THE GHOST TRAIN

20 Dec 1937 / BBC.

Writer: Arnold Ridley.

Crime comedy drama. Crooks are using a deserted railway station as a base for their smuggling activities. A local superstition that the station is haunted by a ghost train keep unwelcome visitors away but things may not be what they seem.

EOFFTV guide - The Ghost Train.

MR PASTRY HOOKS A SPOOK

28 Oct 1961 / BBC

Writer: Richard Hearne / Producer: David Goddard.

Comedy. Kiddies' favourite Mr Pastry sets himself up as a ghostbuster and gets mixed up with a gang of crooks.

With: Richard Hearne, Melvyn Hayes.

TURN OUT THE LIGHTS

2 Jan - 6 Feb 1967 (6 eps) / ITV (Granada).

Comedy drama series - a spin-off from "Coronation Street" and "Pardon the Expression". Leonard Swindley and his assistant Wally Hunt tour the country, giving lectures and conducting investigations into the paranormal.

With: Arthur Lowe, Robert Dorning.

CARRY ON CHRISTMAS

24 Dec 1969 / ITV - Thames (rpt 2003 / Channel 5).

Writer: Talbot Rothwell / Exec. Producer: Peter Rogers.

The "Carry On" team send up the story of Dickens's "A Christmas carol" in their own inimitable style.

With: Sid James, Barbara Windsor, Hattie Jacques, Frankie Howerd, Peter Butterworth, Charles Hawtrey, Terry Scott, Bernard Bresslaw

Carryonline (click on the TV section).

CATWEAZLE

1970-71 (26 eps) / ITV (LWT).

Writer: Richard Carpenter / Producers: Quentin Lawrence, Carl Mannin

Children's fantasy comedy series. Catweazle, a bumbling medieval wizard, accidentally timewarps himself into the 20th century.

With: Geoffrey Bayldon, Robin Davies, Charles Tingwell, Neil McCallum, Gary Warren.

CATWEAZLE (Fan site).

PARDON MY GENIE

1972 - 73 (26 eps) / ITV (Thames).

Series Creator: Bob Block / Producer: Daphne Shadwell.

Children's fantasy sitcom. Hal, the young assistant in a hardware shop unwittingly summons up a genie after polishing an old watering can. The fact that the genie insists on granting his every wish turns out to be a mixed blessing!

With: Ellis Jones, Roy Barraclough, Hugh Paddick, Arthur White.

LIZZIE DRIPPING

15 Dec 1972 & 13 Mar - 3 Apr 1973 & 27 Feb - 27 Mar 1975 (8 eps) / BBC1.

Creator: Helen Cresswell.

Children's fantasy sitcom. Mischievous Penelope Arbuckle is seen as a bit of a dreamer by the rest of her village. She becomes friendly with a witch whom she discovers is invisible to the rest of the village!

With: Tina Heath, Sonia Dresdel.

Lizzie Dripping - Little Gems Guide.

RENTAGHOST

1976-84 (58 eps) / BBC1

Creator: Bob Block / Producer: Jeremy Swan.

Children's spooky sitcom. An employment agency with a difference - it hires out spooks for every occasion!.

THE GHOSTS OF MOTLEY HALL

Apr 1976-78 (20 eps) / ITV (Granada).

Writer: Richard Carpenter / Producer & Director: Quentin Lawrence.

Children's supernatural comedy series. The resident ghosts of dilapidated stately home, Motley Hall, try to scare off all prospective purchasers.

With: Arthur English, Freddie Jones, Sean Flanagan, Nicholas Le Provost, Sheila Steafel, Peter Sallis.

NOBODY'S HOUSE

1976 (7 eps) / ITV (Tyne-Tees).

Writers: Derrick Sherwin, Martin Hall (based on a novel by Martin Hall).

Children's supernatural comedy drama series. The Sinclair family find that their new home is haunted by the ghost of a young boy called Nobody.

With: Kevin Moreton, William Gaunt, Wendy Gifford.

Memorable children's TV.

DEAD ERNEST

15 Feb - 29 Mar 1982 (7 eps) / ITV (Central).

Writers: John Stevenson & Julian Roach / Director: Alan Wallis.

Sitcom. Ernest Springer, killed in a freak accident involving a champagne cork, goes to heaven. There he gets to meet angels, archangels, his deceased parents and various famous historical figures.

With: Andrew Sachs.

THE CLAIRVOYANT

15 May - 19 Jun 1986 (5 eps) / BBC2

Writer: Roy Clarke / Producer & Director: Alan J.W. Bell

Sitcom. A used car salesman believes that he has acquired supernatural abilities after a car accident.

With: Roy Kinnear, Sandra Dickinson, Hugh Lloyd.

THE WORST WITCH

1 Nov 1986 / ITV (Central)

Based on a Novel by Jill Murphy.

Fantasy comedy for children. Young Mildred Hubble is training to be a Witch at a special school (there was also a series made in 1998).

With: Fairuza Balk, Jean Marsh, Diana Rigg, Tim Curry.

Memorable children's TV.

BLACKADDER'S CHRISTMAS CAROL

23 Dec 1988 / BBC1.

Writers: Richard Curtis, Ben Elton / Director: Richard Boden

Comedy drama. Kindly Ebeneezer Blackadder sees the error of his good-hearted ways when he is shown the past, present and future by the "Spirit of Christmas"!

With: Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, Robbie Coltrane, Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Miranda Richardson, Miriam Margoyles, Jim Broadbent.

BERNARD AND THE GENIE

1991 / BBC1

Writer: Richard Curtis / Director: Colin Weitland

Comedy Fantasy. An out of work art dealer discovers a genie inside a magic lamp who helps him take revenge on the boss who sacked him.

