Published: 12:01 am, 10 October 2023

Series overview

In this brand new series, hit podcast Uncanny comes to BBC Two and iPlayer.

Inspired by the BBC Sounds podcast of the same name, Uncanny features real-life stories of apparently supernatural encounters told by the people they happened to - experiences that appear to defy logical explanation. Or do they?

In each of the three episodes, Danny Robins investigates a brand new case and tries to help those involved understand what happened to them. Can their experiences be explained - or could they really be evidence of the supernatural?

Was a young girl in rural Cambridgeshire visited by the apparition of an Edwardian school teacher? Were a teenage boy and his family in County Durham subjected to a vicious poltergeist attack in the 1980s? And were three Oxford students preyed upon by a malevolent force in the early 90s?

Danny Robins is the host and writer of hit BBC Sounds podcast Uncanny. He's also the creator of BBC Sounds podcasts The Battersea Poltergeist and The Witch Farm, and the writer of the award-winning West End play 2:22 - A Ghost Story.

Assisting Danny in his investigations are sceptic Dr Ciarán O'Keeffe and parapsychologist Evelyn Hollow, who pick apart the details of each case to work out what might have happened.

Danny will also invite viewers to get in touch with their own explanations, and provide case updates in which he explores viewers' theories on the stories.

Do ghosts exist? Is the impossible possible? Are you Team Believer or Team Sceptic?

Episode information

Ep1 - Miss Howard - TX Fri 13th Oct

In the first case of the series, Danny is visited in his studio by Cate, who is haunted by memories of her childhood and wants answers to a mystery that's troubled her all her life. Cate grew up in an old house in the quintessentially English village of Melbourn, Cambridgeshire, in the 1970s. After her father started renovation works on the property, Cate began to be visited a mysterious woman known simply as Miss Howard. Who was she? Could she have been a ghost disturbed by the building works? Might she be the spirit of a former resident? Or is there a rational explanation? Danny's investigation into the case sees him interview former residents of the house. He also dives into the history of the village, explores the theory of 'time slips', and examines the hallucinatory effects of domestic mould. The audience is invited to share their thoughts and help crack the case.

Ep2 - The Bearpark Poltergeist - TX Fri 20th Oct

In the second case, Danny is visited in his studio by Ian. As a teenager, growing up in a pit community in County Durham, Ian experienced phenomena that seemed to defy rational explanation. He believes his house was haunted by an entity which would shake drawers, ring bells and even flush the toilet. And Ian wasn't the only person to witness strange things in the house…

But could there be a scientific explanation for all this? With help from Dr Ciarán O'Keefe and Evelyn Hollow, Danny investigates Bearpark's industrial history, the science of sleep paralysis, and the mechanics of a flushing toilet. His quest for answers even takes him deep into the earth, into an abandoned mine shaft…

Ep3 - The Oxford Haunting (w/t) - TX Fri 27th Oct

It's the early 1990s and, while many students their age are out raving, three Theology students at Oxford University are about to experience the house share from hell… In this third and final case, Danny Robins meets Heather who, 30 years ago, moves into a student house with two friends - a house which they believe is haunted by a malevolent entity. Events become so frightening that the group are compelled to call in an exorcist - but the exorcism doesn't go according to plan. It's one of the most unsettling cases Danny has ever come across. But could it simply be a shared delusion? To find an answer, Danny must track down Heather's housemates to find out what they remember about events. Assisting him in his search for answers are Dr Ciarán O'Keefe and parapsychologist Evelyn Hollow.

Q&A with presenter Danny Robins

Tell us about Uncanny! What can viewers expect from the series?

Uncanny is the TV incarnation of a podcast I have been making for the BBC for the last two years. It features real people telling me about experiences they've had that they feel could be paranormal. Each episode features a new story, told by the person it happened to; ordinary people who have experienced the extraordinary. I guess the major difference between us and pretty much any other paranormal show out there is that our audience is divided equally between believers and sceptics. There are detective stories - if you are a sceptic, it's a howdunnit, you can try to figure out if you think the 'haunting' could have been caused by environmental or psychological factors, and if you are a believer, it's a whodunnit - you want to know who is the ghost and why are they there.

The story of how I came to be making it really starts a couple of years ago. I'd made a podcast called The Battersea Poltergeist, which investigated a real-life ghost story, and at the end of the series I asked people to send me their own experiences. The result was this incredible deluge of emails from people who felt they had experienced something that they could not explain. In many cases, they'd never really spoken about it before. Sometimes they'd not even told their family or partner! I feel incredibly privileged to receive these stories and when we explore them in the series we do it with respect and care, always keeping an open mind to what the answer to this mystery is. Whether you are Team Believer or Team Sceptic (or even Team Not Sure) you can enjoy Uncanny in your own way.

