The Most Haunted Team: Yvette Fielding, Ciaran O'Keeffe, Plus More...

This post will discuss who I would consider as the core six members of the 'Most Haunted' team. The UK programme 'Most Haunted' aired its first season in 2002 and its final season, season 23, in 2019. Knowing the programme ran for eighteen years, you can easily see why it has varied its cast in that time. For this reason, I am going to be discussing six individuals who have had great importance and involvement in the programme across its incredibly runl Not everyone I discuss has been involved throughout the programme's life, but they have certainly left their mark. At the end of this post I will discuss my thoughts on the credibility of each individual, along with vague thoughts on the programme itself. As I've not yet reviewed any episode of 'Most Haunted', it would be unfair of me to judge it even though I have seen a few of the episodes a few years ago. 

The sources I will be using:

1. Curtis Brown

2. The Guardian: Yvette Fielding

3. Wikipedia: Yvette Fielding

4. Wikipedia: Karl Beattie

5. The Buckinghamshire New University website

6. The Mirror: Derek Acorah

7. Sky News

8. The Guardian: Derek Acorah

9. The Mirror: Derek Acorah (Feud)

10. Richard Felix's website

11. Internet Archive

Yvette Fielding

You can't write about 'Most Haunted' without at least mentioning Yvette Fielding. She was born on the 23rd of September 1968 in Stockport, and grew up in Bramhall. She entered the world of TV at the age of thirteen when she appeared in the children's BBC comedy drama 'Seaview'. She rose to fame when she joined 'Blue Peter' in 1987 as their youngest ever presenter. She was seventeen years old when she was hired, and eighteen when she started presenting. She went on to win the SOS Award for 'The Most Popular Woman On Television'; an impressive achievement as the other contenders were Cilla Black, Victoria Wood, and Kylie Minogue.

After 'Blue Peter', Yvette presented a number of programmes including 'Practical Parenting', 'Karaoke Challenge', and 'Under Offer'. As you can see from those titles, Yvette was involved in extremely varied programmes and none had anything to do with the paranormal. It was only when her husband, Karl Beattie, asked if she'd be up for staying overnight in haunted locations that the rest of her life was set. Herself and her husband created 'Antix Productions' and in 2002 'Most Haunted' became the companies first commission. The programme became popular in Europe, Canada, Australia, and the US, and won several awards. 

Due to Yvette's involvement in the paranormal, she has become known as 'The First Lady Of The Paranormal' and 'The Queen of the Night'. She has also recounted a couple of instances of herself experiencing hauntings behond famous locations, such as how when in her early 20's she saw a ghost in her mum's house. She has said 'there was only half of him, at the bottom of the bed, and he was wearing a second World War uniform. He was only young, his face was so clear, hair side parted with Brylcreem. I screamed the place down'. After this experience, a local historian recounted to her the tale of a young soldier who didn't want to go to war and so threw himself infront of a train: he was cut in half. 

Yvette has also said her own house is haunted by two children named Benjamin and Elizabeth, and that she couldn't enter the kitchen because of a chair that had been pushed against the door. On this, she has said 'when I eventually pushed my way through, all these chairs were arranged in a pyramid on the table. I absolutely freaked out because I was on my own'. She has also said that one night she woke up to see Elizabeth standing by her bed and that when her and Karl moved it, 'they played a lot of pranks on us'. 

Karl Beattie

As mentioned earlier, Karl Beattie is Yvette's husband and co-owner of 'Antix Productions'. He was born on the 2nd of April 1963 and along with 'Most Haunted' he has also created, produced, and directed 'Ghosthunting With...' on ITV2 which showed Yvette lead various celebrities around haunted locations. There isn't any more information about Karl that I could find, but he was involved with potential fraud which I will discuss later on with my thoughts.

Derek Acorah

Derek Johnson was born in Bootle, Merseyside, in 1950. He was a medium, known as Derek Acorah, on Most Haunted between 2002 and 2005 for six series and is arguably one of the most well known mediums in the UK. He wasn't always a medium though, he actually started off as a footballer. When he was thirteen years old, he played for Wrexham and then two years later he signed as an apprentice-professional with Liverpool while they were being managed by Bill Shankly. As he never made it out of the reserves for Liverpool, he moved back to Wrexham before going on to play for Stockport County and even for a team in Australia. His football career then ended in 1982 as injuries, along with his wife's homesickness in Australia, were taking their toll on Derek. Then, when he and his wife divorced, Derek changed his last name from Johnson to Acorah as it paid homage to a Dutch ancestor. 

