Most Haunted

If this is a show of real investigations, they are going about it all wrong. Yvette screams way too much. My group was professional, we did not scream or run like chickens with our heads cut off.

I generally like this genre of TV show, but this is just all around bad TV. When I first got satellite TV I noticed that the Travel Channel frequently airs the "haunted shows". I looked forward to it, but quickly discovered that this show is not worth it. The locations are somewhat interesting, but everything is so staged, fake, and melodramatic it is nauseating. Every little dust particle that flies by is a spirit orb! Derek and his supposed possessions are obviously the sad (to the point of pathetic and comical) attempts of a man who dreamed of a career in the world of dramatic stage acting. I'd have to b#tch slap him just for acting stupid if he started that crap around me. I would strongly recommend "Ghost Hunters" on the SciFi channel instead. They deal in evidence, not theories, melodramas, and so called spirit mediums. They sometimes come up with nothing (so does Most Haunted), but that is part of their point. They want to prove that it really all may or may not be real, and can sometimes just be logically explained.

I first got interested in Most Haunted when it started a couple of years ago. It is an interesting idea - take a film crew, a self-proclaimed "parapsychologist" and "spiritualist medium" to some of the country's allegedly "Most Haunted" locations for a night and see what happens. This show has quite a strong following here in the UK, where it is probably the No. 1 programme on the Living TV channel which, given its programme lineup would be more accurately described as the "Psychic Telly Channel".

I have to say that I now suspect that all is not quite as it seems here folks. Presenter Yvette Fielding and husband Karl Beattie (also the "director" on this show) are behind the production company that make this programme. As I see more of these shows I've come to realise that this is purely populist entertainment chasing ratings rather than a vehicle for serious investigation of the possibility of real paranormal behaviour. Nothing wrong with that really I suppose - those ratings show that there is a market for this stuff and that is what commercial TV is all about. This is a product, and originally it was quite cleverly packaged and presented and even had a certain (limited) seriousness attached to it.

But the game is up I think. Most of the time the crew seem to be intent on scaring themselves by poking around in dark corners with all the lights deliberately turned out because "the ghost's prefer the dark". Yeah right - and it adds atmosphere for the viewer's at home doesn't it?. The crew seem to be trying to recreate a kind of "Blair Witch lite" on primetime TV". Yvette may be a likeable enough TV presenter, but she's a totally hopeless investigator of the paranormal. She (and most of the rest of the crew) seems to get completely freaked out by the smallest noise and at the first signs of any real possible activity they run in the opposite direction. What is this, a serious investigation or some kind of live action Scooby Doo? If you are seriously looking for evidence of the paranormal, you don't run away from it when you find a few hints that it may exist. "Spiritualist medium" Derek Acorah is generally unconvincing. I don't believe him and I find it hard to believe that he is not briefed in advance by the production crew before he arrives at the "haunted" locations. After all, the purpose of this show is to generate ratings and so they need their "medium" to "produce the goods" in order to make it all look convincing. Sorry if that sounds cynical people, but nothing in this program is done scientifically, no matter how may "EMF meters" get waved about. This show is not investigative - it is entertainment and that is all.

You only have to watch one of the (increasingly frequent) Most Haunted Live shows to make you suspicious that things could very well be engineered behind the scenes of this programme. These live shows are "Dumb TV" at its very worst. Painful viewer phone-ins of "weird" events at home - stopped clocks, barking dogs etc. Stage psychics doing "automatic drawings". Webcams on which online viewers report seeing things for which there is no subsequent evidence. Yvette supposedly complaining about why she has to go poking around in the dark (possible answer: for the money honey?) Sending the "sceptical scientist " Matthew out into the cold and dark as some kind of "punishment" while the audience brays... this is Trash TV.

As for their "evidence" - it also doesn't really seem to have occurred to anyone that those "orbs" (visible only on night-vision video cameras, and the only "evidence" that the crew ever find) could be due to the way that these cameras operate. Anyone ever think of trying some simple tests like putting two cameras side by side and see if you get the same result on both? No. Or put two cameras at different angles focused on the same area and see if they both pick up the same thing. No. Never happens. A few noises and air draughts in buildings that are many hundreds of years old does not constitute evidence for the paranormal no matter how much Derek, Yvette et al may try to play it up. This is showbiz folks - the 21st century, satellite TV equivalent of telling ghost stories around the camp fire. Watch with a healthy dose of scepticism and don't accept at face value everything, or indeed anything that you see here. Remember the objective of these programme makers is to sell their product at the highest possible price. These people are salesmen, not scientists.

Warning: don't watch this.