Is the series similar to the podcast?

Yep. The podcast has proved so popular - it has had more than 8 million plays on BBC Sounds and additionally has had almost 5 million downloads on other platforms - so it felt nerve-wracking adapting that successful formula for TV. The message I saw from fans on social media was "don't screw it up, Robins" and "will it still be as scary when you can see the people telling the stories?" But challenges are exciting and good things come from taking risks and I feel like we have created a show that is absolutely from the same DNA as the podcast but excitingly visual and, yes, scary! We use aspects of drama to bring the hauntings to life. I think what we have created here feels properly nightmarish and unsettling - like being inside the head of the person witnessing it.

I'm grateful to the BBC for trusting me to stay true to the spirit of the podcast and for not trying to bend or reshape Uncanny on TV into something else. I can't wait to unleash it on the world and I think if you are a fan of the podcast you will love this, it's Uncanny come to visual life - exciting - sometimes terrifying - but still deeply thought-provoking. And if you haven't heard the podcast, welcome, you are in for a treat! (Though you may want to watch it with the light on!)

How did you feel when you found out the podcast was turning into a TV series?

It's been hugely exciting. The last 3 years have been a bit of a mad dream for me. I never anticipated that my podcasts would become as popular as they have. After The Battersea Poltergeist, I found myself in the surreal situation of fielding calls from Hollywood horror producers in my shed at the bottom of my garden in Walthamstow, and then, as Uncanny got popular too, watching this wonderful community build around it on social media, a group of people, some sceptics and some believers, who, unusually for the times we live in, agree to disagree but all enjoy the stories in their own way. Alongside the success of my play 2:22 - A Ghost Story in the West End and now on tour, I've found myself in this lovely, unexpected position of being described by newspapers as "the UK's go-to ghost guy" and "High Priest of the Paranormal", but I think really the popularity of what I do speaks to the huge interest in this subject matter at the moment. I'm talking about something that has obsessed me my whole life, but it feels like there is an audience of people out there who are equally fascinated.

Why are stories of the paranormal such a draw to people?

I think there's an enduring interest, over centuries really. How could there not be? It's the biggest question in the history of the universe - what happens to us when we die? It's the mystery that every religion ever founded has set out to provide an answer for. But I also think there are some very definite reasons why there is a particular boom in interest in ghosts and the paranormal right now. We've been living through strange, chaotic, uncertain times, which forces us to think about our mortality in a way we probably haven't done since the Second World War. It's interesting, after both World Wars, there were huge spikes in interest in the paranormal, and I think we're seeing one now for similar reasons. When the world is a scary, confusing place, we search for answers in another world, and when we are confronted by death, the idea that it is not the end feels deeply attractive.

Where/when did your interest in the paranormal begin?

I've been obsessed by ghosts since I was a kid. I was that child who obsessively pored over those old books like the Usborne World of the Unknown in the school library. I think I was also very driven by the fact that I grew up in a belief-free household. My Mum had been brought up Catholic but become a devout atheist. I think, from an early age, I was fascinated by the idea that I might be missing out on something - some other layer of existence, magic if you like. Some people would have found God, I found ghosts! But there have been a couple of experiences later in life that have shifted me from having simply an interest in the subject to wanting to really investigate the possibility that ghosts might be real. One was when a good friend of mine told me she had seen a ghost, describing it in the most compelling, convincing way. That was the moment I thought, wow, there is no "type" of person who sees a ghost. These experiences can happen to anyone, anywhere at any time. The second experience was when I was in my early twenties and believed I was dying. I was convinced I was having a heart attack and hallucinated angels. It turned out it was a panic attack, but that moment gave me a profound fear of death that still remains, and, of course, the antidote to death is ghosts…

What places do you visit in the series?

The thing that differentiates Uncanny from other paranormal shows is that they are usually obsessed with investigating a place - they spend the night in a haunted castle or pub, but I am interested in people, in trying to make sense of the life-changing experiences our witness had. So, you won't find me camping out somewhere with a night-vision camera and some gadgets, in fact, I can make a solemn promise that you won't see night vision once this series. That said, I think any ghost story is very much the product of its location and so, with each of our cases, we go and explore the place where it happened. You'll see me investigating a very unsettling haunted house case in a small village in Cambridgeshire in the first episode, then heading up to a former mining village in County Durham in the North East of England for a poltergeist case in the second episode, which has a particular personal resonance for me as I grew up near to there at the same time this case happened. For our third ep, I'll be in Oxford to investigate deeply unsettling experiences that a group of students had there in the early 90s. Along the way, I'll also be conducting some experiments to test the scientific, sceptic theories behind the haunting and delving into some of the history that might explain it. Each episode is a bit of a rollercoaster ride, an adventure that the audience and I go on together. I love the idea that I am like a paranormal Indiana Jones, searching for the Holy Grail of whether ghosts exist or not!

