and it has never been repeated on British TV, although it is now part of a BFI season exploring horror.

[hoejunter]

The fact that it’s never been repeated again is really funny to me

[AlexMcL]

Emailed 101 this week and got a reply back saying release date was still October 31st.

[HorrorBlu]

^ I'm in the US, but I'd looooove to have this in time for Halloween.

Not getting my hopes up though, and already made peace with the December release date.

[TK_171]

Got dispatch email from 101 films! Barring any Royal Mail delays this'll be my Halloween night watch : )

[ProfXtacy]

I’ve been to Her Majesty’s Theatre a number of times over recent years, it is the home of Phantom of the Opera now and I always think about Tommy Cooper when I go.

Wouldn’t it be something if when the Phantom makes his appearance, he looks at the audience and says, ‘Just like that, not like that, like that.’

[levcore]

Rewatched this last night (the DVD) and i think it holds up great, i can't believe the BBC didn't produce more of these, especially more recently now that nobody cares about the fuss this caused when it came out. having a fake live broadcast of a supernatural/ haunting type event is a great format and the whole real time approach works great. It feels like a found footage movie in that sense.

Mike Smith and Craig Charles seem underused but Parky and Sarah Greene are terrific in selling the whole thing, as are most of the other actors. it's only really the two daughters who occasionally let the side down, but nothing that spoils the overall experience.

By the time it gets to the big supernatural finale it seems particularly hilarious now that anybody at the time thought it was real (perhaps that aspect has been overblown somewhat). Also the thought of people phoning in to complain, complain about what exactly lol. Being duped? Being scared?

Anyway great entertainment 30 years later.

[Killer Meteor]

Originally Posted by levcore

Rewatched this last night (the DVD) and i think it holds up great, i can't believe the BBC didn't produce more of these, especially more recently now that nobody cares about the fuss this caused when it came out. having a fake live broadcast of a supernatural/ haunting type event is a great format and the whole real time approach works great. It feels like a found footage movie in that sense.

Mike Smith and Craig Charles seem underused but Parky and Sarah Greene are terrific in selling the whole thing, as are most of the other actors. it's only really the two daughters who occasionally let the side down, but nothing that spoils the overall experience.

By the time it gets to the big supernatural finale it seems particularly hilarious now that anybody at the time thought it was real (perhaps that aspect has been overblown somewhat). Also the thought of people phoning in to complain, complain about what exactly lol. Being duped? Being scared?

Anyway great entertainment 30 years later.

It did lead to a suicide and PTSD in viewers, I think the Beeb can be forgiven for being somewhat hesistant.

[levcore]

I think there's more than enough water under the bridge now for the BBC to revisit the concept.

[MatOfTheDead]

my copy just arrived

[The Hornets]

Originally Posted by MatOfTheDead

my copy just arrived

When you have time please can you confirm the frame rate. Is it the 50fps interlaced as promised rather than sped up. Also, whether mastering looks okay as presume it is upscaled video.

Have been holding off ordering until knew how this turned out.