Podcast: Kate Siegel on ‘Ghostwatch’

One of the best things about the horror genre is its willingness to play with form. That's certainly the case with the V/H/S series, which, over the past decade-plus, has invited a wide range of filmmakers to contribute their visions to the found footage genre. But for this episode of Certified Forgotten, actor and V/H/S/Beyond director Kate Siegel shares her love for another genre experiment: Lesley Manning's Ghostwatch, a BBC horror film that once caught an entire nation unaware.

In 1992, those brave enough to tune into BBC1 on Halloween were given an unexpected treat. Longtime television host Michael Parkinson, broadcasting “live” from the studio, led a special BBC segment called Ghostwatch, which combined onsite segments from a local haunted property with in-studio experts on the occult. And as the night goes on, millions of British viewers were horrified to watch the Ghostwatch crew get picked apart by an evil spirit. The only twist? It was entirely fabricated and pre-recorded, and soon became famous as the greatest mass media hoax this side of Orson Welles.

In this short excerpt from the episode, Siegel explains why V/H/S/Beyond contributors do not have any input on the order of the shorts, but that she always had her eye on the last spot.

"When you're shooting your short, they they don't really tell you anything about that. That becomes the problem of the executives and the programming. And everyone has an idea of where they want to be. I knew that I loved the idea of being either first or last."

The Ghostwatch episode of the Certified Forgotten podcast with Kate Siegel is now available to stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, or the podcast platform of your choice.