Chasing Ghosts: Interview with TV star, Yvette Fielding
There’s not much British star Yvette Fielding hasn’t put her hand to since she first hit our TV screens in 1987 as the face of classic children’s show, Blue Peter. She became one of the show’s youngest ever presenters, and from there, her career grew from strength to strength. Fielding has appeared in several successful television series since her Blue Peter days. Finally, in 2002, she set up her own company with her husband, Karl Beattie, which they named Antix Productions. Antix saw the beginning of cult TV series Most Haunted, where Fielding used the opportunity to investigate some of the greatest locations across the UK.
Never one to stand still on past successes, Fielding soon turned her hand to writing and released her debut novel, Archie the Ghost Hunter in 2019.
It was recently announced that Fielding had written her second book — The House in the Woods. To be released on 30th September through Andersen Press, The House in the Woods is a creepy tale that drags the reader in with it’s enchanting atmosphere and ghostly occurrences.
Yvette Fielding kindly agreed to an interview with me. We discussed her experience of writing her latest book, how much Most Haunted influenced her upcoming release, and why the star thinks science should be taking the paranormal more seriously…
So you have your new book coming out this September — The House In The Woods. Do you feel nervous about it finally being released?
I feel excited and nervous! When you finish a book, you think ‘oh gosh, I hope people like it’… It is nerve wracking. But to have a book in your hands, thinking “wow, I’ve actually written that” is an amazing feeling.
The House In The Woods involves a lot of paranormal elements. Did you draw on your experience of filming Most Haunted?
Yes, the knocking phenomenon and the theories about it come from my experience with Most Haunted. It goes way back to some very famous cases, like the Fox Sisters… It’s amazing.
Yet it frustrates me as science should take all this much more seriously. It’s fascinating and I’m absolutely obsessed with it. I definitely drew on my own experiences for the story.
Your novel touches upon the idea of a ghost following someone home… is this something you worried about when filming Most Haunted?
Yes! Of course! Karl (Fielding’s husband and producer of Most Haunted) is 100% sure ghosts can’t follow you home, and we’ve never had that happen in all our years of doing the show. But there are stories of that happening. Karl’s belief is that it can’t happen… my belief is that it’s possible. There are no experts…. the only ones who have all the answers are those that are already dead. There’s so much we don’t know. We’ve only made a tiny, tiny pinprick in terms of learning about the subject.
One of the characters in the book gets an item thrown at them from a spirit… and that happened to me in real life. I had a shell of a bullet thrown at me from out of nowhere. I kept it, and it sat on my desk as I was writing the book. These things are called apports, we can pick them up, coins, bullets and all sorts… even a crowbar! So I’ve used that in the book too.
There’s also a scene where there are chairs stacked by in a pyramid shape a spirit… that actually happened to me in real life. It was unbelievable.
Did you show the story to your husband Karl or any friends and family along the way to get their feedback? What do your family think of your work as an author?
Bless them. I used to say to them all, ‘I’m sorry if I’m boring you but can I read you this?’ And they were always supportive and happy to listen. Sometimes they’d say ‘what about this, or that,’ and actually come up with other suggestions. I actually think they were part of the writing experience for me. Prodding me in the right direction.
House In The Woods is to be part 1 of several releases. How many more books will there be in the series, do you know that yet?
I’ve already written the third book. I’m not sure how many there will be. It depends if people like the first two. I’ll keep my fingers crossed and hope people enjoy them.
I personally loved losing myself in writing. The escapism of it. It was such a wonderful experience to lock myself away and get lost in my stories.
The House In The Woods is directed to a young audience, did you find it hard to get in the mindset of writing in a style that younger teens would connect with?
It’s really weird. I didn’t set out and think, this will be for teenagers, but I just wrote for me. I think I’ve got quite a young mind anyway and it just resonated with friends who read it and said their children would like it. The publisher read it and said it was great. My friend who is Jamaican, she was a big help when I was researching details for my character Clover who is Jamaican. She helped me so much, even down to the food that my characters ate.
Would you ever consider writing another non-fiction book about your paranormal experiences?
Yes. I’ve started my autobiography, but I’m only half-through it. The working title is “Here’s One I Screamed Earlier” but actually, it might not be released until I’m 80 for all I know… for an autobiography that’s probably a good thing!
Do you ever read horror books or watch horror films yourself?
No. Isn’t that weird? I just can’t do that. I only watched Poltergeist when I was a teenager, and I’ve never watched anything spooky after that! I don’t even watch Most Haunted. I can watch it if people are in the house with me, but not if I’m alone in the house or it might mess with my head.
My daughter Mary will ask me to watch horror movies with her but I just say no… I couldn’t watch that and then go and do a Ouija board for Most Haunted.
I actually love Disney movies, all the Harry Potter books, Lord Of The Rings.. I love going into a completely different world.
Can I ask a couple of questions about Most Haunted….
Yes, yes of course…
When you first started the show, which was many years ago now, did you consider yourself a sceptic, or have you always believed in the paranormal?
I didn’t know what to believe, but I was always frightened of it. When I was younger I had an experience… I saw a ghost in my mum’s house. I was petrified and refused to sleep on my own. It was the ghost of a World War 2 soldier. After researching, it turns out a soldier died on that land, he threw himself onto a train track, got cut in half… and apparently many others in the neighbourhood had also said they’d seen the ghost of a soldier too. So I did believe in it, but always in the back of my mind, I was questioning it… worrying if I imagined it. So when Karl and I came up with the idea for MH I was petrified. But we witnessed so much on the show… I was hooked from the beginning. It was the start of a journey that changed our lives.
Do you feel your time working on the show has provided you with definitive proof of the after-life?
We’ve captured all sort of impressive things. For me, it will always be the knocking phenomena that we’ve captured. It amazes me. It’s actually a form of communication from the other side. When people used to accuse us of faking, it really upset me. That show was our life and we put our hearts into it, and for people to come along and slam it used to upset me but I don’t let myself get upset anymore… especially now we’ve started Most Haunted Experience (where members of the public can take part in investigations)… guests are shocked because they witness the kind of things we have on the show. So it’s nice to share the experience with others, especially doubters.
I’ve actually attended a few Most Haunted Experience events and done some investigations with yourself and Karl. I know from experience that the things you see and hear are genuine and often inexplicable. But there will always be doubters. You must get really fed up of sceptics making digs at the show. Is there anything you’d like to say to people who doubt the authenticity of your experiences?
I’ve managed to get past all of it. I did a programme live — when Karl was pulled backwards. 30 East Drive. It was a wonderful piece of paranormal footage. You can see him getting caught, it was real, and yet someone online accused us of faking it. Eventually the guy who accused us emailed to apologise. And we were like, thank you, but it’s a shame that even happened. Because when you see the footage it’s fantastic and people slammed it so easily.
In a way I understand it, of course your logical side will say “well it’s on TV, it’s dramatized” but that’s not the case at all. What we do is real. And that’s why I get frustrated and wish science would get more involved. It needs to be researched. Of course people are intelligent and want to question what we do, I get that, but it is frustrating. But me and Karl know the truth.
I get so passionate about it, sometimes I have to calm myself down. I love it.
Thanks for your time, Yvette.
