Dispatches: Beyond Belief (partially lost episode of Channel 4 TV documentary series; 1992): Difference between revisions

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(FOUND A PARTIAL VERSION (37 mins))
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On the evening of February 19th, 1992, the long-running and well-respected Channel 4 documentary series ''Dispatches'' in the UK featured a special episode about Satanic ritual abuse. Presented by journalist Andrew Boyd, the show promised to present, for the first time, unequivocal evidence of Satanic abuse and ritual murder having been carried out in Britain. British police had long suspected that rings of Satanic murders were operating the UK, but no evidence had ever been found, despite several police operations. The show featured the testimony of an alleged survivor of Satanic abuse, 'Jennifer', and had been trailed heavily with reports in the broadsheet newspapers in the days leading up to broadcast. In particular, the show was able to shockingly broadcast clips of a tape that the British police had seized a decade earlier which, the programme makers claimed, was a home-video recording of a Satanic ritual killing. Over a hundred people called a helpline number advertised after the show ended.
On the evening of February 19th, 1992, the long-running and well-respected Channel 4 documentary series ''Dispatches'' in the UK featured a special episode about Satanic ritual abuse. Presented by journalist Andrew Boyd, the show promised to present, for the first time, unequivocal evidence of Satanic abuse and ritual murder having been carried out in Britain. British police had long suspected that rings of Satanic murders were operating the UK, but no evidence had ever been found, despite several police operations. The show featured the testimony of an alleged survivor of Satanic abuse, 'Jennifer', and had been trailed heavily with reports in the broadsheet newspapers in the days leading up to broadcast. In particular, the show was able to shockingly broadcast clips of a tape that the British police had seized a decade earlier which, the programme makers claimed, was a home-video recording of a Satanic ritual killing. Over a hundred people called a helpline number advertised after the show ended.
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The show was denounced in the media over the following days and weeks as a grotesque lapse of journalistic integrity. The programme stands as a particular testament to a moment in British social, cultural and criminal history at the height of the so-called 'Satanic Panic' which swept the USA as well as the UK in the 1980s. There is an extensive interdisciplinary literature on the programme and its associated impacts and phenomena, from historians, art historians, criminologists, psychologists and others. The overwhelming majority of commentary on ''Beyond Belief''  is critical of the programme, but a tranche of work still maintains, without evidence, that the phenomenon of systematic Satanic abuse it claims to depict is real, even if the footage was not.  
The show was denounced in the media over the following days and weeks as a grotesque lapse of journalistic integrity. The programme stands as a particular testament to a moment in British social, cultural and criminal history at the height of the so-called 'Satanic Panic' which swept the USA as well as the UK in the 1980s. There is an extensive interdisciplinary literature on the programme and its associated impacts and phenomena, from historians, art historians, criminologists, psychologists and others. The overwhelming majority of commentary on ''Beyond Belief''  is critical of the programme, but a tranche of work still maintains, without evidence, that the phenomenon of systematic Satanic abuse it claims to depict is real, even if the footage was not.  


A transcript of the broadcast  has been shared online and there is considerable information about the programme to be found. The show itself, though, has never been repeated, and has never been made available online.  The show has also proven difficult to access by professional researchers in archive holdings at Channel 4, or at the production company, Looktwice.
A transcript of the broadcast  has been shared online and there is considerable information about the programme to be found. The show itself, though, has never been repeated, and has never been made available online in full.  The show has also proven difficult to access by professional researchers in archive holdings at Channel 4, or at the production company, Looktwice.


