Most Haunted

Most Haunted
File:Most h logo.jpg Official Most Haunted logo
Created by	Yvette Fielding, Karl Beattie
Starring	Yvette Fielding David Wells Ciarán O'Keeffe Karl Beattie Paul Ross
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	135 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer	Yvette Fielding
Running time	Series 1 = 30 mins Series 2+ = 60 mins
Original release
Network	Living
Release	25 May, 2002 – present

Most Haunted is a British paranormal television programme based on investigating purported paranormal activity. It is shown on the satellite and cable channels Living, Living2 and Virgin 1 (Formerly Ftn), primarily for the UK market. It is also shown in the United States on the Travel Channel and on the W Channel in Australia. It is produced by Antix Productions, led by Yvette Fielding and her husband Karl Beattie.

The show started its tenth series on 19th February 2008.

Production

The team travel around the UK, and also Ireland, the Netherlands and the United States, investigating alleged paranormal 'hotspots' for 24 hours at a time.

Photography

The photographic style of the series has changed considerably since series 1. In the first series many elaborate shots were set up with an almost 'theatrical' style, with illuminated windows and dry ice. Locations were often illuminated outside at night time, with blue and green colours. From series 1 - 3 there was extensive use of the steadicam, which provided gliding shots during Yvette's ghostly tales or for general views. In series 8 the team introduced a camera crane or 'jib' system for elaborate aerial shots of both Yvette and the locations. Most of the photography in Most Haunted focuses on 'general views' of a location and its surroundings. Most Haunted is filmed with both broadcast Sony DVcams and Sony PC120 miniDV cameras with night vision facility.

Editing

The original editor, Neil Haggerty, is said by many fans to be responsible for the creation of the original Most Haunted look. Neil created intricate edits, using a wide range of visual effects such as dust and scratchings and luminescent transitions. He also used many other devices such as slow or sped-up images from the steadicam to create gliding shots, imposing and superimposing and many other effects resulting in the show looking sophisticated edit wise. The show was edited at 422 in Manchester from series 1 - 5 and from series 6 has been edited on Antix' own edit suites. Neil left after series 4 and was replaced by an 'edit team'. This resulted in a different editor for almost every episode. The style of editing has changed considerably with less visual effects used now and more 'edit' effects, such as lens darkening and light play used.

Music

Most Haunted's music score has been composed by Alan Clark; however much of the score is composed of straight copies of loops and samples from the Spectrasonics sample libraries Distorted Reality, Metamorphosis and Biazzare Guitar, which are mixed together to form the overall flowing soundtrack.

Sister shows

• Most Haunted Extra: runs directly after premiere episodes, documenting behind-the-scenes antics of the cast and crew on that night's location.
• Most Haunted Unseen: re-release of complete series one but with added footage bringing the duration of the programme from half an hour to an hour.
• Most Haunted Live!

Main article: Most Haunted Live!

• Most Haunted Live: Access All Areas: similar to Most Haunted Extra. Features behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the team.
• Most Haunted Midsummer Murders: Eight part series where Most Haunted investigators try to solve murder mysteries in normal English villages. Hosted by Most Haunted Live historian Lesley Smith. The series commenced on a weekly broadcast from 2007-06-19 to 2007-07-31 and the team visited (in order of broadcast) Stoney Middleton, Nantwich, Castleton, Pluckley, Ruthin, Tutbury Tarvin and Bakewell.
• Most Haunted: Recurring Nightmares: Series which the presenters tell and recall their most feared visits.

The team

Most Haunted features a main presenter, a psychic medium and a parapsychologist. Essentially the latter two create an even balance between paranormal and scientific explanations for the various phenomena that occur. These are supported by some of the production crew, who appear in the show and generally have some interactivity with various parts of the investigation whilst performing their normal crew role. Most of these on-screen crew members also take part in séances.