He also started to work as a medium with his 2000 year old Ethiopian warrior spirit guide who he calls Sam. Derek went from private readings, to appearing in front of spiritualist Church congregations, then to theatres and civic halls. He married his third wife, Gwen, in 1995 and in 1996 he began appearing on TV with regular segments on 'The Psychic Zone'. He went on to present 'Predictions With Derek Acorah' and in 2002 was entertaining the world with his mediumship on 'Most Haunted'. In 2004 he won the Variety Club of Great Britain's Multichannel TV Personality of the Year award, and was parodied by Dawn French in an episode of 'French and Saunders'. Since his time on 'Most Haunted', he has appeared as a cameo in the 2006 'Doctor Who' episode 'Army of Ghosts', and he came fourth in 2017's 'Celebrity Big Brother'. He has also been played by Hugh Laurie in a Saturday Night Live (SNL) sketch. 

Interestingly, Derek has also written an autobiography in 2004 titled 'The Psychic Adventures of Derek Acorah' where, in part of the book, he describes his experience at Samlesbury Hall in Lancashire. He says: 'the energy around me changed and I felt as though I was in an inn. Once more there was laughter around me, but this time it was accompanied by the smell of ale and roasting meats in the huge fireplace... then I heard a loud bang! 'Somebody shot themselves here' I said'. After falling into a coma, Derek died aged 69 of Sepsis on the 4th of January 2020.

Derek is also known for being outed as faking things on 'Most Haunted', and I will discuss this much more towards the end of this post along with Karl's fraudulent incident. 

Dr Ciaran O'Keefe

Probably known best as the man who outed Derek Acorah as faking things, Ciaran O'Keeffe was already high up in my personal regards before I knew his resume, but now that I know what he's done is his life, I'm even more impressed. Not only did he risk his TV career by outing Derek, but he is currently the 'Head of the School of Human and Social Sciences' along with the 'Associate Professor of Education and Research' at the Buckinghamshire New University. He has also worked at universities in France, and he was a lecturer in the psychology department at Liverpool Hope University where he specialised in both forensic psychology and parapsychology. On his website he says: 'My specialist area of interest is parapsychology and I am one of the few parapsychologists (and applied psychologists) who studies haunting experiences'. He is also a member of the Association for Heads of Psychology Departments (AHPD) and a member of the British Psychological Society (BPS). 

Ciaran was hired as a skeptic on 'Most Haunted' in 2004, and has appeared on a number of TV and radio shows since with the likes of Tony Robinson, Paul O'Grady, and Jane Goldman.

Richard Felix

Richard Felix was the historian on 'Most Haunted' and appeared in over 120 episodes of the programme. He was diagnosed with terminal cancer at the age of eighteen. In 1992 he opened the Derby Heritage Centre, a haunted tudor grammar school which the origins of the Derby Ghost Walk. He is fascinated by history, especially military history, and specialises in ghost tours around the UK and Ireland. According to his website, he has 'personally taken in excess of a million people on a ghost tour'.

Stuart Torevell

Stuart was born on the 1st of April in 1974 in Stockport. He is Yvette Fielding's cousin and was a rigger and cameraman throughout Most Haunted's run from 2002. He works for Antix Productions, and he has claimed to be attacked at the Ancient Ram Inn. He has said the attack is what caused him to lose his hair through alopecia. John Dibley, who was a witness to the attack, has said 'he was being punched repeatedly in the stomach in front of my eyes. He was screaming and crying from the pain'.

The Beattie Controversy

In 2015, 'Most Haunted' filmed a live episode in the notorious 30 East Drive. During this episode, Karl is crouching a couple of stairs away from the top ajd is seemingly pulled backwards, up the remaining stairs, and round a corner out of view. This moment caused quite a stir as people claim to have seen a rope attached to Karl which was used to pull him backwards. He has responded by saying it was a cable people wear when filming, not a rope used to pull on. 

The Acorah Scandal

Cairan O'Keeffe became suspicious of Derek while they filmed at Castle Leslie in Ireland where a bed is said to levitate. Derek touched the bed and gave information based on that, but it was the wrong bed. From this, Cairan thought Derek may have been getting knowledge of a location prior to them filming there. Cairan then planted a few traps for Derek to fall in, and he didn't fail to do so. The parapsychologist has spoken out about the events saying: 

'I think it's time to open the dialogue about what I've experienced on Most Haunted. There have been many incidents with the medium that have been brushed under the carpet. I was put in the show to give a professional slant to it, to give it an element of credibility, but the skeptical argument is swept away. In my opinion, we're not dealing with genuine mediumship. Other crew members have been irked by Derek and what's going on, because it turns what should be a serious investigation into a laughing matter.' 

