Scared Of The Dark is a groundbreaking and unique new reality series on Channel 4 that will see eight celebrities live in total darkness for a week for an endurance experiment.
Hosted by Danny Dyer, the show will follow eight celebrities — Scarlett Moffatt, former pro boxing world champion Chris Eubank, ex-England footballer Paul Gascoigne, double Olympic boxing champion Nicola Adams, The Wanted’s Max George, blind comedian Chris McCausland, actress Donna Preston and Love Island’s Chloe Burrows. These stars take on intense challenges while living in a specially created pitch-black reality space for seven days.
Watched over by clinical psychiatrist Dr Tharaka Gunarathne, the stars will have to cope with everyday living and socializing as well as take part in tasks that will either test their primal fear of darkness or their ability to function without light. It sounds horrendous and soon we’ll see which of the celebs are tough enough to go the distance.
Danny Dyer says: "This is possibly one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever done in my career, and I have done a lot of mad things.
"Throw in a bunch of celebs and make them do things with the lights off — it’s proper good telly. You’re gonna laugh, you’re gonna laugh some more and I promise you’re gonna love it.”
Here’s all you need to know about the Scared Of The Dark on Channel 4…
Scared Of The Dark release date
Scared of the Dark is a five-part series that starts on Channel 4 on Sunday April 16 at 9pm and runs daily at the same time across that week until Thursday April 20 2023.
You can catch up with Scared Of The Dark episodes on the streaming service All4.
Is there a trailer for Scared Of The Dark?
Yes a Scared of The Dark trailer has been released by Channel 4, plus Danny Dyer posted the Scared Of The Dark trailer on his Instagram account, saying: "Get ready to watch the greatest show ever f***ing made…starts the 16th of April on Channel 4." And he's right, it does look amazing too. Take a look at both below...
Scared Of The Dark — how it works
Scared Of The Dark follows eight celebrities who get to live in The Bunker, a purpose-built space designed to block out light. It's also rigged with 50 infrared cameras so viewers can see what happens.
Over five successive nights the show will follow the celebrities as they get to grips with living in the dark. To leave The Bunker the celebrities must simply shout “I’m Scared of The Dark” and they are escorted into the light.
To prove themselves, each of the celebrities will take on a series of challenges designed to test either their primal fear of total darkness or their ability to function in the pitch black. One of the celebrities Scarlett Moffatt has a secret mission — read below for more.
Those that fail at their challenges will have to take on herculean tasks to save their place on the show. Each celebrity must really be motivated to conquer their fears because in the end, only one will emerge from the darkness as a series winner.
Interview: Scared of the Dark host Danny Dyer on what to expect
Danny Dyer, who hosts the Scared Of The Dark experiment, gives the lowdon on the show...
How would you explain the idea behind Scared of the Dark?
Danny Dyer says: "Well, when they came to me and asked me if I was interested in hosting a brand new reality show where eight celebrities get locked up in the pitch black, I was like, sign me up! It’s a really simple concept, but there’s something so funny about watching them walking around in the dark, banging their shins or their heads. It’s hilarious, honestly!"
Do some of them cope better than others?
Danny says: "They all go on a journey. Some are quite surprised how freaked are they are and how much they have to rely on each other. As an alpha male, Chris Eubank really struggles and the way it pans out for him is fascinating. Chris McCausland turns out to be the total hero because being blind is a gift in that bunker!"
How does living in the dark change them?
Danny says: "Because nobody can see them, they let go of ego and aesthetics, which made them relax a lot. For people like Scarlett and Donna, not having to bother with their hair or make-up was very liberating. But it’s quite raw at times because you’re also completely reliant on your voice, your personality and your soul. So although the show is funny, it’s also pretty emotional because it really breaks down barriers."
Can you reveal some of the tasks they’re set?
Danny says: "There’s an amazing challenge where one of the contestants has to unlock five doors, but all the while there’s this seven-foot geezer behind them, and every 20 seconds he takes two steps towards forward and tries to catch them. What unfolds is so funny because it’s so scary! The producers are really clever, they do a lot of stuff to mess with the celebrities’ brains!"
Did you get to go into the bunker yourself?
Danny says: "I went in for 10 minutes and it was absolutely awful. I swear to you, I couldn’t see anything! I’m not scared of the dark, but I found it really debilitating. You can imagine how it messes with your brain."
