The Made-For-TV Horror Film Banned After Tragic Death
Long before the found footage horror genre became a Hollywood staple, there was 1992’s Ghostwatch. This influential BBC made-for-tv film is still remembered today by those who sat through the movie, which thousands claimed terrorized them. You see, Ghoswatch was believed to be real by so many viewers that it was banned after BBC reportedly received more than 30,000 complaints from horrified viewers claiming it induced labor, and even was the cause of a teen suicide.
More Than 30,000 Viewers Complained
Ghostwatch writer Stephen Volk told the BBC in 2017 that three women went into labor watching the movie. Thousands of viewers called the hotline advertised during the film, frightened or upset. But one fatal death was the final straw that led to the banning of Ghostwatch and an issue of apology from BBC.
Martin Denham’s Tragic Death
The Denham family watched Ghostwatch live. April And Percy Denham quickly noticed their 18-year-old son Martin growing restless as the film went on. The Denhams reported changes in their son in the following days.
“He seemed a bit upset because things were happening at that time in the house that had been happening [on Ghostwatch]. The pipes were banging,” his stepfather told BBC.
Just five days after watching Gostwatch, Martin took his own life. He left a note in his pocket that read “If there is ghosts I will now be one and I will always be with you as one.”
BBC Apologizes
Following an investigation by the Broadcasting Standards Commission, BBC issued an apology for Ghostwatch, and the broadcaster never replayed the movie on television again.
The Haunting
The BBC aired Ghostwatch on Halloween night in 1992. The production team put the film together as if it were one of the station’s popular live broadcast documentaries. To make this all the more believable for viewers at home, Ghostwatch starred Michael Parkinson, Mike Smith, Craig Charles, and Sarah Green – all well-known BBC presenters – to lead the paranormal investigation.
Ghostwatch centered around the four hosts investigating a haunting of two young English girls, Kim and Suzanne Early, by a ghost called Pipes. Pipes was the ghost of a deceased child molester. Throughout the film, furniture moves on its own, and the children are shown with scratch marks.
The Conjuring 2
If any of this sounds familiar, it is because Ghostwatch is believed to have been influenced by the 1970s real-life Enfield Poltergeist story. Recently, the ghost story was featured in The Conjuring 2, in which paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren travel to England to investigate the haunting.
Stream Ghostwatch
Luckily, the banned TV movie has not been buried, and there are multiple places for you to stream Ghostwatch today.
Besides the tragic incident in which Martin Denham took his life after watching the special, many who watched the BBC film more than 30 years ago look back at it now with fondness. If Ghostwatch had been released in a post-Blair Witch world, it wouldn’t have had the same impact it did in the ‘90s.
