Everybody Loves Raymond (Tunstall)
Can it really be fourteen years since Ghostwatch? Almost a decade and a half since that fateful Halloween night in 1992, when a complacent British viewing public was shaken to its core by Stephen Volk's groundbreaking TV play.
The unofficial star of the piece was bloody-eyed, dress-wearing poltergeist Raymond Tunstall, whose fleeting appearances have become the stuff of legend. Now, as the nights get darker and Halloween comes around once more, NTS presents a brief guide to all the sightings of the late Mr Tunstall that you might not have noticed. And don’t worry about that banging noise, it’s just the pipes playing up again. Just the pipes.Filmed in the guise of a live TV broadcast, in the play we bear witness to assault on the household of the Early family by a supernatural presence which takes the form of a deceased former resident of the house, Raymond Tunstall. Although Tunstall(or “Mr Pipes” as the Early daughters nickname him) is never directly seen in the drama, Volk and director Lesley Manning conspired to include a number of almost subliminal appearances by the phantom throughout the play, some of which can only be spotted by very precise freeze-framing. And I think I’ve managed to get them all…
So without further ado, here’s our first cameo by the man himself:
There he is, behind Dr Pascoe’s shoulder while she and Parkinson are listening to the audio recording - he appears just as the ghost begins to speak on the tape.You might have to turn the brightness up on your TV to catch this one, as it looks just like blue smoke at first glance.
The next guest appearance occurs as Craig Charles is interviewing locals about the peculiar goings on in Foxhill Drive. As Craig begins to interview Arthur Lacy, you can clearly spot Tunstall standing behind the blue-coated woman in the crowd(although you might notice a minor technical fluff here - the light is reflecting off his supposedly empty eye-socket).
Sarah enters the kitchen to find the girl’s drawings scattered all over the floor. As she bends to pick them up, a sudden noise startles her - just a cat, but she fails to notice the reflection in the patio door…
As events start to spin out of control, the sisters are hastily evacuated from their bedroom. The cameraman has a last look around the now empty room, and just catches a glimpse of something by the curtains. He whips back, but of course, there’s nothing there…
Sarah and Chris the cameraman have unwisely decided to open the glory hole - and this is what is visible in the half-second before Chris is clocked by a falling picture.
This one is very hard to make out, but after the glory hole door slams shut behind Sarah, there’s a flash of static in which you can see Tunstall’s face, just before we cut to…
…An arc light exploding in the studio gallery, and there’s Pipes for the last time.
That’s all the sightings I’ve been able to track down so far, but if you’ve noticed any others, then please let us know.
Sleep well, children…
About this entry
- By Philip Alderman
- Posted on Tuesday, October 31 2006 @ 10:38 pm
- Categorised in TV
- Tagged with ghostwatch
- 29 comments
You've scared me now, Phil!
By Anonymous
October 31, 2006 @ 10:52 pm
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We're watching this RIGHT NOW.
By Jonathan Capps
October 31, 2006 @ 10:55 pm
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We're actually watching it as we speak - and we just got to the curtain shot. THAT SHIT ME UP GOOD AND PROPER.
I'm not going to watch when they open the glory hole...
By Seb
October 31, 2006 @ 10:56 pm
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Gah; the first post was me! WHAT IS THIS SORCERY?!
By Tanya Jones
October 31, 2006 @ 11:03 pm
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NTS IS HAUNTED!
Shame we can't blame it on HU, anymore.
By Jonathan Capps
October 31, 2006 @ 11:05 pm
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The curtain shot is the one piece of the programme that really stands out in my mind, and I can still remember seeing 'Pipes' as the camera first scanned the room and shouting 'OOH! THERE!' at the telly before the camera whizzed back. Even though I knew it was all fake!
By Sue
November 01, 2006 @ 9:52 am
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This is a classic piece of television. I rented it on DVD a while ago and I'd urge anyone to do the same if they've never seen it before. I mean, Craig Charles is in it, there's a Dwarf connection FFS. I think you'd believe it was real if the two girls weren't obviously acting (badly in places) and if they hadn't jumped the shark by having an actual ghost guy there, and if you still think it's real after watching the end with Parkinson in the studio you're clearly insane.
By performingmonkey
November 01, 2006 @ 7:56 pm
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I saw it when it was first shown. I recorded it on VHS. I've watched it umpteen times since. Used the tape for a screening at college. Bought the DVD and watched it...
...my question is - having watched it that many times, how the fuck did I miss him in that bloody crowd scene?!
Still one of the best directed piece of BBC television ever.
By Andrew
November 02, 2006 @ 12:22 pm
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Clearly the Parky ending blows it good and proper but it's the wonderous way it built up scene by scene. Plus the clever use of employing Craig and Sarah both presenters who also act was great. Can you imagine if they did it nowadays?
By Anonymous
November 02, 2006 @ 4:13 pm
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> By on Thursday, November 2, 2006 @ 15:13
ARGH, IT'S PIPES!
By Ian Symes
November 02, 2006 @ 4:15 pm
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*likes the ending*
By Andrew
November 02, 2006 @ 7:52 pm
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It doesn't seem to be registering my name. How odd.
