THE FINAL FAKE – A journalist’s plan to expose charlatan clairvoyants has unexpected consequences when the supposed ‘haunted house’ they use for the ruse turns out to have a very real dark and sinister history.

We had to read the Book of Samuel at school – such is the nature of a Jesuit education – and I never forgot the story of the Witch of Endor. I noticed, in various ghost tales, that Miss Endor occasionally received a passing mention, notably in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Thrawn Janet and E.F. Benson’s Negotium Perambulans. However, perhaps this mysterious lady was due for, and deserving of, a more starring role. But how and where?

Years ago I had planned to do a one-man show about people who made their living by pretending to be somebody else – including imposters and fraudsters. Part of my research included the John Stonehouse trial which revealed the fascinating tale of a member of parliament in the 1970s who faked his own death and created an alternative identity in Australia. Re-reading the research I could see how the Stonehouse trial could work as the opening scene of a tale about phoney clairvoyants who take on the voices of the dead. Of course the Witch of Endor in the Hebrew Bible was consulted by Saul not just to listen the spirit of Samuel but to actually conjure him up from wherever he was. But exactly how and where all this fits into The Final Fake would be to reveal the ending. And I suspect Miss Endor certainly wouldn’t want that!

"FABULOUS. Fascinating tale. Fascinating writing. Fascinating wit. Steve Nallon has a HIT… Needs to be a show, Netflix are you listening?"

Christian Dion, Television Celebrity Psychic