Stephen Volk – the writer behind the controversial Ghostwatch mockumentary – talks to Spooky Isles on its 30th anniversary.
Ghostwatch terrified Britain when it was broadcast on the BBC primetime Halloween night in 1992. Stephen Volk – the writer behind the controversial mockumentary – talks to Spooky Isles about the TV special’s legacy, as well as his thoughts on paranormal reality television, the art of the ghost story among other spooky things.
Stephen Volk quotes about Ghostwatch from video
- “Ghostwatch is about ‘be careful what you wish for.’ The audience wishes to see a ghost, and that’s what causes the ghost to appear.”
- “I was expecting really that people might kind of go along with it 10 to 15 minutes and then realise that they sit read between the lines and realise I know this is this is constructed like a drama.”
- “I think there is a resemblance but I think the intention was very different [between Ghostwatch and Most Haunted].”
- “If I was doing it again I wouldn’t bother fictionalising it, I’d just maybe take the format and just do it and see what happens.”
- “I always say, you know, it’s not up to me to come up with the next one, it’s up to somebody else to do the next one and I will be the most delighted person to be shocked and scared and maybe outraged by whatever the next person comes up with in a way that I couldn’t dream of.”
Watch the full Stephen Volk video on YouTube here
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