MOST HAUNTED

'''Most Haunted''' is a British paranormal television programme based on investigating purported paranormal activity. It is shown on the satellite and cable channels Living, Living2 and Ftn, primarily for the UK market. It is produced by Antix Productions, led by Yvette Fielding and her husband Karl Beattie.
As of January 2007 the show is in its Ninth Series which has been titled "New Most Haunted".

Contents

Production

Sister shows

The Most Haunted team

Current team

Live shows only

Former team members

Episode locations

Controversy

References and notes

External links

Production

The team travel around the UK and Ireland (and on occasion the United States, the latest visit being in June 2007 to Eastern State Penitentiary) investigating alleged paranormal 'hotspots' 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' of a location and its surroundings. Most Haunted is filmed with both broadcast Sony DVcams and Sony PC120 miniDV cameras with night vision facility.
;Editing: The original editor, Neil Haggerty, is said by many fans to be responsible for the creation of the original 'Most Haunted' look. Neil created intricate edits, using a wide range of visual effects such as dust and scratchings and luminescent transitions. He also used many other devices such as slow or sped-up images from the steadicam to create gliding shots, imposing and superimposing and many other effects resulting in the show looking sophisticated edit wise. The show was edited at 422 in Manchester from series 1 - 5 and from series 6 has been edited on Antix' own edit suites. Neil left after series 4 and was replaced by an 'edit team'. This resulted in a different editor for almost every episode. The style of editing has changed considerably with less visual effects used now and more 'edit' effects, such as lens darkening and light play used.
;Music: Most Haunted's music score has been composed by Alan Clark, however much of the score are straight copies of loops and samples from the Spectrasonics sample libraries Distorted Reality, Metamorphosis and Biazzare Guitar, which are mixed together to form the overall flowing soundtrack.

Sister shows

★ '''Most Haunted Extra:''' runs directly after premiere episodes, documenting behind-the-scenes antics of the cast and crew on that night's location.

★ '''Most Haunted Unseen:''' re-release of complete series one but with added footage bringing the duration of the programme from half an hour to an hour.

★ '''Most Haunted Live'''

★ '''Most Haunted Live: Access All Areas:''' similar to Most Haunted Extra. Features behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the team.

★ '''Most Haunted Midsummer Murders:''' Series where Most Haunted investigators try to solve murder mysteries in normal English villages. Hosted by Most Haunted Live historian Lesley Smith.

★ '''Most Haunted: Recurring Nightmares:''' Series which the presenters tell and recall their most feared visits.

The Most Haunted team

Most Haunted features a main presenter, a psychic medium and a parapsychologist. Essentially the latter two create an even balance between paranormal and scientific explanations for the various phenomena that occur. These are supported by some of the production crew, who appear in the show and generally have some interactivity with various parts of the investigation whilst performing their normal crew role. Most of these on-screen crew members also take part in séances.

Current team

Name	Show role	Crew role	Started
'Yvette Fielding'	Presenter / Investigator	Executive producer	Series 1
'David Wells'	Medium	None	Series 4
'Dr Ciarán O'Keeffe'	Parapsychologist	None	Series 2
'Karl Beattie'	Investigator	Producer, Director	Series 1
'Stuart Torevell'	Investigator	Rigger, Camera operator	Series 1
'Catherine Howe'	Investigator	Hair and Make-up	Series 2
'Iain Cash'	Investigator	Camera Operator	Series 6
'Geoff Adams'	None	Director of Photography	Series 9

The show has also featured guest mediums. So far these have been Ian Lawman, Ian Shillito, Gordon Smith, Uri Geller and Kevin Wade. Some episodes have also included at least one celebrity. So far celebrities have included Vic Reeves, Nancy Sorrell, Gaby Roslin, Scott Mills, Mark Chapman, Simon Gregson, Sue Cleaver, Carol Thatcher, Paul O'Grady and Lee Ryan.

