Great British Ghosts was originally commissioned for the (now closed down) UKTV-owned satellite and cable channel "Blighty" but actually aired on the history orientated UKTV-owned sister channel "Yesterday" which is available across a broader range of platforms.
The format of the show is nice and simple. In each episode of the show host Michaela Strachan (well known to UK viewers for her appearances on programmes such as 'The Really Wild Show') visits locations around the UK that are reputed to be haunted. Usually each 22/23 minute episode is divided into two halves with Michaela visiting a different location in each half of the show.
This is not a paranormal reality show like "Most Haunted" or "Ghost Hunters" and Michaela does not conduct investigations of the haunted locations. This is actually perhaps one of the shows greatest strengths as it keeps things very simple and straightforward. Michaela and her film crew visit the location, tell the viewers a little about the location and the ghost stories connected to it. She then meets with someone who can tell her about their own experiences and/or provide some background information who then gives them a guided tour of the location. We also hear from other eyewitnesses recounting what happened to them.
In some episodes Michaela meets with a medium who tells her about what they have sensed in that location, or a paranormal investigator who has carried out a previous investigation of the place. But again this is not "Most Haunted" so we don't get people 'communing with the spirits' on the show and there is not a Ouija board to be seen. A few familiar faces pop up in episodes here and there with former "Most Haunted" historians Richard Felix and Richard Jones both appearing in a couple of episodes each as does another familiar face from that show Jason Karl.
Many of the locations visited are Pubs and Hotels (with the odd castle or nuclear bunker thrown in for good measure). This provides Michaela the opportunity to throw in a few corny jokes about "other kinds of spirits" being present in the bar and the suchlike which tends to add to the feel of the show rather than detract from it.
Overall there is a rather gentle feel to the show - in large part due to the familiar presence of the ever smiling Michaela Strachan. Even when some of the past misdeeds carried out at a location are grisly(such as killing someone by shoving a red hot poker up their bottom!) the show still manages to present the story in a way that will not put people off their lunch. Great British Ghosts is a welcome antidote to the overblown hype of other paranormal shows and in keeping with the long tradition of the retelling of ghost stories in the British Isles. It is a shame that there have (so far) only been two series of the show plus a Halloween special. It is also a shame that, apart from a couple of excursions into Wales, all of the locations visited are in England. There are certainly plenty of interesting haunted sites in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
If you are tired of watching night-vision footage of people saying "I think I saw something..." that you can't see or straining to hear what a supposed EVP recording is actually saying then why not give Great British Ghosts a watch? GREAT may be pushing it a little but it is certainly a GOOD little show and there is a lot less screaming and swearing than "Most Haunted"!.
The format of the show is nice and simple. In each episode of the show host Michaela Strachan (well known to UK viewers for her appearances on programmes such as 'The Really Wild Show') visits locations around the UK that are reputed to be haunted. Usually each 22/23 minute episode is divided into two halves with Michaela visiting a different location in each half of the show.
This is not a paranormal reality show like "Most Haunted" or "Ghost Hunters" and Michaela does not conduct investigations of the haunted locations. This is actually perhaps one of the shows greatest strengths as it keeps things very simple and straightforward. Michaela and her film crew visit the location, tell the viewers a little about the location and the ghost stories connected to it. She then meets with someone who can tell her about their own experiences and/or provide some background information who then gives them a guided tour of the location. We also hear from other eyewitnesses recounting what happened to them.
In some episodes Michaela meets with a medium who tells her about what they have sensed in that location, or a paranormal investigator who has carried out a previous investigation of the place. But again this is not "Most Haunted" so we don't get people 'communing with the spirits' on the show and there is not a Ouija board to be seen. A few familiar faces pop up in episodes here and there with former "Most Haunted" historians Richard Felix and Richard Jones both appearing in a couple of episodes each as does another familiar face from that show Jason Karl.
Many of the locations visited are Pubs and Hotels (with the odd castle or nuclear bunker thrown in for good measure). This provides Michaela the opportunity to throw in a few corny jokes about "other kinds of spirits" being present in the bar and the suchlike which tends to add to the feel of the show rather than detract from it.
Overall there is a rather gentle feel to the show - in large part due to the familiar presence of the ever smiling Michaela Strachan. Even when some of the past misdeeds carried out at a location are grisly(such as killing someone by shoving a red hot poker up their bottom!) the show still manages to present the story in a way that will not put people off their lunch. Great British Ghosts is a welcome antidote to the overblown hype of other paranormal shows and in keeping with the long tradition of the retelling of ghost stories in the British Isles. It is a shame that there have (so far) only been two series of the show plus a Halloween special. It is also a shame that, apart from a couple of excursions into Wales, all of the locations visited are in England. There are certainly plenty of interesting haunted sites in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
If you are tired of watching night-vision footage of people saying "I think I saw something..." that you can't see or straining to hear what a supposed EVP recording is actually saying then why not give Great British Ghosts a watch? GREAT may be pushing it a little but it is certainly a GOOD little show and there is a lot less screaming and swearing than "Most Haunted"!.
