Derek Acorah (born Derek Francis Johnson; 27 January 1950 – 4 January 2020) was a British spiritual medium, author, and television personality, best known as the guest medium on the paranormal reality series Most Haunted.[1]
Early life
Acorah was born in Bootle, Lancashire, and grew up in the north-west of England.[1] Before becoming a medium, he had a brief career as a footballer, on the books of Liverpool during the Bill Shankly era, but was released without playing a first-team game; he continued playing at other clubs before ending his football career in Australia.[2]
Career
Early television work
Acorah's first television appearances came in 1996 on the satellite channel Granada Breeze, where he presented Livetime and later Psychic Livetime, followed by Predictions with Derek Acorah.[3]
Most Haunted
Acorah joined Most Haunted on Living TV in 2002 as the show's resident guest medium, working alongside presenter Yvette Fielding. The series followed a team investigating reportedly haunted locations across the UK, with Acorah's on-camera "readings" and reported spirit contacts becoming a central feature of the format.[1]
Acorah's time on the show ended in 2005 following a widely reported test by the programme's on-set parapsychologist, Ciarán O'Keeffe, who invented a fictitious long-dead South African jailer named "Kreed Kafer" — an anagram of "Derek Faker" — and fed the fabricated backstory to Acorah before an investigation at Bodmin Gaol. O'Keeffe said he was "stunned" when Acorah appeared to become possessed by the invented character on camera.[4] Yvette Fielding later said of the incident: "We tell people everything is real, then it turns out he was a fake, so he had to go."[4] The incident became one of the best-known controversies in British television mediumship and fuelled long-running scepticism about the authenticity of his on-screen readings.
Later career
After leaving Most Haunted, Acorah continued working across British television and live performance, including presenting
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Derek Acorah, TV medium, dies aged 69."BBC News.4 January 2020.
- ↑ "TV mystic Derek Acorah has died after 'very brief illness'."The Scotsman.4 January 2020.
- ↑ "Derek Acorah ~ Detailed Biography with Photos, Videos."Alchetron.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "TV mystic Derek Acorah has died aged 69, his wife has said."ITV News.4 January 2020.