Ghostwatch

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Martin Plumb: I didn't know it was a drama. My youngest child, who was 10, rushed out of the room and vomited in the hall. Five days after Ghostwatch aired in 1992, a teenager with intellectual disabilities died by suicide. His parents said the show caused their son's death. The Broadcasting Standards Council eventually concluded that the BBC had a duty to do more than simply hint at the deception on screen.

On Halloween night, in 1992, an unusual television special aired on the BBC. Nobody expected what happened next. “The technicians were looking up at the big screen in the lobby, saying to each other, ‘My God, what's going on in Studio One?'”

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