By Anonymous
November 02, 2006 @ 9:03 pm
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>The curtain shot is the one piece of the programme that really stands out in my mind, and I can still remember seeing 'Pipes' as the camera first scanned the room and shouting 'OOH! THERE!' at the telly before the camera whizzed back. Even though I knew it was all fake!
*shame mode*
I remember watching with my best friend Ellie and we actually rang the fake hotline they set up when we saw that bit :oP
I'll get my coat....
By Jo
November 02, 2006 @ 10:06 pm
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I think the first sighting is actually at 21 minutes into the show. They are replaying the university's footage because viewers called in to say that earlier they'd seen a dark figure against the curtains. The footage is replayed and we the audience can clearly see Pipes at the left side of the screen, but the presenters say that there's nothing there. They run the footage a couple more times, and by the third run-through, the figure is gone. Finally it's suggested that we just saw a shape in the folds of the curtains and the parapsychologist uses the lightwand to outline that shape.
By Jana
March 01, 2007 @ 9:00 am
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hi we think we have spotted another pipes sighting when she says its in the machines and there are more static images when susie says 'i only gave you what you wanted' he is stood in the background by the living room door.
By Anonymous
May 22, 2007 @ 2:16 pm
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I love KT Tunstall.
By Jonathan Capps
May 22, 2007 @ 3:08 pm
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Well, this is clearly an article that needed bringing back to the front page.
*whimpers*
By Seb
May 22, 2007 @ 3:13 pm
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HE'S COMING TO GETS YOU>
By Jonathan Capps
May 22, 2007 @ 5:14 pm
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WARGGGHHHHH!!!!
By Tanya Jones
May 22, 2007 @ 10:54 pm
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I remember this programme when it was shown and it shit mu up good and proper!! Even now it scares, I'm 28 for gods sake! And I clearly know its fake and in places badly acted.
Does anyone else have the same thing that when they think they see something in the corner of their eye when they are in bed, they think is Pipes? Or am I jusy psychologically scarred for life!!
The BBC would have to go some to get such a response nowadays! What a great bit of TV! Classic in fact.
By Pete glover
June 15, 2007 @ 1:21 pm
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I am the only one in my family that remebers this when it was first on in '92.
I found a clip on youtube of the part with the curtains. Still really scary even though it was fake.
Come on BBC show it again. Its loads better than Most Haunted!!
By Paul
July 11, 2007 @ 12:31 pm
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Watched this tonight, rented out. I was talking to my friend about it down the pub, saying I had it back here to watch. I thought I was nine years old when it came on. Turns out I was 20. No wonder I couldn't remember talking about it at school.
It's bloody marvelous, though. I'd love to see the BBC do stuff like this again. The Wikipedia article suggests they won't though. But, wow, that was some viewing. It's far better and more disturbing than most high budget horror films. It really puts the willies up yer.
By Bod Notbod
March 02, 2008 @ 5:29 am
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Ahhh I remember it well! I was looking after a family members house and my uncle told me to help myself to the bacardi in the drinks cabinet. I finished the whole bottle yet remained sober!!!!!! It was some scary shit and I hated having to pop to the loo for a piss, haha. Didn’t want to walk back into the living room in an empty house and see ol Pipes standing there. One day I’ll show my kids, when they are older.lol. It was a fantastic show…I was well taken in until things got a little too dramatic ie windy studio. 10/10 LOVED IT!
By Lee Hartnup
August 10, 2008 @ 1:49 pm
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Just watched it again on Google Video and reminded myself why I’d never watched it in the last 16 years.
Jaysus.
By Joe Murphy
August 22, 2008 @ 10:57 pm
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By Danny Stephenson
November 03, 2008 @ 3:50 pm
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i haven’t got a hang of this html lark, is that a sighting?
By Danny Stephenson
November 03, 2008 @ 3:51 pm
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Yeah, that’s in the sequence where they watch the same clip three times. They don’t spot it, but one time he’s there fully, one time he’s faded, and one time he’s not there at all but the woman highlights where he might be.
We watched it again at Halloween, caught all the sightings except the one in the crowd. Which is weird because in screengrab form it’s so obvious, but it must be incredibly fleeting!
It still creeps me out *while* watching it, but thankfully it hasn’t completely lingered in my dreams and DESTROYED MY BRAIN like it did two years ago. It really is a quite staggeringly brilliant piece of TV, though. Someone needs to grow some balls and authorise a repeat.
By Seb Patrick
November 03, 2008 @ 10:29 pm
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> Someone needs to grow some balls and authorise a repeat.
It should certainly be on rotation on BBC4 each Halloween. But for a BBC1 or 2 repeat the time of those presenters has passed.
I say let Volk write a follow-up!
By Andrew
November 04, 2008 @ 3:41 pm
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This has got to be one of the scariest shows I have seen in my life. I remember watching this and being about 14 at the time. It was a Saturday night and I sat down to what I Believed was a real ghost hunt. I think what did it for me was the part when the girl was caught banging on the Pipes. It made you relax at that point and think I knew it. Its all a scam then as your guard is down the fun starts and it is spooky especially if you think its a real broadcast.
By James
November 20, 2008 @ 2:32 pm
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