When comparing to other ghost hunting shows, Most Haunted has got to be one the worst. Whilst Ghost Hunters, Ghost Adventures and Paranormal Lockdown have some aspects of authenticity, Most Haunted has nothing. The reactions of those investigating are so fake it's funny. As soon as they hear an unexplained noise, they jump and run away without actually doing anything or trying to figure out what accumulated the noise. Let's use Ghost Adventures as an example. Whether you like Ghost Adventures or not; it's arguably the best ghost hunting programme on the air. Anyways, as soon as the Ghost Adventure crew hear a noise; they jump (maybe runaway) but always refer to it later and let the audience know if they figured out the source of the sound. Most Haunted does not do that. Instead, they automatically assume it's paranormal. I completely understand that reacting in a way of disbelief, shock or fear is normal - but their completely go overboard with it. Ghost Adventures does this, but as previously mentioned, they don't let it obstruct their investigation and always refer to what they saw, sensed or heard straight after. This isn't the only thing that bothers me about this show. The psychic that have on the show is awful. His evidence sucks, his acting is horrible and I can almost guarantee you that he has no psychic powers. How all the other investigators keep a straight face when the "psychic" is reacting to an occurrence from a "spirit" is beyond me. Honestly, this "psychic" is a really big problem in the show. When they're investigating a noise (which is very rare) or an apparition that appeared out of no where, the guy always stops the team of investigators and obstructs their work while they're actually investigating something interesting. In terms of the evidence they capture, there isn't really anything to note. Of course you'll see the typical light anomaly or a noise echo in the building they're investigating. But, this is pretty much it. They once did a live stream of a building and viewers could call in or report something they'd seen. This had to be the worst business move from the Most Haunted crew. When I was watching this when I was like 9 years old, my dad phoned in as a joke stating their was a women holding a map on one of the cameras. They received his report and reported it on live TV. I am sure thousands of other viewers did this without actually witnessing any paranormal activity on any of the cameras they were using. Because of this reason, this really hurt the authenticity of the show. Lastly, this show has WAY TOO MANY INVESTIGATORS. Unlike Ghost Adventures and Paranormal Lockdown, this show has at least (if not) 10 investigators in a group. Yes, I know that Ghost Hunters has about 8 investigators, but they ALWAYS split up. The Most Haunted crew do not and only do this occasionally. This takes away the enjoyment of watching someone getting scared. If it were a smaller group with maybe 3-5 investigators, maybe I'll consider watching it for enjoyment reasons. Also, you would start to feel sorry for the investigators if they were in a massive building all by themselves if their numbers were tied down to a minimum. But, as mentioned before, there's far too many of them. At first, this show was mildly enjoyable. Season 1 & 2 was fairly decent and rather interesting. This now can't be said for the newer series'. However; because it's so fake and lousy - it makes it hilarious to watch. I recommend you watching it if you want a good morning or late night laugh. However, if you want authenticity - stay away from this show and watch some other paranormal investigative shows. Thanks for reading, hope this helps and have a great day!

I just find that brilliant. The cry from Derek Acorah when he senses his spirit guide telling him something.

Most Haunted is a brilliant series. Although it is a serious investigation, I find it good that the crew do have a mess and laugh behind the scenes or even on camera, showing that they are real people and do not put on an act on camera.

Now in the fourth series, I'm happy to say I dedicate my Tuesday nights to UK Living on cable. I come downstairs and the remote is handed to me. Various family members leave the room, so i sit by myself and enjoy the program even more.

The first series was an excellent start, although I find the most annoying thing about it is Jason Karl, the parapsychologist/investigator. He was too chatty for the show, asking pointlessly detailed questions to derek that at times I think bored Yvette as we could tell by the look on her face.

Series 2 came along and it was even better. Jason Karl had finally gone, replaced by the calmer paranormal investigator Phil Wyman (who only asks questions when appropriate, not every 2 seconds), Richard Felix came along and has now taken over from Jason as the annoying one, but only his voice(before the end of every sentence, he pauses, then says something), more fascinating results were captured (polterghiest activity in The Station Hotel, Derby) and Yvette got a new haircut! This by my opinion is the best so far and the funniest to watch.

Series 3 is a little better than series 2, although I cant say much as I haven't seen as many episodes of series 3, yet, I think that Yvette got a new haircut!

Series 4 is just starting and sounds promising to be the best yet, according to my friend who has told me of a face appearing in a mirror in one of the episodes, with all the crew seeing it.

The Most Haunted Live editions are also very good to watch and it is an ingenious idea to use audience and home participation in the show. My favourite so far would have to be Most Haunted Live At New Year, all because we finally had the pleasure of seeing Matthew Smith go out into the darkness himself.

The team are funny yet serious at the same time, making the show a joy to watch.

I am looking forward to the rest of the new series, the Easter Weekend 3 day special and many more adventures with the team to come. 100% brilliant television!

And just think, we have Sam to thank for all this. THANK YOU SAM!!!