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Most Haunted is a British
paranormal documentary reality television series that premiered on May 25, 2002 on the Travel Channel. The programme is based
on investigating purported paranormal activity. It is shown on the satellite
and cable channels Living, Living2 and Virgin 1 (Formerly Ftn),
primarily for the UK market. It is also shown in the United States on the Travel Channel, on the W Channel in Australia and
Canada, TV4 Plus in Sweden, Sub (TV channel) in Finland and Stöð 2 in Iceland. It is produced by Antix Productions, led by
Yvette Fielding and her husband, Karl Beattie. According to guest medium Billy Roberts, he has been signed on for
the next 12 months to work with the Most Haunted team. Current medium Brian Shepheard will leave his post as "main" medium
after this Janunary's show and at the end of the current series, just over 1 year after he became the main medium on the show.
Billy Roberts will become the new "main" medium for the 12th series of the show.
Most Haunted features a main presenter, a historian, a psychic medium
and a parapsychologist. Essentially the latter two are intended to create an even balance between paranormal and scientific
explanations for the various phenomena that occur. Any information provided by the medium from claimed interactions with spirits
is then analysed by the historian to see if it can be verified. The core investigation team are supported by some of the production
crew, who appear in the show and are generally involved with the investigation whilst performing their normal crew role. Most
of these on-screen crew members also take part in séances.
The show has also featured guest mediums. So far these have
been Ian Lawman, Ian Shillito, Gordon Smith, Uri
Geller, Kevin Wade, Johnnie Fiori and Brian Shepherd. Some episodes have also included at least one celebrity. So far the
'celebrity' episodes have included Vic Reeves, Nancy
Sorrell, Gaby Roslin, Scott
Mills, Mark Chapman, Simon
Gregson, Sue Cleaver, Carol
Thatcher, Paul O'Grady and Lee
Ryan. For the series 10 episode from Coalhouse Fort the team were joined by Scottish Paranormal
Investigator & RCPS Scotland Co-Founder Ryan O'Neil (http://www.scottish-paranormal.co.uk) .
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The Most Haunted team travels around not only the UK, but also Ireland, the Netherlands, Romania,
and the United States, investigating alleged paranormal activity for 24 hours at a time. The photographic style of the series has changed considerably since series 1. In the first series many
elaborate shots were set up with an almost 'theatrical' style, with illuminated windows and dry ice. Locations were often
illuminated outside at night time, with blue and green colours. From series 1 - 3 there was extensive use of the steadicam,
which provided gliding shots during Yvette's ghostly tales or for general views. In series 8 the team introduced a camera
crane or 'jib' system for elaborate aerial shots of both Yvette and the locations. Most of the photography in Most Haunted
focuses on 'general views' also known as 'GV's' of a location and its surroundings. Most Haunted is filmed with both broadcast
Sony DSR-570WSP & DSR-PD170P DVCAM cameras and Sony DCR-PC9E miniDV cameras with night vision facility. A Thermal Imaging
camera is also used to detect & highlight cold & warm spots. The original editor, Neil Haggerty, is said by many fans to be responsible for the creation of the
original Most Haunted look. Neil created intricate edits, using a wide range of visual effects such as dust and scratchings
and luminescent transitions. He also used many other devices such as slow or sped-up images from the steadicam to create gliding
shots, imposing and superimposing and many other effects resulting in the show looking sophisticated edit wise. The show was
edited at 422 in Manchester from series 1 - 5 and from series 6 has been edited on Antix' own edit suites. Neil left after
series 4 and was replaced by an 'edit team'. This resulted in a different editor for almost every episode. The style of editing
has changed considerably with less visual effects used now and more 'edit' effects, such as lens darkening and light play
used. Most Haunted's theme music has been composed by Alan Clark; however, much of the score is composed
of straight copies of loops and samples from the Spectrasonics sample libraries Distorted Reality, Metamorphosis and Biazzare
Guitar, which are mixed together to form the overall flowing soundtrack. Originally intended to be Most Haunted Series 10, this was an eight part series where Most
Haunted investigators attempted to solve murder mysteries in normal English villages. It was hosted by Most Haunted
Live! historian Lesley Smith. The series commenced on a weekly broadcast from 19 June 2007 to 31 July 2007 and the team
visited (in order of broadcast) Stoney Middleton, Nantwich, Castleton, Pluckley, Ruthin, Tutbury, Tarvin, and Bakewell. An
episode, shot in Lymm Village, saw the team investigate a suspect of Jack the Ripper. This episode was not aired on television
but will be released in 2009 on the Midsummer Murders Complete Series DVD. Series which the presenters recall their most frightening visits. An 8-part series due to air on the Travel Channel starting on 12 December 2008. The series is also
due to air in the UK and includes the team's investigation at the infamous Waverly Hills Sanitorium in Kentucky.
In the UK, it will air as part of Series 11. Former shows include Most Haunted: Extra which ran directly after premiere episodes of Series
2 to 9, documenting behind-the-scenes antics of the cast and crew on that night's location and Most Haunted Live: Access
All Areas a phone in show to discuss the preceding or following live event.
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