Ghosts in the Machine

Documentary charting the history of the supernatural on British television, and how ghosts have been portrayed on the small screen. From Hamlet to Most Haunted, the apparitions have abandoned their traditional haunts of drama and comedy and crossed over into factual and reality TV.

Ghosts in the Machine celebrates classic ghost stories like The Stone Tape, and Whistle and I'll Come to You. It revisits controversial shows like Derren Brown's Seance and 1992's Ghostwatch, which convinced thousands of viewers that Michael Parkinson was possessed by a poltergeist.

The film examines the recent explosion of interest in the paranormal. How did ghosts get their own genre, and how did television become the medium of the medium?

Contributors include Derren Brown (Seance), Jane Asher (The Stone Tape), Kenneth Cope (Randall and Hopkirk Deceased), Yvette Fielding (Most Haunted), Mark Gatiss (Crooked House), Sarah Greene (Ghostwatch), Jonathan Miller (Whistle and I'll Come to You) and Bill Paterson (Sea of Souls). (R)

Broadcast on:

BBC Four, 2:00am Friday 25th December 2009

First broadcast:

Tuesday 27th October 2009

Duration:

60 minutes

Available until:

2:59am Friday 1st January 2010

Categories:

• Audio Described,
• Sign Zone,
• Factual,
• Arts, Culture & the Media