Scary tricks and treats

BBCi: Ghostwatch played ingenious tricks on the viewers. In particular, showing a scene with the ghost clearly visible, then showing it again with the ghost removed.

Stephen Volk: That moment is my favourite because it really messes 100% with the viewing audience.

They are, in fact, involved as a character at that point. "What? He says he didn�t see anything � but I DID!"

Again it�s about the theme of trust, and later on the moment when Lyn Pascoe (the scientist) looks at the video wall, sees the picture is up there and shouldn�t be, and realises the ghost is in the machine (bad pun: couldn�t resist it!).

It was quite tricky to gauge in that we had to do a lot of teasing in the first 45 minutes, as I say. I guess how much to �see� Pipes was difficult to gauge and I know Lesley put a ghost in very subtly at points that weren�t scripted: there�s a game fans play guessing how many times the ghost is seen. I think the answer is eight, but some are pretty obscure!

I was very keen to avoid the man in a rubber suit syndrome. In fact we make that joke early on with Craig Charles jumping out of the closet: as if to say, �no rubber suits tonight folks!� It�s also a homage to a similar moment in my favourite TV ghost story The Stone Tape (by my favourite TV writer Nigel Kneale of Quatermass fame). As soon as special effects or make-up jobs are in evidence you�re not being scared, you�re looking at how it�s done.

Read our review of Ghostwatch >>