Most Haunted
File:Most haunted logo2.jpg A screenshot of the Most Haunted title/logo from the introduction.
Created by	Yvette Fielding, Karl Beattie
Starring	Yvette Fielding
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	159 [1] ( list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer	Yvette Fielding
Running time	Series 1: 30 minutes Series 2 and after: 45
Original release
Network	Living, Travel Channel
Release	25 May 2002

Most Haunted is a British paranormal documentary reality television series that premiered on May 25, 2002 on Living. The programme is 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, on the W Channel in Australia and Canada, TV4 Plus in Sweden, FEM in Norway, TV ONE in New Zealand, Sub in Finland, Stöð 2 in Iceland and Star World in Asia. It is produced by Antix Productions, led by Yvette Fielding and her husband, Karl Beattie.

Production

The Most Haunted team travels around not only the UK, but also Ireland, the Netherlands, Romania, and the United States, investigating paranormal activity 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' also known as 'GV's' of a location and its surroundings. Most Haunted is filmed with both broadcast Sony DSR-570WSP & DSR-PD170P DVCAM cameras and Sony DCR-PC9E miniDV cameras. A Thermal Imaging camera is also used to detect & highlight cold & warm spots.

Editing

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Music

Most Haunted's music is composed by Alan Clark, using loops and samples from the Spectrasonics sample libraries Distorted Reality, Metamorphosis and Biazzare Guitar (particularly in the earlier series).

Sister shows

Most Haunted Live!

Most Haunted Live on Stage

In 2010, Most Haunted will be touring the UK doing Most Haunted Live. So far they will be heading to

Birmingham - Sunday 31st January 2010

Aberdeen - Friday 26th February 2010

Wolverhampton - Friday 5th February 2010

York - Friday 12th February 2010

Oxford - Thursday 4th March 2010

Bristol - Tuesday 9th March 2010

^[2]

PS please do not get rid of this because it is not fake.

Most Haunted: Midsummer Murders

Originally intended to be Most Haunted Series 10, Most Haunted: Midsummer Murders was an eight part series where Most Haunted investigators attempted to solve murder mysteries in normal English villages. It was hosted by Most Haunted historian Lesley Smith. The series commenced on a weekly broadcast from 19 June 2007 to 31 July 2007 and the team visited (in order of broadcast) Stoney Middleton, Nantwich, Castleton, Pluckley, Ruthin, Tutbury, Tarvin, and Bakewell. An episode, shot in Lymm Village, saw the team investigate a suspect of Jack the Ripper. This episode was not aired on television but will be released in 2009 on the Midsummer Murders Complete Series DVD.^{[ citation needed]}

Most Haunted: Recurring Nightmares

In Most Haunted: Recurring Nightmares, the presenters recall their most frightening visits.

Most Haunted USA

Most Haunted USA was an eight-part mini-series that aired on the American Travel Channel from 12 December 2008 to 30 January 2009. The series has also aired in the UK and includes the team's investigation at the famous Waverly Hills Sanitorium in Kentucky.^{[ citation needed]} In the UK, it will air as part of Series 11.

Other

Former shows include Most Haunted: Extra which ran directly after premiere episodes of Series 2 to 9, documenting behind-the-scenes antics of the cast and crew on that night's location and Most Haunted Live: Access All Areas a phone in show to discuss the preceding or following live event.

The team

Most Haunted features a main presenter, a historian, a psychic medium and a parapsychologist. Essentially the latter two are intended to create an even balance between paranormal and scientific explanations for the various phenomena that occur. Any information provided by the medium from claimed interactions with spirits is then analysed by the historian to see if it can be verified. The core investigation team are supported by some of the production crew, who appear in the show and are generally involved with the investigation whilst performing their normal crew role. Most of these on-screen crew members also take part in séances.

The show has also featured guest mediums. So far these have been Ian Lawman, Ian Shillito, Gordon Smith, Uri Geller, Kevin Wade, Johnnie Fiori and Brian Shepherd. Some episodes have also included at least one celebrity. So far the 'celebrity' episodes 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 from Coalhouse Fort the team were joined by Scottish Paranormal Investigator & RCPS Scotland Co-Founder Ryan O'Neil ( http://www.scottish-paranormal.co.uk) .

