This scene successfully builds on common fears experienced by young children. Music and lighting are skilfully used to create the atmosphere and to build the dramatic tension. This tension is lightened by the visual humour, created with editing, juxtaposition of camera angles and comedic pacing. The visual joke created by the editing and camera work at the beginning of the panning shot up to Bronson on the loo is a particularly clever example. All is not what is seems!

Round the Twist synopsis

Eccentric sculptor Tony Twist (Richard Moir), and his three children – thirteen-year-old twins Linda (Tamsin West) and Pete (Sam Vandenberg), and eight-year-old Bronson (Rodney McLennan) – move from the city to live in an old lighthouse in an ordinary seaside town. Settling into their new home, the Twists discover that the outside toilet is haunted and one stormy night they decide to have a showdown with the ghost.

Round the Twist curator's notes

This is the opening episode of the first series of Round The Twist. Based on short stories by popular children’s author Paul Jennings, the series is a rich mix of humour, scary ghosts, a bit of yuck and lots of slapstick. This episode gives a real taste for the eclectic range of themes and elements which combine to create the Round The Twist magic.

Round the Twist Series One first went to air in August 1990 on the Seven Network.

Notes by Annemaree O'Brien