Blumhouse Television to adapt Battersea Poltergeist podcast

Charlotte Whyatt • 27 May 2021 News

The production company will create two series about Shirley Hitchings who was supposedly terrorised by a spirit in the 1950s. 

Blumhouse Television is to develop two TV series about the famous 1956 poltergeist haunting in Battersea.

They will team up with Michael Seitzman’s Maniac Productions to create a scripted series and a companion documentary series, which will be titled The Battersea Poltergeist and Blumhouse’s Ghost Story respectively. 

Both will serve as adaptations of Danny Robins’ hit BBC Radio 4 podcast The Battersea Poltergeist which Blumhouse won the rights to after a fierce bidding war. 

Featuring the voice talents of Logan’s Dafne Keen and Toby Jones, it explores the strange case of Shirley Hitchings who claims to have been plagued by a poltergeist for 12 years at her former home in Battersea. 

The podcast first launched in January of this year and quickly became a success. It reached the number one spot on Apple’s worldwide podcast chart and has seen nearly 3 million streams.

“From our first listen to Danny’s captivating podcast, we were hooked and could easily envision how to bring the story to life – in both scripted and unscripted formats – for television viewers,” Chris McCumber president of Blumhouse Television. 

“We’re very grateful to Michael Seitzman for identifying the project early on, and championing it so aggressively.”

Source: Slash Film