The BBC's Most Controversial TV Show - Inside A Mind

Reality and Fiction have blurred together many times on TV and media. This is one of the very first cases that gained mainstream attention before the BBC made attempts to cover it up.

Ghostwatch was a TV Programme that aired on 31st October 1992, appearing to be a live broadcast going horribly wrong. Gaining 20 - 30,000 phone calls all at once while it was live

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Thank you all for watching!

[jamesflames]

"After watching your show my child was too scared to sleep until we removed the replica of a dead body we leave standing over his bed"

[georgeofakind]

The kid killing himself reminds me of something that happened around the time the game Doki Doki Literature Club came out, where a young man also committed suicide, and mother found the game on his laptop. Despite the fact the kid had been struggling with mental health issues, his mother saw the game's dark content and immediately blamed that, and threatened to sue the developers.

[bekkahboodles]

Moral of the story: Parents need to hold themselves responsible for what their children watch. I mean, really! Your kid got PTSD because YOU let them watch a horror show that stated it wasn't for kids? Sounds to me like you made a bad parenting decision. Lazy parents never seem to stop traumatizing their children by exposing them to adult content.

[thatoneannoyingtornadosire]

if you, as a parent, thought this show was real and depicting real horrifying events... why would you- let alone let your kid continue watching the show until it gave them PTSD?
if anything, this show provides more insight into how little parents actually care about the environment they place their children in and how large that problem is.

[MsGothmum]

Ghostwatch was really, genuinely scary but it was on quite late in the evening which should have been a clue that it wasn't suitable for children.

[knightboulegard]

BBC: Has warnings and advertises it as fake, also has credits at the end further making the audience know that it’s fiction.
Parents: MAH HUSBUND SOYLED HIZ PANTS

[Artcat]

I like how they literally had a disclaimer that was basically “This show is fiction, and is horror unsuitable for children, do not watch if you are uncomfortable.” and yet people still were offended when it was horror, and thought it was real.

[sunoolys]

The show discussed suicide, the son was probably going through depression and suicidal thoughts. His parents just accused the TV show because they can’t accept the fact that their son committed suicide because of other problems, that they didn’t care enough ( I’m not saying that all parents who lose their child to suicide are at fault, but if you’re a parent who blames your child’s suicide on a tv show it kinda hints at your incapability of acting out your role as a parental figure ) they should have looked for other clues and reasons such as bullying.

[elton]

I remember seeing Ghostwatch when I was 10. I had no idea about all the controversy about it. I was staying at my mum's friends house. My Mum and Dad had gone out for the night. I watched it with my mums friend. She was saying "This can't be real, it's too ridiculous", I believed it was real - Until I saw the credits roll and she said "See I told you it wasn't real, there's a writer, it's all made-up." So I went to bed.

[javidhussainzade]

This is like buying your young child a game like GTA when you know they are not old enough and being mad at the creators of the game when you see how inappropriate it is for your child.

[rosewaters]

That was so clever. Real time interaction with the audience and having them give input on what they saw from the footage and putting the pieces together. It was a show ahead of its time.

[hopkinsmiler]

I watched this live. I accidently tuned in after it had started and I attempted to call the number. It really worked to scare a 12 year old me. But even the 12 year old me figured out it was fiction when the credits rolled. This is one of my best memories of watching television.

[diegoandrade]

“My son was scared”
That’s like complaining about the spicy in a Chili pepper.

[auggiemain]

BBC: This show is scary
Show: *is scary*
Parents: I've been bamboozled

[ScarletImp]

So a kid basically watches a horror TV show, kills himself, and the parents blame the producers of the show for this? Sounds like a classic tale ot poor parenting and blame-shifting.

[asterisque]

This is art! They were way ahead of their times. It is beautiful.
It was literally announced it was fake. Why did parents have to do that? I love this. I just hope the actors, directors and writers did well after this...

[fakecore]

This has the same energy as parents taking their kids to see Joker or other R rated films and then blaming the employees at the theatre for not warning them about the violence

[rlinders]

BBC: This show is not for children.

Karen: *It’s free real estate.*

[GabeNode]

Having Michael Parkinson present this was a stroke of pure genius and it's so good they got him on board with it. Hard to think of a TV figure at the time who was considered as trustworthy, wholesome and upstanding.

[peterlarkin]

I remember watching this as an 11 year old boy. I had recorded it, being already a little fascinated by the paranormal. I watched it the next day while alone in my Dad's house while he was at work and by the end of the program I was on the phone to him screaming hysterically because I could hear noises coming from upstairs! I can totally see why some children ended with PTSD, thankfully I didn't. In many ways, this program gave me my strength; I have had a few ghostly experiences in my life and never allowed the fear to take over.