Worse was to come with Derek appearing on stage, reminiscent of some ‘70s disco king, to the sound of pulsating dance music and flashing coloured lights!! No sooner had the music stopped then he was greeted very loudly by what I can only call the Most Haunted groupies up in the Gods who started yelling “Hiya Derek, we love you.” Hardly the sort of start one would expect for an evening of communion with the spirit world and one that I would have found quite offensive if it wasn’t so pathetic!

After a rather long and tedious monologue detailing his spirit philosophy and how he works it was time to get down to business. At last this was what we were waiting for. But things didn’t go smoothly. He pointed to a section of audience at the back regarding an old lady in spirit called Mrs. Wilkinson linked to James, from Carlisle Road.

With no response he ran down from the stage to the section of audience involved.

Still no response.

Undeterred he paced up and down that section refusing to move until someone could take this message. Still nothing and time was ticking by.

This went on and on by then we were already 30 minutes into the show. People were beginning to shuffle and I was distinctly embarrassed for him.

He began to sweat and changed tack to the front rows of that audience block still demanding that someone must be able to take this message. No response.

By then Derek had covered one third of the total stalls area, ie over 200 people and still nothing much to his obvious annoyance. Sam must have lost his compass that time! Not a good start.

A couple of very vague readings followed by which time Sam informed us, courtesy of Derek, that it was time for refreshments.

The second half began with Derek who, having changed into an off white suit, was further greeted with cries of “Oooh Sexy!!” from the MH Groupies above us.

Moving down into the audience again he pointed to an elderly lady stating that he had there a child in spirit called James who passed suddenly at the age of 10 or 12. No response from her or indeed anyone else in that area. Suddenly there was a shout from a lady in a different part of the stalls asking did he mean a child called Steven who was 19?

Incredibly Derek said yes, obviously not wishing to revisit his first half embarrassment again, and proceeded with a suitably vague reading for her which at times even she had obvious trouble accepting.

Shame on him! Surely any medium worth their salt would continue to insist on their first instinct and resist the temptation to mould their original message to another recipient however desperate they appeared??

Further readings followed ranging from the grandfatherly figure who after many years in spirit arrived only to tell the grandson who never knew him not to throw out his paintbrushes and rollers once he’d used them and clean them instead!!

Obviously on a DIY roll now, Derek dispensed messages to others ranging from being sure to check the brickwork pointing at the rear of the house which fell on stony ground as the recipient was in a brand new house, to a message relating to being sure to repair a damaged floor which was also rejected.

 Now it may be just me but if I were in spirit trying to get a message to my dear loved ones for the first time I’m very sure that it would be a bit more profound than that!!!


After another suitably vague message to a lady sitting in the front he ended with the statement that he had Jack with him in spirit.

 "Did she know of a Jack?”
“Oh Yes” she replied and Derek went on to give the message that he was OK.
“Oh but my Jack isn’t dead” she replied. Stunned silence.
“Oh well” answered Derek quick as a flash "it must be for the man next to you (who couldn’t place it either)".
 

Utterly cringe making stuff!!

A lady stated that she knew she was being followed around by a spirit girl and was interested to find out why. Derek agreed that she was and explained that it was because she was a kindred spirit to herself. The lady asked the name of the girl only to be told abruptly that he couldn’t possibly know that as he wasn’t in direct contact with the girl herself??!! Presumably by that time even Sam had got fed up with hanging around and dipped off to the spirit bar in the sky which is where I longed to be too by then!!! Exit Derek to the sound of the disco beat!!!

Impressions.

Thank you Derek for wasting two and a half hours of my life!

Derek appeared to struggle with most recipients finding it difficult to place much of what he was saying to his obvious irritation as he kept looking at his watch throughout.

For a medium that appears to have the spirit world at his fingertips in Most Haunted, the names given were poor, vague and incomplete.

I would say that he probably spoke to no more than 6 families throughout the evening (from an audience of over 2000!) spending far too long with each, even when it seemed hopeless, making for endless tedium.

He achieved only one apparently accurate reading all night which, in contrast to the others, stood out as being suspicious and worthy of mention, due to the large amount of detail and background information he supplied regarding a particularly tragic and complicated death.  Mmmmm.

I know that a lot of people were bitterly disappointed that evening. I for one will not be back to see him. Although I still believe in searching for the truth (whatever that may be) his credibility is shot as far as I’m concerned.

At £17.00 a ticket (x 2148) the whole thing was nothing more than a shameful device designed to generate as much cash as possible at the expense of the vulnerable.

Don’t you think its time to come clean Derek?

 

©2005 Mary Roberts

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