The Ghost Hunter (TV series)
| The Ghost Hunter | |
|---|---|
| Genre | |
| Based on |
The Ghost Hunter by Ivan Jones |
| Written by |
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| Directed by | David Bell |
| Starring |
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| Composer(s) |
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| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 18 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Peter Murphy |
| Producer(s) | David Bell |
| Cinematography |
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| Production company(s) | Zenith North |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC One |
| Original release | 4 January 2000 – 18 February 2002 |
The Ghost Hunter is an award winning British children's drama series created for the BBC and based on the books The Ghost Hunter by Ivan Jones. It was first broadcast in January 2000 and the last series was first broadcast in 2002. Repeats continue to be shown on BBC and CBBC as well as in other countries. The first and second series were later reworked into two ninety-minute films.
School location scenes from each of the three series were filmed at St. Laurence School in Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire. Many of the castle scenes were filmed at Berkeley Castle in the Cotswolds.
The Ghost Hunter series revolves around Roddy and Tessa Oliver, two ordinary children whose lives are turned upside down when William Povey, a shoeshine boy from Victorian England appears in Roddy's bedroom as a ghost and appeals to him for help. The Ghost Hunter is searching for William in order to obtain 'spectral energy' which is only obtainable from capturing ghosts.
At first she seems concerned only to "collect" ghosts, but later her intentions become clear. She wants to use their energy to pass through Time itself and thereby have everlasting life. William's energy is especially high which makes him more attractive to the Ghost Hunter. As Roddy has second sight (the ability to see ghosts) and is the only person initially who can see William, he is the only person who can help him escape. Later, Tessa also finds she has second sight and can also see William. In their on-going battles, the two boys and Tessa, Roddy's sister, become firm friends and have many adventures together.
Although the series was a ground-breaking one for children's television and influenced other series which followed it, and although it had very high ratings, a fourth series was never commissioned, thus leaving some of the main protagonists, the Ghost Hunter and some of the children stuck in Victorian England.
The main action takes place in Roddy and Tessa's village and school where the Ghost Hunter is active. One of the Ghost Hunter's chief abilities is her sense of smell. She can sniff out a ghost effortlessly. But Roddy and Tessa do not know who the Ghost Hunter is. They set about trying to discover this so that they can protect William. One of their ruses is to put garlic all round Roddy's bedroom, where the ghost is hiding, as the smell is said to keep ghosts and evil away. Eventually, the children realise that the Ghost Hunter is Mrs Croker, but only when she arrives at Roddy's house with her "ghost immobilising vapour" (GIV) with which she tries to freeze William, shrink him and put him in a bottle. Thanks to Roddy's quick wittedness, William escapes and the police almost arrest Mrs Croker but she escapes. Mrs Croker is also, and always, on the look out for other ghosts and has a whole collection of bottled ghosts that is discovered by Roddy, William and Tessa when the two boys save the girl after she is kidnapped by De Sniff and left tied up and gagged in a secret hideout while Mrs Croker and De Sniff go back to the house to look for William. When she learns that there is to be an AGM (Annual Ghost Meeting) at Chillwood Castle, she and her side-kick DeSniff set up a powerful plan to bottle dozens of ghosts. Her plan is to use ghost-energy for her own wicked purposes, but the plan fails when she attacks the ghosts during a unique ghost celebration that allows them to assume their human bodies once again. Thanks to Roddy, Tessa and William, Mrs Croker falls from the battlements of Chillwood Castle, and is believed to have been killed. De Sniff escapes.
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