'As we walked into the bedroom, Derek touched the bed and came out with extremely accurate information. He insisted he got all the information just from touching the bed. But it was the wrong bed. Derek must have had prior knowledge of the locations. I wrote a name down and asked another member of the crew to mention it to Derek before filming. I honestly didn't think Derek would take the bait. But during the filming he actually got possessed by my fictional character! In my professional opinion we're not dealing with a genuine medium. When Derek is possessed he is doing it consciously - all we are seeing is showmanship and dramatics.'

'I made up stories about Richard the Lionheart, a witch, and Richards apparition appearing to walk through a wardrobe - the lion, the witch and the wardrobe! Derek was communicating with spirits that sounded as if they'd been in an asylum, but it was never an asylum.'

Derek gave two fictional names given by Ciaran during his time on the programme. The first, the one who possessed him, was 'Kreed Kafer' which is an anagram of 'Derek Faker' and emerged at Bodmin Goal as a South African jailer. The second name was 'Richard Eedles' an anagram of 'Derek Lies' and emerged at Prideaux Palace in Cornwall. The incident with the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe occured at Craigievar Castle, near to Aberdeen, where Richard I could never have even visited as he reigned 500 years prior to the castle's construction. The asylum incident occured in the remains of Barnes Convalescence Home in Cheadle where the presenter, David Bull, said it used to instead be an asylum where thousands had died in torment when in actuality it never was an asylum and no one had died in torment. 

Both LivingTV and Derek himself commented on all of this. LivingTV said: 'Ciaran O'Keeffe has worked as the programme's official skeptic for 18 months and during this time has not brought any of his concerns to our attention.' 

Derek responded to all of this by saying: 'I've worked with Cairan for many shows and he's got every right to say what he says. However, it does shock and surprise me. Not only do I believe that I am a genuine medium - I live my work 24 hours a day. If I thought I wasn't a true medium, I wouldn't work as one.' 

Yvette has also commented on Derek, and mediums in general. She completely axed mediums from the programme in 2015 and has said: 'we found mediums in the toilet on the Internet. We found them talking to friends getting information from them. They didn't remember they had a mic on and we could hear everything. I was annoyed as I wanted to believe them, but I couldn't after seeing that. That was really upsetting for me. You've got to be careful of people like that. Until they're proven I'll remain skeptical.' You can see why she was so upset given her stance on the programme is that 'there is no acting in this programme, none whatsoever. Everything you see and hear is real. It's not made up, it's not acted.' She has also said, when asked about if it's made up: 'no, absolutely not, 100%, and I get very passionate about it. That's why we came up with the idea of doing Most Haunted Experiences. We give the fans chance to come along with me and the Most Haunted team and experience for themselves what we do on the show. We always say, put your torches on, look under the table, check there's no wires.' She has also written to New Scientist magazine many times asking them to send someone out to analyse the activity they witness. 

Regarding Derek, Yvette has said 'we tell people everything is real, then it turns out he was a fake, so he had to go.' Derek has responded saying: 'she decided when I left the show that she didn't want to talk to me anymore. There was no need for it and it was very sad. I'd just like to say on virtually all psychic activity, I rely on my spiritualist guide I call Sam, but sometimes I rely heavily on my own spiritual guilds that are a custom to my surroundings and the atmosphere that I am upon. When I get possessed, I cannot remember any of the actions of who has taken over me or that of my surroundings. On this occasion where the spirit Kreed Kafer came to me, I can say that I had, yes been taken over by an entity, but the identity could have been other than that of the name that came from me. One explanation of what could have occured is that the spirit that took on board myself had heard one of the crew members mention the character Kreed Kafer and this individual took on that name by means of fraud or because many people in the very distant past did not have names so this entity decided to use the one he had overheard. Another explanation is that I did hear in passing the name Kreed Kafer, and when I did take on board the spirit I made a genuine mistake and wrongly associated this name with the spirit. I am human and can make mistakes, especially when I am under the pressure of a reading or being taken over be an overbearing entity. I do however have a strong successful following in the spiritualist field and I do believe that I am a genuine medium. I am sorry if any of my lovely fans were offended by this mistake.'

