How TV Ruined Your Life (BBC Two, 08/03/11)

Last night, during the concluding episode of critic/cultural commentator Charlie Brooker's absorbing BBC series, How TV Ruined Your Life (specifically, at the 13:30 minute mark), the show took a unexpectedly spooky turn...

Whilst on the subject of television's seemingly inherent ability to subjugate audiences' perceptions by blurring the lines between fact and fiction, we the audience were treated to a fleeting/erudite hark back to everyone's favourite Hallowe'en horror show.

Most remarkable, and not to mention genuinely heartening to behold, was the overwhelmingly positive response that this little trip down (repressed) memory lane seemed to generate at near lightning-speed via The Online Voice Of The People™, Twitter - with news coming through at one point that the word 'Ghostwatch' had even taken on the intermittently distinguished title of Trending Topic.

It's also worth noting how thoroughly encouraging it was to see even just a couple of minutes of Ghostwatch back on the old telly box, at long last; where many agree, it most certainly belongs.

Intriguingly, this isn't the first time Mr. Brooker and Ghostwatch have been mentioned in the same sentence. Not too long ago, the following tidbit was stumbled upon in an article for The Guardian newspaper... "Charlie watched the 1992 spooktacular Ghostwatch at four in the morning, and, having initially laughed at Sarah Greene's performance, soon found himself getting genuinely frightened."

You can check out the show in full for a limited period on the BBC iPlayer by clicking the link below. For those who missed it, this episode will also be repeated on BBC Four on the 12th of this month at eleven. Just try not to have sleepless nights... http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/zg1rh/