Where is the spookiest place you've ever been?

I've been to a lot of supposedly very haunted locations - Shepton Mallet prison in the West Country, 30 East Drive - the site of one of the UK's most notorious poltergeist cases, in Yorkshire, but, honestly, the most spooked I have been is sitting in the room with the people who tell me the stories on Uncanny. Looking in their eyes and seeing the fear they still feel all these years later, that properly makes me shiver. The fact that I can't find easy answers to these stories keeps me lying awake at night.

Have you ever had any paranormal experiences yourself?

No. Not even close. I find myself living vicariously through the people who tell me their stories. I feel like I would love to see evidence of the paranormal, and, sometimes, when I have been in supposedly 'haunted' locations, I have found myself almost willing something to happen, thinking "come on spirits, chuck a plate at me," but then, when I really consider it, I think "be careful what you wish for," because when I see the impact of these experiences on the witnesses I talk to, I realise they really have been life-changing, both in terms of the level of fear they feel, but also the implications of what this means, how it changes your very concept of reality. I don't know how I would cope with that. I am a coward at heart, I suspect I would be very very scared.

Would you consider yourself a sceptic or believer?

I'm a sceptic who would like to believe. I absolutely love the idea that ghosts might exist. I sometimes think about the excitement of Victorian times, that age of discovery, where people were discovering electricity, cures for diseases, new species, and I would hate to think we had discovered everything there is to discover about our universe. I feel a thrill at the thought that there is some new frontier of knowledge out there, a layer of magic that exists somewhere just outside our current understanding, lurking in the shadows, dark and mysterious, the possibility that we are not alone.

The series begins on Friday 13th…have you ever had any odd experiences on that day? What is so spooky about it?

It's a date engraved on the heart of any lover of the spooky thanks to the series of Friday 13th horror movies and of course the number 13 has had certain superstitious connotations for centuries. I didn't get to choose the date the first episode goes out, but it feels a fitting night to bring a show to the BBC that will hopefully be the scariest thing you've seen on there for a while, and the three episodes going out weekly will lead us up neatly to that most spooky of festive occasions, Halloween, which, as you can imagine is basically like my Christmas.

Tell us about your role in the series…

I am one of two experts on the show, alongside Dr O'Keeffe. We are both paranormal psychologists but where Ciarán considers himself a hardcore sceptic I am more open minded. My job is essentially to answer the question of 'If this is paranormal then what type of paranormal phenomena is it and how does it relate to our current understanding of the supernatural?'

What story in the series is the most spooky?

I think the Miss Howard case is the one that feels the most unsettling because every time you think you have understood it, it simply shifts direction and evolves into something more.

Why do you think so many stories of the paranormal exist?

I believe that paranormality is at the core of the human experience -- every culture, race, and creed throughout all of time have paranormal stories. Religion in and of itself is widespread supernatural belief and that has influenced society in every conceivable way. I do know that belief is at the core of human nature and that the brain is a complicated and strange thing, but I also don't believe that everyone is simply mistaken or making it up, I think there's more that we don't understand yet.

Have you experienced any paranormal or unexplainable activity yourself?

Being Scottish means that you are always surrounded by the paranormal because it's one of the most mythological and haunted countries on earth, and I certainly have had my share of strange/inexplicable phenomena happen to me. There's some stuff I don't even think about because it's too weird, I'm sure I'll accidentally find myself on the other side of one of these shows one day.

Where/when did your interest in the paranormal begin?

I've always been interested in the macabre and inherent strangeness of existence since I was a child (I was only happy when it was Halloween). Every time something seemed impossible I would be driven to learn how it could in-fact be possible. Where people saw fantastical ghost stories, I saw an aspect of quantum physics that we hadn't gotten to yet. Mostly I grew up watching everyone around me deal with paranormal events in a very matter-of-fact way, and that has no doubt influenced my desire to explore the science of the unknown. I always say it is not a case of 'are ghosts real?' but rather 'what are ghosts?'.

Where is the spookiest place you've been?

Bannockburn House in Stirling, Scotland. It seemed to me like an intersection between Shirley Jackson's Hill House and Spencer's Mansion from Resident Evil -- fascinating place.

The series begins on Friday 13th…have you ever had any odd experiences on that day? What is so spooky about it?