The Mirror's Clips

The mirror boasts to have possession of two unedited clips from Most Haunted and I've included the link to this page as one of my sources. There are no videos on that page, however. So, I don't know how legitimate these videos are. LivingTV has said 'LivingTV has not seen your filmed evidence, but will fully investigate your claims'. The evidence allegedly shows two instances of fakery, one by Karl and the other by Yvette. The first apparently shows Karl push a soundman in the dark and pretend it was a poltergeist attack. The remaining edit shows Karl say 'shit, did you feel that?' Yvette responds by saying 'are you alright? What's happened?' Karl says 'I felt something touch me on my shoulder' and the soundman says 'I felt something hit me.' 

The second clip features Yvette and Ian Lawman, of 'Help! My House Is Haunted' fame. In the unedited clip, Yvette sighs deeply, and in the remaining clip Ian asks 'what was that noise? Yvette replies saying 'what noise? Like a moan?' Ian replies with 'breathing or something' and Yvette says 'I heard like an 'arrggh'.' Thankfully Ian doesn't lean into the fakery here and says it as it is: breathing. If he had responded as Yvette apparently did, then that would really make me doubt his validity and so the validity of the 'Help!' Programmes. 

Ofcom has even weighed in on Most Haunted's alleged fakery and ruled Most Haunted as an entertainment show and not a legitimate investigation into the paranormal that shouldn't be taken seriously. They have said: 'we consider that overall Most Haunted/Most Haunted Live should be taken to be a programme produced for entertainment, as such this programme should be seen in the light of shows where techniques are used which mean the audience is not necessarily in full possession of the facts.'

Yvette, when asked about this ruling, said 'oh my god, I was livid - it is a real investigation, we take what we do incredibly seriously.'

My thoughts

I think Ciaran O'Keeffe is by far the most credible on this programme. I think this not only because he did his job extremely well by calling out Derek, but also by having such a decorated history with universities. He is clearly an expert in his field, and I think his opinion on phenomena should be rightly taken into account. Now, do I think 'Most Haunted' is a credible investigation programme because of his involvement? No. I think while he was on the programme there is significantly less of a change that the cast and crew could have faked things while he was around them. As you can see, he suspected Derek and wasn't scared to call him out, so I assume he would have done this with others too if he noticed them. That being said, he did say 'the skeptical arguement is just swept away.' 

I also think Richard Felix is also a good part of the team. It seems he really has a passion for history, so I don't doubt his information on the programme is correct. The only concern I have with him is his connection to ghost walks. These can often be over dramatised by their hosts to give those listening something entertaining instead of just a big information dump. That doesn't mean things are faked though, it just means the person telling the history can be quite animated. 

Now it gets tough. I think the one who you absolutely can't trust is Derek Acorah. I know he's said reasons, and logical ones, to explain the Kreed Kafer incident, but unless a spirit was messing with him for all the incidents he was involved in; I don't believe it. When he becomes possessed, it all seems very dramatised and I don't think I've seen any other people who say they're mediums perform in such a way as he did. Even Yvette has said she has a distrust of psychics because she's encountered so many dodgy ones. I do think psychic ability is real, but I dont think it exists to the extent Derek was claiming it does.

The next one you can't trust is Karl Beattie. He is the producer of the programme and so shouldn't get involved. Really, anyone that involved shouldn't be in the location at all and this goes for Yvette and Stuart too. They're all related. Stuart is Yvettes cousin and Yvette is Karl's wife. Karl, as the producer, will want the programme to perform well and get good viewing numbers... this goes to explaining the dramatics I recall often being witnessed on the programme. Whether that's over dramatic screaming, fleeing, or Derek getting possessed, these are all things that would drive up the viewing figures and that is exactly what Karl as the producer would care about most. Now, I could be wrong about this, he could be legitimate, but as I seem to remember him often experiencing things... I will have to review the programme to make up my mind fully. 

Stuart is iffy due to him being the cousin of Yvette, but he is just a cameraman so I really don't know and there isn't much information on the Internet about him. Yvette definitely speaks passionately about the paranormal, and seems to believe it. In a way, she reminds me of Lorraine Warren but with more screaming. If her whole TV career had been based around the paranormal, I would be more inclined to believe her. However, she is an actress turned TV presenter. This could go into her screams possibly being fake, but I don't know. As for the mirrors clips, I don't trust that. Until I see the clips, I'm treating them as just a rumour online. It wouldn't be fair to judge people based on something I've yet to see. 

I really hope you enjoyed this blog post. If you have any comments whether that be about the blog, experiences of your own, or even places you would like for me to investigate, then you can comment and follow on here, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or Reddit, and you can email thetrueparanormal1@gmail.com for a quick response to any questions.