Name	Show role	Crew role	Started
Yvette Fielding	Presenter / Investigator	Executive producer	Series 1
David Wells	Medium	Spiritual Medium	Series 4
Johnnie Fiori	Guest Medium	Spirit Medium	Series 9
Dr Ciarán O'Keeffe	Parapsychologist	None	Series 2
Karl Beattie	Investigator	Producer, Director	Series 1
Stuart Torevell	Investigator	Rigger, Camera operator	Series 1
Catherine Howe	Investigator	Hair and Make-up	Series 2
Iain Cash	Investigator	Camera Operator	Series 6
Geoff Adams	None	Director of Photography	Series 9

The show has also featured guest mediums. So far these have been Ian Lawman, Ian Shillito, Gordon Smith, Uri Geller and Kevin Wade. Some episodes have also included at least one celebrity. So far celebrities have included Vic Reeves, Nancy Sorrell, Gaby Roslin, Scott Mills, Mark Chapman, Simon Gregson, Sue Cleaver, Carol Thatcher, Paul O'Grady and Lee Ryan. For the series 10 episode of Coalhouse Fort the team were joined by Ryan O'Niel.

Former team members

The following is a list of former team and crew members who have had some significant input to the show so far.

Name	Role	Duration
Derek Acorah	Spiritualist Medium	Series 1-6
Ian Shillito	Psychic Medium/Sensitive	Series 8
Phil Whyman	Paranormal Investigator	Series 2-4
Jason Karl	Paranormal Investigator	Series 1
Steve Parsons	Paranormal Investigator	Series 8
Matthew Smith	Parapsychologist	Series 2-8
Louie Savva	Parapsychologist	Series 7
Richard Felix	Historian	Series 2-8
Rick Fielding	Cameraman	Series 1-4
Craig Harman	Steadicam Operator	Series 1-3
John Dibley	Director of photography, Camera Operator	Series 2-8
Neil Haggerty	Editor	Series 1-4
Warren Baxter	Editor	Series 5
Stefan Petecki	Editor	Series 5-7
Paul Harrison	Post-production Sound	Series 1-4
Martin Huntley	Location Sound	Series 1
Tom O'Carrol	Location Sound	Series 3-5
John Baldwin	Online Editor	Series 1-4
Rachel Phillips	Script Writer	Series 5-6
Jon Gilbert	Sound	Series 6-8 (Some of Series 9)

Episode locations

Main article: List of Most Haunted episodes

Controversy

On several occasions the former "psychic medium" Derek Acorah was purportedly possessed by an entity, sometimes evil or sometimes "lost and confused". One such case which exposed Acorah was at Bodmin Gaol, Cornwall. Before the filming, Acorah had been fed misinformation about a non-existent ghost of Kreed Kafer by the show parapsychologist Dr. Ciaran O' Keeffe. During the investigation, which was later broadcast, he presented the information as fact and even behaved as though being possessed by the fictional ghost. O'Keeffe later revealed Kreed Kafer is an anagram of 'Derek Faker' in a national newspaper. Even though O' Keeffe exposed Acorah, the paper also claimed that O' Keeffe had exposed the rest of the Most Haunted team. O'Keeffe later reported that he had been grossly misquoted and misrepresented in the article, and produced a response outlining his version of the show based on his observations and findings, saying he had exposed Derek Acorah and not the entirety of Most Haunted. The show's presenter and executive producer, Yvette Fielding said in an interview that she believes it was a fake possession.

Although not mentioned by O'Keeffe, the Mirror article also brought into question unedited footage which appeared to show Fielding and Karl Beattie faking 'paranormal' occurrences such as ghostly bumps and knocks. Fielding denied the claims. Thus far none of this footage has come to light.

Further controversy centred on Derek Acorah again in the West Country, this time in Devon. On the first night filming "Terror in Torbay", Acorah mentioned a woman incarcerated by her jealous sister in the cellar of Lupton House, even coming up with the names Margaret and Eleanor. In this case, the facts were right, but the location was wrong. This is the well-known legend of Berry Pomeroy Castle which was to be the last night's location. On the final night, at Berry Pomeroy, Fielding reminded Acorah that he had mentioned the incarcerated sister two nights prior. Acorah glossed over his mistake and changed the subject.

External links

• The Official Most Haunted Homepage
• The Most Haunted Homepage - The Travel Channel (U.S.)
• Antix Productions - Production company for Most Haunted