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.

Episodes

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Series 1-3

The first series began on 25 May 2002. Each episode had a duration of thirty minutes. However, reruns of these episodes have been re-edited to the full hour and titled Most Haunted Unseen. Added footage in these episodes is shown with a caption in the corner to distinguish it from the original version. The series concluded with an investigation of Michelham Priory on 17 September 2002, which was coincidentally the first episode to be produced. In the eighth series the team revisited this location to mark the 100th episode. During the break in series, the team aired three live investigations, the third of which led into the second series on 8 April 2003. From this point onwards episodes were accompanied by a supplemental Most Haunted Extra. At this point, Extra was available as a ten-minute feature after the main show, accessible to viewers via the red button. For Series two and three, Phil Whyman joined the show as a paranormal investigator, replacing the original parapsychologist Jason Karl, who left at the end of the the first series. The show remained unchanged at this point until Series 4.

Series 4-6

The fourth series commenced on 23 March 2004 with an investigation of Owlpen Manor. Most Haunted Extra became a thirty-minute programme, broadcast for half an hour after the main show on LivingTV. This series was the first series in which guest mediums joined the team during the investigations. This took some of the pressure off Derek Acorah who had been the only medium in the first three series. The main guest mediums involved during this series were Brian Shepherd , David Wells and Ian Lawman.

Series five commenced on 14 September 2004. It was preceded by a 3 night Most Haunted Live! investigation advertised as a countdown to the series. Phil Whyman was replaced with, then semi-regular, Ciarán O'Keeffe. Originally O'Keeffe viewed the footage recorded during the investigations and analysed it, putting forward his own views and opinions, which usually included suggestions as to other possible causes for the phenomena encountered. He shared this role with colleague Matthew Smith who frequently attended the early Most Haunted Live events. Two missing episodes of series 5 that was filmed at London Tower and Kershaw House, was filmed but never shown for unknown reasons and is rumoured to be contained on the series 6 complete boxset. Following the departure of Phil Whyman after Series 4, O'Keeffe began to join the team on location. Yvette's brother Rick Fielding also left the show at the end of Series 4.

For series six, beginning on 22 March 2005 with an investigation of Bodmin Gaol, David Wells became a main medium alongside Derek Acorah appearing in every episode. This was Derek Acorah's last Most Haunted series owing to controversy he was involved in during its production which cast a doubt on his ability to perform his role. ^[3] As such he did not appear in the final episode at Sinai House. The number of episodes for Series 6 was originally intended to be eighteen, with the last eleven being part of Series 7. Due to Acorah's departure the series was extended. This was the first series in which the team conducted 24 hour investigations over in the USA. Derek didn't return for the shows finale at Sinai House, when David wells was the main medium

Series 7-9

The seventh series began on 1 November, 2005 yet only ran for six weeks, shortened from an intended nine. Two of the final three episodes (at Bamburgh Castle and Chambercombe Manor) were broadcast at the end of Series 8 and the last, at Spitbank Fort, was broadcast as special on Boxing Day 2006. Parapsychologist Louie Savva a regular on the Most Haunted Live! events joined the team for a few of the investigations in this series covering shows which O'Keeffe was unable to take part in.

Series eight began on 27 June 2006 with the 100th investigation and a revisit to Michelham Priory. It marked the last appearance of Richard Felix as resident historian. He was not replaced until the tenth series. This series featured guest mediums Gordon Smith, Ian Lawman, Ian Shillito and Kevin Wade.

An investigation of South Stack Lighthouse began the ninth series on 2 January 2007. Four episodes into the series, new episodes became known as New Most Haunted in television listings and on-screen. This is the last series of Most Haunted where Most Haunted Extra accompanied each episode. After the first few episodes, Extra was moved to Living2. Most Haunted Extra last appeared accompanying Most Haunted: Midsummer Murders. This was the last series to feature David Wells as a regular medium on the show.

Series 10-12

The tenth series of Most Haunted began on 19 February 2008 and came to a close at the end of April. ^[4] This series featured three psychic mediums: Johnnie Fiori, Barrie John and Brian Shepherd. Lesley Smith replaced Richard Felix as resident historian on the recorded shows and travelled with the team to each location. The team were also joined by Scottish paranormal investigator Ryan O'Neill, a guest on episodes 1&2 of series 10 at The Coalhouse Fort.

