Paranormal: The Girl, the Ghost & the Gravestone

Remember this is entertainment not scientific study. Other reviewers on here seem to be assuming that they will be provided with some answer whereas the purpose of the programme is to pique the curiosity. Sian does a good job and has a nice presence. Some stuff is a bit formulaic and gratuitous but (probably quite rightly) the makers are creating something for viewers with not much more than passing curiosity. As such this is little more than an entertaining ghost story though I found Nicolette's testimony compelling. She clearly believes that she has experienced something. Today science is being brave enough to confront paranormal matters involving consciousness, soul and afterlife bit of you want the serious approach you should look elsewhere. This is aimed at level 1 viewers who are looking for a superficial view and as such it's OK.

Very childish production, did we need to see footage of the presenter brushing teeth and having inane conversations with her mates down the pub. Was this documentary about her or about the farm house?

The presenter showed herself up as immature when exclaiming 'what the hell is that?' in response to 'silver nitrate'

I dont know about you when I hear the name of a chemical Im unfamiliar with I dont shriek 'what the hell is that' because Im an adult.

Typical of BBC3, the terribly childish Stacey Dooley 'school' of documentary making. It was a great subject ruined by a silly and childish approach.

A fairly interesting investigation of a case involving a supposed haunted Welsh rural house over 20 years ago.

The style is actually refreshingly fun and relaxed with a radio 1 presenter heading it up. There's a fun element too of her being able to phone up a university academic for help when stuck. There's a bit of an insight into how a journalist works, doing some door knocking or going back through the local newspaper archives. The weakest element is probably the padding where we have to watch her hanging out in a pub or listening to random young people tell their ghost stories. The lowest point is watching a group of obese mediums in a pub make a spectacle of themselves, no pun intended.

There's a bit too much scary dramatic music while shots of fairly mundane stuff is shown, as though it was trying to be the Conjuring or something rather than a documentary.

We get to meet a fair number of species along with several family members who seem quite convinced.

Episodes 1 and 2 are probably the strongest introducing it all, meeting family members and delving deeper into the investigation. Episode 3 though starts to run out of steam.

A psychological explanation is offered but its hard to know and that's more or less how it ends with her frustratingly on the fence. The presenter though does the role well at times empathetic, curious and having the odd little joke too.

At the heart of the case is one unusual item, a gravestone which seems rather out of place not in a churchyard. This almost becomes the real story for me in this investigation, who was this young woman and what may have actually happened to her?

Well, you should expect a degree of wackiness, when you decide to see a Welsh ghost story, but this one is on a whole different level. It starts off like your usual Beeb documentary, but soon it becomes a parody of one. We meet a gallery of oddball characters spouting nonsense, admitting that they are superstitious, but claiming that they are very sceptical. Flower petals are switched with dead insects to some very dramatic music, words appear on walls. People have impression that other people are around. People with Down syndrome are called very intelligent. It all feels like a 6th grader homework for Halloween. But it's just the worst spent money in the history of BBC. The original series Ghosts was such fun - original, well scripted, funny dialogs, good acting. Here, apart from the pleasantly sounding lilt of the presenter's voice, there're no redeeming features.

Aside from the presenter meeting a bunch of people who clearly already believe in ghosts giving bad reasons why they believe in ghosts, absolutely nothing happens. Every single bit of 'evidence' is either flawed, biased or not even evidence at all of anything but the delusions of those presenting it. You get the impression that the producers knew this as they go to great lengths (and fail, mind you) to create an atmosphere of tension or other-worldlyness that without their lacklustre efforts wouldn't otherwise be present. My favourite part was the discovery of the grave in the second place they looked in their massive garden, and the half baked assertion that the dude just knew it was there. I wasn't born yesterday. And absolute failure from start to finish.