Live shows only

Name	Role(s)	Started
'Paul Ross'	Presenter	MHL 19 - present
'Lesley Smith'	Historian	MHL 19 - present (Guest Series 2, Episode 2)
'Julian Clegg'	Presenter - Access All Areas and Interactive	MHL 4 - present

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.

Name	Role	Duration
'Derek Acorah'	Spiritualist Medium	MHL 1-17, Series 1-6
'Phil Whyman'	Paranormal Investigator	MHL 2-7, Series 2-4
'Jason Karl'	Paranormal Investigator	Series 1
'Steve Parsons'	Paranormal Investigator	MHL 19, Series 8
'Dave Scanlan'	Paranormal Investigator	MHL 1
'Matthew Smith'	Parapsychologist	MHL 1-17, Series 2-8
'Louie Savva'	Parapsychologist	Series 7
'Richard Felix'	Historian	Series 2-8
'Dr David Bull'	Most Haunted Live! Presenter	MHL 1-17
'Jamie Darling'	Most Haunted Live! Presenter	MHL 18
'Richard Jones'	Most Haunted Live! Historian	MHL 6-17
'Rick Fielding'	Cameraman	Series 1-4
'Craig Harman'	Steadicam Operator	Series 1-3
'John Dibley'	Director of photography, Camera Operator	Series 2-8
'Neil Haggerty'	Editor	Series 1-4
'Warren Baxter'	Editor	Series 5
'Stefan Petecki'	Editor	Series 5-7
'Paul Harrison'	Post-production Sound	Series 1-4
'Martin Huntley'	Location Sound	Series 1
'Tom O'Carrol'	Location Sound	Series 3-5
'John Baldwin'	Online Editor	Series 1-4
'Rachel Phillips'	Script Writer	Series 5-6
'Jon Gilbert'	Sound	Series 6-8 (Some of Series 9)

Episode locations

Main articles: List of Most Haunted episodes

Controversy

On 28 October, 2005, Dr Ciaran O'Keeffe exposed aspects of the show as being fake, saying its viewers were being deceived by "showmanship and dramatics" in an interview with The Mirror. SPOOKY TRUTH: TV'S MOST HAUNTED CON EXPOSED TV Matt Roper
On several occasions the former "psychic medium" Derek Acorah was purportedly possessed by an entity, sometimes evil or sometimes "lost and confused" One such case which exposed Derek was at Bodmin Gaol, Cornwall. Before the filming, Derek had been fed misinformation about a non-existent ghost of Kreed Kafer. During the investigation, which was later broadcast, Derek presented the information as fact and even behaved as though being possessed by the fictional ghost. O'Keeffe later revealed Kreed Kafer is an anagram of 'Derek Faker'.
The show's presenter and executive producer, Yvette Fielding said in an interview that she believes it was a fake possession^[2]. A possible theory is that Derek only thinks he is getting possessed, when in all actuality he's imagining things. Other people might say the possession-of-the-day (week, for the television one-off version) made the shows more interesting.
Although not mentioned by O'Keeffe, the Mirror article also brought into question unedited footage which appeared to show Yvette Fielding and Karl Beattie faking 'paranormal' occurrences such as ghostly bumps and knocks. Fielding refuted the claims.
Further controversy centred again in the West Country, this time in Devon. On the first night filming "Terror in Torbay", Derek 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, Yvette reminded Derek that he had mentioned the incarcerated sister two nights prior, yet Derek glossed over his mistake and changed the subject.
According to eyewitnesses, the urn used in the live show supposedly had a barcode on it.

References and notes

1. Episode count does not include ''Most Haunted Live!'' or ''Most Haunted Extra'' episodes.
2. Metro UK, "60 SECONDS: Yvette Fielding" by James Ellis, ''The UK Metro'', October 30, 2006, retrieved November 2, 2006.

External links

★ The Official Most Haunted Homepage

★ Antix Productions - Production company for ''Most Haunted''

★ Double Exposure - Most Haunted revealed.

★ Tribute To Most Haunted - Unofficial Fan Site For ''Most Haunted''

★ Most Haunted News Blog - Unofficial News Site