Most Haunted is a British paranormal documentary reality series that followed a team investigating locations reputed to be haunted across the UK. Created by presenter Yvette Fielding and her husband Karl Beattie through their production company Antix Productions, it first aired on Living TV on 25 May 2002 and became one of the channel's highest-rated original shows.
Format
Each episode followed the team — typically including a presenter, a parapsychologist, and a resident medium — as they carried out an overnight investigation of a single location, using night-vision cameras, EVP recordings, and on-camera "readings" from the medium to document reported activity. Derek Acorah served as the show's original resident medium from its launch until 2005, when he was replaced by David Wells; Ciarán O'Keeffe became the show's semi-regular parapsychologist during this period, having replaced Phil Whyman.
The 2005 controversy
In 2005, the show's on-set parapsychologist tested Acorah by feeding him fabricated background details about entirely fictitious spirit entities before an investigation. Acorah went on to describe contact with them on camera as though they were real, and the incident — widely reported at the time — became one of the best-known controversies in British paranormal television. Ofcom later reviewed the programme in connection with the episode, describing it as one where "techniques are used which mean the audience is not necessarily in full possession of the facts." Acorah left the show shortly afterwards.
Broadcast history
The original run ended on Living (by then rebranded Sky Living) on 21 July 2010, with the channel confirming in 2011 that it would not be recommissioned. After a four-year gap, Fielding and Beattie brought the show back on the UKTV channel Really in 2014, continuing for several further series. A companion live event format, Most Haunted Live!, ran alongside the main series for much of its history, including a well-known three-night Merseyside investigation in 2005.