Dead Famous

The world's most famous recluse wasn't all that keen on appearing for the cameras while he was alive, so what chance might there be of him granting a posthumous interview to Dead Famous? Undaunted as ever, sceptic Gail Porter and sensitive Chris Fleming try to track down the film director, aviator and bashful billionaire in the places where he lived, worked and occasionally crashed his aircraft in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Could he be hiding in his old office in what is now the Playa Vista Film Studios in LA? Is he resting at the historic hotel where he recuperated after his plane crashed? Or could he be eavesdropping while we interview the man who acted as his face to the world for the last, utterly bizarre years of his life? We leave no stone unturned as we try to tempt the tycoon back for one last meeting... but will we bring out the coward in Howard?

Carole Lombard and Clark Gable were the superstar couple of their day, both at the top of their professions and living the Hollywood dream. But that dream turned into a nightmare when an aircraft carrying Carole smashed at full speed into a mountainside near Las Vegas, killing her at the age of only 33. The world thought it had seen the last of the screwball comedy legend... but had it? Gail Porter and Chris Fleming visit the creepy old saloon where Gable waited for the tragic news and the hotel where they spent their honeymoon in the search for the spirits of the much-missed couple. Did Carole grab one last chance to be on camera, and did Gable give a damn?

Mae West was a one-off and a show-off, a sensational showgirl whose wit was as legendary as her contempt for the censors. But she also had a passion for the paranormal that lasted a lifetime and saw her take part in seance after seance. Where better then to search for her spirit than in New York, the city where she made her name, earned her fortune, and was jailed for upsetting the authorities with her unashamedly brash stage play called Sex? Our hunt for her takes us to a haunted mansion in the middle of New York City, and a house in the middle of nowhere that was built by a man who believed spirits gave him instructions and stood over him as he hammered every nail in. Visiting the places Mae lived and worked in during her colourful career, we try to coax the far-from-shrinking violet into the limelight for one last performance... or will she ask us to come up and see her some time?

Everyone in the civilised world has heard of Bing Crosby... but not so many have heard of Spokane, the city in Washington State that Bing grew up in. It's where he learned to sing, learnt to act, and discovered his life-long love of golf. It's also very haunted. In our search for the spirit of Bing Crosby, we experience Spokane at its spookiest as Gail and Chris snoop around two haunted theatres and a glitzy hotel where a little old lady plunged to her death in the crowded lobby. Will Bing's spirit still be visiting his old haunts? Will he take to the stage for an afterworld encore? And will the man who brought us White Christmas turn up to wish us a Happy Halloween?

The unforgettable Rita Hayworth died of Alzheimer's after a glittering Hollywood career. But will she appear for a final curtain-call at the theatre where she dated Orson Welles? Whose spirit comes through on the Dead Famous ouija board? And what accounts for the biggest orb Chris Fleming has ever seen? The team visit The Silent Movie Theater, The Downtown Palace Theater and The Hollywood Museum in the Historic Max Factor Building to find out.

Nat King Cole had the smoothest voice on the planet, but he also had a 60-a-day cigarette habit that robbed the world of his talent at a tragically young age. Could he be lingering at the most haunted building in Chicago? What unseen force is making the stage curtain twitch? And what possesses Gail, literally, at Rico D's?

Pittsburgh is proud of Andy Warhol, the Sixties pop artist whose prints of soup cans and Marilyn Monroe have iconic status. Gail and Chris visit the Carnegie Natural History and Fine Art Museum, where Warhol used to sketch the dinosaurs to see if his spirit still lurks amongst the artefacts.

Janis Joplin is still mourned today by the Sixties generation, a gutsy singer whose drug addiction was her downfall. So where better to try to spot her spirit than in Symphony Square, the place where her music career started?