''First Transmission'' itself has been made available online several times. The blog ''Dangerous Minds'' discussed it in 2015 at https://dangerousminds.net/comments/psychic_tvs_infamous_first_transmission_underground_video_very_very_nsfw, and ''13th Floor'' included screenshots in 2017: http://www.the13thfloor.tv/2017/05/12/cinema-in-extremis-the-vhs-atrocities-of-psychic-tvs-first-transmission/. Both these link to a deleted YouTube upload.
''First Transmission'' itself has been made available online several times. The blog ''Dangerous Minds'' discussed it in 2015 at https://dangerousminds.net/comments/psychic_tvs_infamous_first_transmission_underground_video_very_very_nsfw, and ''13th Floor'' included screenshots in 2017: http://www.the13thfloor.tv/2017/05/12/cinema-in-extremis-the-vhs-atrocities-of-psychic-tvs-first-transmission/. Both these link to a deleted YouTube upload.
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* IMDB Listing. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0475558/
* IMDB Listing. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0475558/
* Current YouTube links for ''First Transmission'': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RUj3zodEWU and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVQ8XblfX-g
* Current YouTube links for ''First Transmission'': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RUj3zodEWU and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVQ8XblfX-g
* Partial upload (37 minutes of c. 60 total): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86v3_G1l0P8


* Danielle Kirby, 'Transgressive Representations: Satanic Ritual Abuse, Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth, and First Transmission', ''Literature & Aesthetics'' 21/2 (December 2011, 134-149) https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/229420946.pdf
* Danielle Kirby, 'Transgressive Representations: Satanic Ritual Abuse, Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth, and First Transmission', ''Literature & Aesthetics'' 21/2 (December 2011, 134-149) https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/229420946.pdf
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[[Category:Lost TV]]
[[Category:Lost TV]]
[[Category:Completely lost media]]
[[Category:Partially found media]]

Revision as of 14:00, 16 June 2021

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This article has been tagged as Needing work due to its poor article formatting.


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Status: Partially Found

On the evening of February 19th, 1992, the long-running and well-respected Channel 4 documentary series Dispatches in the UK featured a special episode about Satanic ritual abuse. Presented by journalist Andrew Boyd, the show promised to present, for the first time, unequivocal evidence of Satanic abuse and ritual murder having been carried out in Britain. British police had long suspected that rings of Satanic murders were operating the UK, but no evidence had ever been found, despite several police operations. The show featured the testimony of an alleged survivor of Satanic abuse, 'Jennifer', and had been trailed heavily with reports in the broadsheet newspapers in the days leading up to broadcast. In particular, the show was able to shockingly broadcast clips of a tape that the British police had seized a decade earlier which, the programme makers claimed, was a home-video recording of a Satanic ritual killing. Over a hundred people called a helpline number advertised after the show ended.

Far from being a Satanic snuff movie, the video was quickly determined after broadcast to have been a performance art video called First Transmission by the influential art band Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth (TOPY), an offshoot of a group of musicians and performers including Genesis P. Orridge's Throbbing Gristle and Psychick TV. Most shockingly of all, First Transmission had itself been funded by Channel 4.

The show was denounced in the media over the following days and weeks as a grotesque lapse of journalistic integrity. The programme stands as a particular testament to a moment in British social, cultural and criminal history at the height of the so-called 'Satanic Panic' which swept the USA as well as the UK in the 1980s. There is an extensive interdisciplinary literature on the programme and its associated impacts and phenomena, from historians, art historians, criminologists, psychologists and others. The overwhelming majority of commentary on Beyond Belief is critical of the programme, but a tranche of work still maintains, without evidence, that the phenomenon of systematic Satanic abuse it claims to depict is real, even if the footage was not.

A transcript of the broadcast has been shared online and there is considerable information about the programme to be found. The show itself, though, has never been repeated, and has never been made available online in full. The show has also proven difficult to access by professional researchers in archive holdings at Channel 4, or at the production company, Looktwice.

First Transmission itself has been made available online several times. The blog Dangerous Minds discussed it in 2015 at https://dangerousminds.net/comments/psychic_tvs_infamous_first_transmission_underground_video_very_very_nsfw, and 13th Floor included screenshots in 2017: http://www.the13thfloor.tv/2017/05/12/cinema-in-extremis-the-vhs-atrocities-of-psychic-tvs-first-transmission/. Both these link to a deleted YouTube upload.


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