Current cast:
Yvette Fielding
Presenter[Host]/Producer
Karl Beattie
Team/Director/Producer
Ciarán O'Keeffe
Parapsychologist
David Wells
Medium
Catherine Howe
Team/Makeup artist
Stuart Torevell
Team/Rigger
Geoff Adams
Team/Director of photography
Iain Cash
Team/Camera operator
Paul Ross
Host, Most Haunted Live
Lesley Smith
Historian, Most Haunted Live
Produced by
Antix Productions
Produced for
LivingTV [UK]
Travel Channel [US]
Most Haunted is a British paranormal television series focusing on a group investigating paranormal activity. While most of the locations are in the UK, they have gone to other countries, including the United States. The format includes the filmed series, as well as periodic live shows. It is shown in the US on the Travel Channel.
My review:
To come...
Noteworthy:
> Yvette and Karl are married
> Stuart is Yvette's cousin
Links:
Official sites:
The Travel Channel ~ US distributor
LivingTV ~ UK distributor
Antix Productions ~ production company, headed by Yvette and Karl
Cast/crew member sites:
The Official Karl The Producer Beattie Forum ~ spectacular forum, administered by the fabulous Jackie
Official David Wells site and The Official David Wells Forum ~ I do love me some David; he's such a sweetie. :)
Official Derek Acorah site ~ I am not a great fan of Derek's [see "What happened to Derek?" below], but he was this show's primary medium for several years, and the website is interesting, in form, if not content
theparapsychologist.com: The Official Website of Dr. Ciarán O'Keeffe ~ lots of interesting stuff on Ciarán's site; his catchphrase is "Exposing the facts...letting you decide..." which is something I can get behind
Official Website of Phil Whyman and Dead Haunted Nights ~ Phil, of course, was on MH for awhile, and these links are, respectively, to his official site and to the site for one of the many hats Phil wears, as the operator of a group that conducts overnight ghost investigations in the UK [unfortunately, for his US fans!].
Past cast:
Derek Acorah
Spiritualist Medium (2002-2005)
David Bull
Host, Most Haunted Live
Julian Clegg
Host, Most Haunted Live
Jamie Darling
Host, Most Haunted Live
John Dibley
Team/Cinematography
Richard Felix
Historian (2003-2005)
Rick Fielding
Team/Camera operator
Jon Gilbert
Team/Sound recordist
Marion Goodfellow
Psychic Artist (5 episodes, 2002-2003)
Carolyn Hodgson
Interactive Host (3 episodes, 2003) Richard Jones
Historian (1 episode, 2003)
Jason Karl
Parapsychologist (2 episodes, 2002)
Ian Lawman
Spiritualist Medium (7 episodes, 2004)
Simon Peters
Medium (3 episodes, 2003)
Vicki Purewal
Parapsychologist (2 episodes, 2002)
Louie Savva
Parapsychologist (6 episodes, 2004)
David Scanlan
Parapsychologist (2 episodes, 2002)
Brian Shepherd
Psychic Artist (8 episodes, 2004-2005)
Gordon Smith
Spiritualist Medium
Matthew Smith
Parapsychologist (2003-2005)
Phil Whyman
Paranormal Investigator (2003-2004)
Derek Acorah was the show's primary medium for seveal years, and was very popular. In the US, we view the show a bit after the UK, so [as I write this] we've just recently started on the round of epsiodes that do not feature him at all, and many people are curious as to why he's no longer with the show.
This excerpt is taken from an English newspaper called The Mirror, entitled Spooky Truth: TV'S Most Haunted Con Exposed, written by Matt Roper, dated 10/28/2005:
"THE TV show that has spooked millions with its footage of hauntings and poltergeists is today exposed as a fake - by one its own stars. Resident parapsychologist Dr Ciaran O'Keeffe has sensationally lifted the lid on the ghosthunting series, Most Haunted ... and claims that the public are being deceived by "showmanship and dramatics." He accuses the show's medium Derek Acorah of hoodwinking viewers by pretending to communicate with spirits and obtaining information about locations prior to filming.
...Most Haunted has quickly achieved cult status since it was launched in 2002 and is LivingTV's most successful programme. "Millions of viewers tune in regularly to watch Ex-Blue Peter girl Yvette and her team of ghost hunters spend the night in some of Britain's most haunted locations. It has made Acorah - who claims to be guided by an Ethiopian spirit guide called Sam - into one of the country's best-known psychics.
...Ciaran, who joined Most Haunted in April 2004 became suspicious of Acorah's antics on a shoot at Castle Leslie, Co Monaghan in Ireland where a 17th Century four-poster bed has been claimed to levitate. Ciaran recalls: "As we walked into the bedroom, Derek touched the bed and came out with extremely accurate information. He insisted he got all the information just from touching the bed. But it was the wrong bed."
Antix Productions claims the mediums have no idea where they will be filming or know any details about the history of the locations. But Ciaran says: "Derek must have had prior knowledge of the locations." He devised a plan to see if Derek was deliberately deceiving the public.
While on a shoot at Bodmin gaol he invented a long-dead South African jailer called Kreed Kafer - an anagram of Derek Faker. '"I wrote the name down and asked another member of the crew to mention it to Derek before filming. I honestly didn't think Derek would take the bait. But during the filming he actually got possessed by my fictional character!"
On the next shoot at Prideaux Place, Cornwall, Ciaran made up another fictional character, highwayman Rik Eedles - an anagram of Derek Lies. Sure enough, Derek made contact with the dead outlaw.
Ciaran says: "In my professional opinion we're not dealing with a genuine medium. 'When Derek is possessed he is doing it consciously - all we are seeing is showmanship and dramatics."
Ciaran went a step further at Craigievar Castle, near Aberdeen. "I made up stories about Richard the Lionheart, a witch, and Richard's apparition appearing to walk through a wardrobe - the lion, the witch and the wardrobe!" True to form, Derek mentioned all Ciaran's stories - even though Richard I reigned 500 years BEFORE Craigievar Castle was built.
The final straw came last month when Most Haunted presented a three-night special from Manchester. On the second evening, the show claimed to be broadcasting live from the site of Cheadle's Victorian asylum, a place where - according to presenter David Bull - thousands died in torment. In fact they were in the derelict remains of Barnes Convalescence Home - where nobody died in torment. Ciaran remembers: "Derek was communicating with spirits that sounded as if they'd been in an asylum, but it was never an asylum."
Yesterday the Mirror confronted Derek Acorah with Ciaran's allegations. He told us: "I've worked with Ciaran for many shows and he's got every right to say what he says. However, it does shock and surprise me. Not only do I believe that I am a genuine medium - I live my work 24 hours a day. If I thought that I wasn't a true medium, I wouldn't work as one.'"
And that's pretty much all Derek has said ~ he won't address this at all. He hasn't taken any legal action; England has a law on the books that basically would mean he'd have to prove his own ability to do so. Derek annouced he was leaving on the Halloween Live in 2005, which would have been shortly after this article was published.
There is more info in the article about other things they say they found about the show, but this is enough; people can make their own minds up about whether the show's faking other stuff, because there are plenty of ways to research it. The items about Derek are very specific information, things that you've seen if you've seen the episodes described above.