Northern Irelands Greatest Haunts is not another ghosthunting TV series shot in night vision. Before writing the format, I viewed many of the shows circulating the networks including the ones I had worked on in the past and felt that it was time to try something fresh and new. My goal for Greatest Haunts was to portray the subject of hauntings and paranormal investigation from a different perspective. Its not easy to write something new on a subject that in many ways has been done to death and make it work, but having incoporated three major elements, true-life, investigation and honesty the main frame of the series was set and didnt need a great deal of re-writes before submission.

Over to Ireland

In June 2007, I opted not to go to the UK broadcasters with the idea simply because at the time the market was awash with paranormal entertainment series. For a country knee deep in myth and legend I was amazed to discover that Ireland had never had its own series based on the subject. Linda Cullen, head of TV at Coco Television jumped at it and before long I found myself on a plane bound for Belfast to stand in front of the commissioning editors at BBC.N.Ireland and in late October following two more meetings the call came that six episodes had been commissioned.

Marion Goodfellow

The original format included an irish medium

working with Marion but the BBC were happy

for her to work on her own. I have worked

with Marion for nearly ten years on and off

TV and in theatre. She is a people person and

can relate to anybody. Her beleif in what she

does as a medium is strong and is matched

only by her gift and honesty. If a place is

haunted she will sense it and if it isnt, she will

tell you rather than relay something from her

imagination. I know many great mediums,

but my choice for the series was always Marion.

The Northern Ireland Paranormal Society

I found N.I.P.S through an internet google

search and what struck me about them

straight away was their knowledge and

scientific, opened min-ded devotion to

studying this type of phenomena.

Darren Ansel, Tony Armstrong,

Mark Cowden, Roddy Breslin,

Raymond Breslin and Julia Irvine

are a very close knit team and in

many ways remind me of the bond

I shared with Ghost Detectives.

The NIPS team have worked

exceptionally well on the series

working long hours while keeping

a day job too. Also, a special thank-

you to Warren Coates of N.I.P.R.A,

who made a guest appearence for us

in episode six. There are many great

teams working in Ireland such as

N.I.P.R.A, P.R.A.I and the P.I.G.S, and

it is an idea of mine to involve them

all in some small way in the future.  

The Series

Produced by Coco Television, together with producer Hilary O Donanvon, Director David Starkey and narrator James Nesbitt, N.I.Greatest Haunts first episode aired on Wednesday 21st January 2009 at 10.45pm. Below is a breif episode guide;

Ep1 Woburn House

Ep2 Direct Wine Shipments Warehouse

Ep3 Armagh Gaol

Ep4 Limavady Workhouse

Ep5 Bellaghy Bawn

Ep6 Galgorm Castle