Derek Acorah

Derek Acorah
Television presenter Derek Accorah, from the first series of Most Haunted.
Born	Derek Francis Johnson (1950-01-27) 27 January 1950 Bootle, Lancashire, England
Known for	Work as a Spirit Medium on Most Haunted, Derek Acorah's Ghost Towns, Granada Breeze, Antiques Ghost Show, Derek Acorah

Derek Acorah (born 27 January, 1950) is an English medium. He is best known for co-presenting Most Haunted, broadcast on Living, between 2002 and 2005. He currently presents the series Derek Acorah on Sky Real Lives.

Biography

Derek Acorah (Born Derek Johnson) felt his name should be his grandmother's maiden name Acorah; lives in Scarisbrick near Southport in North West England with his wife Gwen. He works regularly in television and radio and made personal appearances across the United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East, New Zealand and the U.S.A.. He has also conducted telephone consultations for clients in India, Australia and New Zealand. In October 1997 he was invited to take part in a tour of the Middle East when he appeared at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Dubai, the Brit Club in Abu Dhabi and Hotel Inter-Continental in the desert location of Al Ain.

Acorah claims that his first supernatural experience came as a child when the spirit of his late grandfather purportedly visited him. When young Derek told his grandmother she was not surprised as Derek was to learn that she herself was a medium. His grandfather had in fact died before Derek was actually born.

Career

His early career consisted of playing football with teams such as Liverpool FC and the then premier Australian team USC Lion. When Acorah's football career ended due to injuries and homesickness he returned to England and to Liverpool. He attempted finding a suitable niche in life but was never settled. He claimed psychic powers were always with him and after a while he became a full time spirit medium based in his home city of Liverpool. Acorah quickly gained a popular local following and was known as an extremely accurate medium. He also offered his services for free for the first few years of his mediumship.

Television work

Acorah's television career began in 1996 when he appeared on a magazine programme called Livetime produced by Granada Television in Manchester and broadcast on the Granada Breeze television channel. Following the success of his initial appearance on the show, he was regularly invited back to feature in a weekly segment. He later worked as a main contributor on a spin-off show called Psychic Livetime as well as The Psychic Zone was given his own show, Predictions with Derek Acorah where he would conduct readings on members of the public in their own homes.

In January 1998, Acorah travelled to Los Angeles where he took part in various paranormal investigations both in Los Angeles itself and in Hollywood. He also conducted a live show on stage at the Vogue Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. In 2000 he returned to California to record a pilot for a new show named Connections with Derek Acorah. The show involved Acorah touring the streets of Santa Monica giving impromptu readings to members of the public but the show was never picked up by any of the television networks.

In July 2001, Acorah was asked to feature in a new British television programme called Haunting Truths which was subsequently sold to Living and renamed Most Haunted. He worked on the show for Six series until his departure in 2005. Acorah claims that he left the show to pursue other projects although the show's presenter, Yvette Fielding is reported to have said that he was asked to leave after Ciarán O'Keeffe, a parapsychologist for the show, fed him misinformation to which he later responded during an investigation, presenting himself as being possessed by the spirit of a fictional character.

In Spring 2003 Living also commissioned Antiques Ghost Show which shows Acorah demonstrating his supposed skills in psychometry as he unfolds the mysteries of family heirlooms.

After Acorah's departure from Most Haunted, Living commissioned Derek Acorah's Ghost Towns. In contrast to Most Haunted which mainly featured well known stately homes, castles and the like, this programme would involve the public and would highlight their stories of ghostly activity in less well known locations throughout the country. Derek, together with the presenter, would also knock on people's doors and offer them a private sitting in their own homes. Acorah was joined for the first two series by presenters Daniella Westbrook and Angus Purden and also by Myleene Klass and Rhodri Owen for the third and final series.

To mark the 400th anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot (1605), Living commissioned a one-off programme called Derek Acorah's Quest for Guy Fawkes which broadcast on Guy Fawkes Night in 2005. Together with presenter and journalist Angus Purden, Derek travelled the country visiting key locations in order to retrace the footsteps of Guy Fawkes.

In 2007 Acorah travelled to Egypt to film Paranormal Egypt with Tessa Dunlop. This six-part series was commissioned by Living and produced by Ruggie Media. While in 2008 appeared in the feature film documentary Tattoos: A Scarred History. Derek has his own show on Sky Real Lives, named simply "Derek Acorah".

Writing

Acorah has written numerous books explaining his experiences and detailing his life.

• The Psychic World of Derek Acorah: Discover How to Develop Your Hidden Powers - Derek Acorah with John G. Sutton, Paitkus Books, 2003
• 'The Psychic Adventures of Derek Acorah: Star of TV's "Most Haunted", Element Books 2004
• Ghost Hunting with Derek Acorah - Derek Acorah, Element Books, 2005
• Most Haunted: The Official Behind-the-Scenes Guide - Yvette Fielding, Derek Acorah, 2005
• Haunted Britain - Derek Acorah, Harper Element, 2006
• Haunted Britain and Ireland - by Derek Acorah
• Ghost Towns - Derek Acorah, Harper Element, 2006
• Derek Acorah's Amazing Psychic Stories - by Derek Acorah
• Derek Acorah - Extreme Psychic

Controversy

Acorah's credibility has been questioned following his work on Most Haunted. On numerous investigations for the programme, Acorah would appear to become possessed by spirits or an evil entity or would appear lost and confused. On one such occasion, Acorah claimed to be possessed by the spirit of a man called Kreed Kafer. In a later interview the programme's parapsychologist, Ciaran O' Keeffe claimed that the character was completely fictional. O' Keeffe claims that he fabricated the "Kreed Kafer" character (an anagram of "Derek faker"), and misfed the information to Acorah who subsequently presented it as fact. In a separate interview, the show's presenter and executive producer Yvette Fielding said that she believes it was a "fake possession".

Parody

Acorah has been parodied by comedian Marc Wootton in his series High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman. He has also been parodied by John Culshaw on the TV series Dead Ringers and Dawn French's character 'Dawnie Acorah' also parodies him. His newer show, Derek Acorah's Ghost Towns, is often a subject for Harry Hill on his ITV1 show, Harry Hill's TV Burp. He was spoofed by Hugh Laurie on Saturday Night Live in a segment when Laurie hosted the show in 2006, and an Acorah-like psychic with bouffant blond hair, regional Northern England accent and poor psychic abilities appeared in series 1, Episode 3 of Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights.

He is frequently impersonated by comedian Brian Luff on various Sowerby & Luff podcasts, sometimes under the name Derek Fake-Séance.

External links

• Official website
• Official Discussion board
• Derek Acorah at IMDb