Series 11 and 12 aired at the same time in alternation, totalling 17 episode series 11 had 9 locations filmed in the UK and series 12 had 8 locations filmed in the USA. The series' kicked off with an investigation at Nunnington Hall in Yorkshire and culminated with a visit to Wookey Hole Caves and Mill in Somerset. Series 11 also saw Brian Shepherd appear as official Most Haunted psychic, replacing the departed David Wells.

Series 13

Most Haunted Series 13 will begin on LivingTV on Tuesday 13th October 2009. On a posting via their Twitter blog in April 2009, the Most Haunted team commented that recording for the series had begun, with a list of some of the locations, including a return to Blackpool Pleasure Beach and Pendle Hill. ^[5]

Future

The future of Most Haunted in the USA is questionable. Travel Channel has yet to announce another live event or series to air anytime soon. It is thought Ghost Adventures was put on Travel Channel as a reason to get rid of Most Haunted. Although the lack of fans for the new "Ghost Adventures" series has many people wondering if Most Haunted will stay in America or not.

Lost episodes

During Most Haunted's run, there have been a few episodes which have been broadcast out of order than they have filmed and a few series which were changed to accompany the run on Living.

Series 6 ran for 29 episodes but was originally intended to run for 18 episodes. The original series 7 was intended to be a 17 episode series but due to Derek Acorah's departure, series 6 was extended with the first 11 episodes of series 7 added on. The last 6 episodes of series 7 were filmed without Acorah and with Gordon Smith.

Original Series 7 Episode List

01. Bolling Hall

02. Elvaston Castle

03. Smithills Hall

04. Peterborough Museum

05. Tissington Hall

06. Hellens Manor

07. Tretower Castle

08. Sinai House

09. Lower Southwood Cottages

10. Castle Keep

11. Woodchester Mansion

12. Coronation Street

13. The Old Church House

14. Mains Hall

15. American Legion

16. Leonis Adobe House

17. Wilmington Drum Barracks

After the first 11 episodes of the original series 7 were added to series 6, series 7 became a 6 episode series.

During the Most Haunted spin off series Midsummer Murders, the team filmed a 9 part series. However only 8 were ever aired. The 9th episode, filmed in Lymm Village and featuring a Jack the Ripper suspect, was never aired.

Series 10 was due to be a 20 part UK series but was made an 11 episode series after LIVING shelved the remaining 9 episodes for series 11, which was made up of the filmed UK episodes.

Controversy

On several occasions the former "Spiritualist medium" Derek Acorah was supposedly possessed by an entity, sometimes evil or sometimes "lost and confused". Two such cases exposed Acorah. Before the filming, Acorah had been fed disinformation twice about the non-existent ghosts of Kreed Kafer and Rik Eedles by the show parapsychologist Dr. Ciaran O' Keeffe. During the investigations, later broadcast, he presented the information as fact and even behaved as though being possessed by the fictional ghosts. O'Keeffe later revealed in the Daily Mirror that Kreed Kafer and Rik Eedles were anagrams of 'Derek Faker' and 'Derek Lies' ^[3]. 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 ^[6].

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. ^[3]

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.

After many viewer complaints, the Television Regulator in the UK, Ofcom, cleared Most Haunted of any deception of its viewers, and ruled that Most Haunted is an entertainment show, not a legitimate investigation into the paranormal, and should not be taken seriously. ^[7]

References and notes

^ Steven Davies (2008-04-23). "How Real Is 'Most Haunted'?". http://www.horror-asylum.com/blog/blog.asp?ItemNum=How_Real_Is_Most_Haunted
^ Scottish Paranormal (Latest News - 20/02/08). http://www.scottish-paranormal.co.uk/
^ About Us (2008-09-13). "Ryan O'Neill (Scotland) - RCPS Scotland Co-Founder". http://www.freewebs.com/rcps-scotland/About%20Us.htm

External links

• Most Haunted official website at Living TV (UK)
• Most Haunted website at Travel Channel (USA)
• Antix Productions (production company for Most Haunted)
• Tribute to Most Haunted (fansite)
• Most Haunted at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com