Scandal strikes!

BBCi: As a viewer it seemed clear that Ghostwatch was an extremely well executed Halloween pastiche of the Crimewatch genre. Were you surprised by the reaction it received?

Stephen Volk: What surprised me was the avalanche of 'IT SHOULDN�T BE ALLOWED', 'HEADS MUST ROLL' and 'HOW DARE THEY INSULT OUR INTELLIGENCE!' The anger at being, as certain members of the viewing public saw it, duped and hoaxed by trusted Auntie Beeb.

I think the only [serious] review I read about it as a piece of drama was in Sight and Sound where Kim Newman, bless his cotton socks, referred to Quatermass and obviously got �it�.

We were doing a piece of drama with a theme and nobody discussed that. It was all 'SHOCK, HORROR, SICK' tabloid stuff.

I must say in all honesty that in all the meetings I had with the Drama Dept at the BBC, I never heard anyone at any time use the word 'hoax�. We were just doing a drama in a particular style (as The Blair Witch Project has done more recently) to give a modicum of authenticity. The idea that we wanted to make fools of people is absurd and just wrong.

Subsequently Ghostwatch has become a staple subject for Media Studies projects: one University lecturer told me that somebody chooses it virtually every year!

Read our review of Ghostwatch >>