With: Alan Cummings, Lenny Henry, Rowan Atkinson.

Memorable UK TV

THE WOLVIS FAMILY

4 May - 8 Jun 1991 (6 eps) / BBC2

Writers: Tim Lubbock , Roger Parsons / Director: Roger Parsons

Offbeat Comedy series. A dysfunctional family agree to go through a series of therapy sessions on TV after their young son stops talking. Not strictly speaking a supernatural series until the last episode, when the family ends up mysteriously levitating during a group psychotherapy session!.

SO HAUNT ME

Feb 1992 - Feb 1994 (19 eps) / BBC1.

Writer: Paul Mendelson / Directors: John Stroud, Sylvie Boden.

Sitcom. The Rokeby family move into a new house which turns out to be haunted by the ghost of its former Jewish owner - Yetta Feldman.

With: Miriam Carling, Tessa Peake-Jones, George Costigan, Laura Simmons, Jeremy Green.

MULBERRY

Feb 1992 - May 1993 (13 eps) / BBC1.

Writers: John Esmonde, Bob Larbey Directors: John B Hobbs, Clive Grainger.

Sitcom. Mulberry is a mysterious stranger who secures a position as a servant to the wealthy but cantankerous old Miss Farnaby. Unknown to her he is actually an apprentice "Grim Reaper" who has been sent to earth to escort her spirit to the next world.

With: Karl Howman, Geraldine McEwan, Tony Selby, Lill Roughley, John Bennett.

MY DEAD DAD

28 July - 1 Sep 1992 (6 eps) / Channel 4

Writer: John McKay / Director & Producer: Alan Nixon.

Ghostly sitcom. Alec Dundee's father, Willie, who died 14 years earlier, returns as a spirit to help out his son. But his presence seems to cause more problems than it solves.

With: Roy Hanlon, Forbes Masson, Debra Gillett.

THE SPOOKS OF BOTTLE BAY

1993 - 1995 / ITV.

Writer & Creator: Ian Allen.

Puppet series for children. Bottle Bay is a little seaside town with more than its fair share of spooks. They emerge at night to help the good citizens in their struggle against the wicked Sybil and Cedric Sludge.

Spooks of Bottle Bay ("Little Gems" website).

GENGHIS COHN

2 March 1994 / BBC2 ("Screen Two").

Writer: Stanley price (based on the story by Romain Gary) / Director: Elijah Mojinsky.

Black comedy. A Jewish comedian, killed in a German concentration camp, comes back to haunt his former captors.

With: Anthony Sher, Robert Lindsay, Mathew Marsh, Diana Rigg.

THE QUEEN'S NOSE

1995 - 98, 2000 and 2002 - 2003 (36 eps) / BBC1.

Adapted from the book by Dick King-Smith.

Children's Fantasy comedy drama series. Harmony Parker receives a magical wish-fulfilling fifty-pence coin. She also has a "spirit guide" of sorts, in the form of her (living) Uncle Ginger who appears in visions to offer advice.

With: Victoria Shalet, Paula Wilcox, Stephen Moore, Heather Jay-Jones, Donald Sumpter.

Memorable Children's TV.

THE WORST WITCH

Oct 1998 - Jan 2001 (40 eps) / ITV.

Comedy drama series for children based on the books of Jill Murphy. The adventures of young Mildred Hubble, a student at Miss Cackle's Academy for trainee Witches.

With: Georgina Sherrington, Felicity Jones, Emma Brown, Clare Coulter, Kate Duchene, Una Stubbs, Claire Porter.

Miss Cat's Academy.

Davinci's Worst Witch Website.

POLTERGUESTS

8 Mar - 20 May 1999 (8 eps) / ITV (Carlton).

Writer: Lee Pressman / Producer & Director: Neville Green.

Children's supernatural sitcom. A family open an hotel only to find it already has a complement of unpaying guests - a family of ghosts!

With: Jessica Turner, Laura Harling, Ashley Artus, Richard Braine, Emil Wolk.

WIERDSISTER COLLEGE - THE WORST WITCH

5 Nov 2001 - 7 Feb 2002 (13 eps) / ITV.

Comedy drama for children. The continuing adventures of Mildred Hubble, the Worst Witch.

With: Georgina Sherrington, Felicity Jones.

Miss Cat's Academy.

Davinci's Worst Witch Website.

SPINE CHILLERS

Jun - July 2003 (6 x 30 min eps) / BBC3.

Producer: Arabella McGuigan.

A series of 6 comedy shorts some of which had a supernatural theme.

Spine Chillers - TV Tome Guide.

HIGH SPIRITS WITH SHIRLEY GHOSTMAN

1 Mar 2005 - ? (10 eps) / BBC3.

"Psychic extraordinaire", Shirley Ghostman, demonstrates mediumship and other supernatural phenomena in front of a live audience.

Starring Marc Wooton as Shirley Ghostman.

BBC Shirley Ghostman Website.

LOOK AROUND YOU: GHOSTS

22 Dec 2005 (10 mins) / BBC4.

Short spoof science documentary about ghosts.

THE NEW WORST WITCH

20 Oct 2006 - ? (13 eps) / ITV1.

Writer: Rebecca Stephens / Director: Indra Bhose.

Continuing the adventures of the apprentice witches at "Cackles Academy", which now celebrates its 1000th birthday!

With Clare Coulter, Francesca Isherwood, Paislie Reid, Narisha Lawson, Alice Connor, Anabel Barnston, Caroline O'Neill.

(For links, refer to previous series above).