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Spooked: Scotland (2022)
More ham than a butcher's shop
What can you say about Spooked: Scotland? Well, it's a bit like if you ordered a ghost hunting crew from Wish.
Let's start with Chris Fleming, once you get past the distraction of his plastic surgery, and ridiculous overacting you realise he'd be better suited to a pantomime stage. Everything is full on American extreme. It's not just a ghost, it's a demonic poltergeist! It's not just a dirt stain on the floor, it's an imp's footprint! It's not just some dead flies, it's a satanic infestation! But no matter what it is, he's going from 0-100 with his 'investigation', before tackling the bad guys and shooing them all away (because ghostly activity doesn't appeal to tourists?). Americans seem to think Scotland is a fantasy fairy land of imps and sprites, while every indoor ghost has been summoned by an ancient, secretive, satanic cult. It's a tired stereotype.
And then there's Gail Porter, oh dear. Someone take the camera off her and send her home with a nice cup of cocoa. She doesn't seem to enjoy ghost hunting at all, she's very often screaming and crying in terror and running away at the slightest noise, which tends to obscure the evidence they're trying to gather. I get she's there as the token household name, but she really doesn't bring much to the show. I get the impression she'd watch scooby doo with her eyes closed.
Ryan O'Neil, a cheap knock off version of Aaron Goodwin from Ghost Adventures. Just like Chris and Gail, Ryan is just there to scream and shout and overreact at the slightest sound - which is always attributed to something sinister, it's never just a pigeon, is it? Or even just a regular ghost of some poor guy who died there. The fact that every place they visit has some evil entity lurking in the shadows just erodes what little credibility ghost hunting has left.
The saving grace of the show is Evelyn Hollow, an actual trained parapsychologist! Incredibly enough she somehow manages to keep a level head while everyone around her is acting like they're on a Saturday morning kids show. She doesn't get nearly enough screen time, the show producers clearly favouring the three stooges instead. She brings a level of calm professionalism and credibility to the show that it's desperately needs. I'd watch her hosting her own show or working with her own crew.
My sympathies go out to the camera crew tasked with working on the show and in particular the audio tech who has to try capture the events of each hunt while the pantomime is in full swing. They never seem to replay any of the sounds (bar the EVPs) and instead immediately go charging off in the general direction of whatever it was they heard, shouting over everything and generally being as noisy as possible. Which again is always attributed to something satanic and not just old heating pipes rumbling.
So should you watch the show? Well, if you're interested in locations around Scotland for paranormal activity, yes. If you want a serious ghost hunting show, no. Take it for what it is, a bit of silly entertainment that takes itself far too seriously.