Harry Price: Ghost Hunter (2015)

Totally unbelievable storyline and thin acting by the cast.

One of the delights of coming to a series "cold," so to speak, without any knowledge of who the "real" Harry Price, is that we can approach it on its own terms as an example of a mystery thriller without speculating about whether it is "true" or "untrue" to the historical past, whatever that means.This is certainly the case with HARRY PRICE: GHOST HUNTER. The real Harry Price (1881-1948) gained a reputation as someone using the then innovative sciences of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis to understand the human mind as well as expose fraudulent mediums who spent a lot of their time touring music-halls and playing on ordinary people's gullibilities. Alex Pillai's production includes one such sequence where our eponymous hero (Rafe Spall) interrupts a performance given by Monsieur Lutrec (Simon Gregor), and ends up hitting the fraud on the chin backstage.Yet the historical material should not be allowed to obstruct a good story. As with most investigator-heroes, the television Harry has a past; haunted by the specter of his dead spouse, he spends most of his evenings dreaming at his dreary home. İt is only when he encounters spry ladies' maid Sarah Grey (Cara Theobold) that he decides to slough off his depression and look forward once more with fortitude. Having himself been involved in fraudulent activity, he decides now to devote himself to the cause of truth in unmasking other frauds.The production manages some side-swipes at manipulative politicians such as Sir Charles (Michael Byrne) who is so preoccupied with getting his protégé Edward Goodwin (Tom Ward) elected as the new leader of the Liberal Party that he is prepared to go to any lengths to achieve his aims. The fact that Edward turns out to be a sleazy character whose faults are unmasked at the end is simply poetic justice.As with most period dramas, the settings of early Twenties London are meticulously recreated, even though it seems that every sequence - whether interior or exterior - seems to have been shot using a smoke filter. The story is little slow to get going, with perhaps too many swooping pans and unexpected zooms at the beginning designed to create a spooky ambiance. On the other hand the ending is cleverly staged through Sarah's point of view as she recovers consciousness, having been ruthlessly felled by Edward. MPs will do anything, it seems, to assert power over women.

I thought this was excellent, and would love to see a series come out of it.Everyone has been saying that Rafe Spall looks nothing like the real Harry Price, but does it matter in the scheme of things??? I just thought it was an excellent story, and would love to see more.I love ghost stories, real ghost stories that is, not horror, blood, guts and gore, so this was just perfect for me.I think if you want to see a true to life programme, go to the biography channel or look up Harry Price online, there are lots of details on his website.I for one thought Rafe was excellent, and would love to see more programmes like this instead of the usual reality housewives/singety sing song sing drivel.Well done ITV for once.

If your looking for a dramatic story about the real Harry Price and any of the actual cases he investigated, then you are in the wrong place.Because all this is, is about a fictional case of a politician's wife who is experiencing paranormal activity at her house. to the best of my knowledge the real Harry Price never investigated such a case. (I've studied many subjects of the paranormal including some of Prices actual cases to know that this program was fabricated to make it look like a real Harry Price case) If it showed dramatic stories of some of his actual cases like The Brocken Experiment, Gef the talking mongoose and Borley Rectory. Then I would have rated it a lot more. (depending of wither the facts were correct) I was left extremely disappointed.Even the "Ghost" depicted in this program looked crap.If you ever wanted to see a dramatic version of an actual case which took place Then go and see The Enfield Haunting, because they got most of the facts correct. On other hand if your looking for a ghost story about a famous ghost hunter, again your in the wrong place.However if your looking for a program which will bore you to tears, with a rubbish ghostly effects. Trust me this program is it.I'll leave it up to you, which one you like to do with this program. My advise. don't even bother wasting your time. Complete rubbish, avoid at all costs