I actually have not, I favour 13 as a 'lucky' number. The superstition is often cited as being from Roman times as they used the number to represent death and misfortune or because there were 13 present at the Last Supper in Christianity, but it actually predates this and the superstition existed in older pagan cultures. Some cite it coming from all covens having 13 members but that isn't true at all (most have four or five, in correspondence with the five elements or four cardinal forces). When I worked in hospitality for years we never had a table 13 because people would refuse to use it, it's incredible how much superstition still impacts our everyday lives.

Tell us about your role in the series

I am an Investigative Psychologist with a particular expertise in Parapsychology - I'm also an avid "ghostbuster" who investigates claims of the paranormal from a sceptical perspective. I'm open minded but always questioning and, if anything, am what Danny likes to call me, a "Hardcore Sceptic!" I bring to the series the alternative natural and scientific explanations for paranormal phenomena. However, I find the detective work involved in "solving" paranormal cases as equally fascinating as the thought that something supernatural is at play.

Why do you think people are so keen to believe in the paranormal?

A number of different reasons. It could be to do with a misunderstanding or lack of awareness of perfectly natural phenomena and so ostensibly paranormal phenomena is regarded by people as unexplained because they do not have an explanation for it. It may also be to do with disenchantment with science and/or religion. Are people finding the answers they want from the experts in those areas? Haunting experiences provide the personal evidence individuals may crave that cannot be found elsewhere. Additionally, there is the hope in an afterlife that fuels paranormal belief. The evidence provided in personal haunting experiences confirms life after death and this, in a way, can be comforting to some.

Why do you think stories of the paranormal are such a draw to people?

I was asked a similar question last year by The British Psychological Society. There is a neuropsychological reason for a fascination with paranormal (and ghost) stories - we get an adrenalin rush when something spooks us or something scary happens which releases endorphins and dopamine, so put simply, there is a chemical process that creates a similar sense of euphoria. Some say that having a 'scary ghost experience' is like being on a rollercoaster, we are hijacking the natural flight response and enjoying it. There are also other factors at play, and often it can be down to personality type and whether we are sensation seekers - some people crave this rush and buzz that comes from a 'scary' experience, whereas some people want to avoid it. These reactions are often developed over years and our formative years, and how people around us react to scary experiences/moments can impact where we sit on that sensation-seeking scale and temperament. We also have to look at the collective experience, so when you go to watch a scary movie, or go 'ghost hunting', or are part of a community listening to the same story, this is a collective experience, and you are creating a shared experience and bond with others. It can create bonds and a sense of collectiveness - you are hearing these 'scary' experiences in a safe and controlled environment and it can be a controlled way of playing on our brain's natural reactions. You also can't ignore good old curiosity. The unknown is one of the oldest curiosities that we have -what happens to us when we die? Is there an afterlife, do we turn into ghosts? I meet people all the time who are intensely curious about what they see as the unknown or the 'dark side' and that drives them to experience situations that are uncomfortable or scary.

Have you experienced any paranormal/unexplainable activity yourself?

Over the last 40 years I've had 100s of experiences that other people would call "paranormal". But being knowledgeable about the psychological and environmental variables I am able to explain those experiences. However, I did go down into the lower class accommodation area of the haunted SS Great Britain, as part of an investigation, and felt "spooked". I wish there was a better way of explaining it. Additionally, I was investigating one of the WWII German Bunkers on Guernsey when my wife had an odd experience that I find difficult to explain. I was deep into the bunker (a vast network of rooms and corridors) whilst she waited outside. We were the only ones in the location and she heard footsteps coming towards her from round the corner. She called out my name and the footsteps shuffled to a stop then went away. She cried out for me and I ran back (took a few minutes). She was visibly distraught. We had the only key that locked the place and had locked ourselves in…

What's the closest you've got to believing in paranormal activity?

I remain objectively sceptical throughout all investigations and in hearing accounts of ghostly encounters. I am more swayed by the eyewitness testimony from others that my own experiences. For example, moments in "The Battersea Poltergeist" Case were genuine head-scratching moments. There have also been some Uncanny moments (including this series) that have pushed my sceptical armour to the max…

The series begins on Friday 13th…have you ever had any odd experiences on that day? What is so spooky about it?

I love Friday 13th. It brings out fascinating conversations about phobias - the key one being triskaidekaphobia and friggatriskaidekaphobia - fear of the number 13 and fear of Friday 13th , respectively. Never had any odd experiences at all. There's a whole history of association regarding the day/number that results in it being thought of as "spooky". For example, The Last Supper (13 at the table), the Knights Templar being arrested on Friday, October 13, 1307 (a modern interpretation of why Friday 13th is unlucky that appears to have originated from The Da Vinci Code!). etc.

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