You’re a big football fan, had you met Paul Gascoigne before this?
Danny reveals: "Yeah, I've met him a couple of times at a couple of football matches, he's always been a fan of mine, like I'm a fan of his. He did an interview once and he said that if they do a film, that he'd want me to play him, which I had to tell him that there's no way in the fucking world I'm going to do the Geordie accent, you know? But I was very touched and quite honoured, actually, that he would want me to play him. I'm 45 now, so I don't know if I'd play a younger Paul. But the fact I was even in his thoughts humbles me."
Do you think we will see a different side to boxer Chris Eubank?
Danny reveals: "Well, he said some interesting stuff about how he's more fearful of stuff that happens in the light. And I'll back him on that, because that's where there are some very shady things going on and there's a lot of people out there that, especially in our industry, that can be quite scary, and it's very cutthroat and ruthless. So, he makes a good point, actually, it's scary actually in the light at the moment, maybe it won't be so bad in the dark. And then again, I won't give it away, but the journey that man goes on is an emotional one."
What’s your biggest fear if it’s not the dark?
Danny says: "I worry about the future of my children because the world’s a bit of a weird place right now. But probably my biggest fear is West Ham being relegated! I love West Ham and we’re bang in trouble at the moment!"
You’ve been so busy since leaving EastEnders. What can we see you in next?
Danny says: "Initially the plan was to take a year off but I haven’t because there have been so many exciting jobs coming my way! I’ve just done a travel show in Italy with my daughter, Dani, and a documentary about toxic masculinity. I’m also working on the Jilly Cooper adaptation of Rivals, which is a gift. It’s set in 1986 and I’ve had to grow a moustache, so it’s whole new look! I’m working with David Tennant, Aidan Turner, Alexander Hassel and Lisa McGrillis, all really amazing people who’ve made me raise my game. I’m so excited about it!"
* Danny Dyer played the lovable Mick Carter in EastEnders from 2013 until 2022. He’s also starred in movies such as The Football Factory, Human Traffic, Severance, plus TV series Skins and Plebs. He hosted the game show The Wall and fronts the Netflix series Cheat. He read the Alternative Christmas Message in 2018 and made the show Danny Dyer’s Right Royal Family about his famous ancestry.
Meet the celebrities taking part in Scared Of The Dark
Boxing champ Nicola Adams
Nicola was a champion boxer and double Olympic gold-medal winner. She’s also been on Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up to Cancer, Celebrity Gogglebox and The Wheel and took part in Strictly Come Dancing 2020. The film Lioness: The Nicola Adams Story was made about her.
Nicolas Adams reveals: "I was intrigued by the concept of living in the dark for eight days and what that might entail and what it would be like not being able to use my sight. I think we, as people that can see, rely on the sight for everything and neglect everything else, so I feel it'd be interesting to just see what it's like to not have my sight and then trying to find my way around, how I'll function, how I'll make food. How will I eat? How will I'll even be able to see what I'm eating? I'm the type of person that eats with my eyes first, so it's going to be really strange in that sense, not being able to see what I'm eating."
England football legend Paul Gascoigne
Paul Gascoigne, aka Gazza, was a hugely talented England World Cup football star, hero of Italia 90, and the subject of the film Gascoigne, which told of his career as well as his struggles off the pitch.
Paul Gascoigne says: "I see all the other reality shows, and I watch some of them, some of them I don't like watching because there's some people that are on there that are not even famous. They're on there because of their mam or dad or whatever. But then this comes along, and I thought, "Oh, I'll get this challenge in." But at the moment, I'm trying not to think about it, because my mam said, "Paul, you're frightened of the dark." I went, "Mam, I was seven years of age then. I'm 55 now." God almighty. So yeah, I'm looking forward to it. It's a challenge. I want to give it the full whack and go all the way.
"Years ago, I was in Italy, and I had this Bart Simpson alarm clock. And it used to say, "Hey dude, get out of bed and get out to work." And all of sudden all the electricity went off because of the rain. I'm trying to find out where the plug was to put the electricity back on, and I touched the alarm thing. I absolutely shit myself. It was Bart Simpson saying, "Hey dude, get out of bed." That was quite scary, to be fair.
"My other phobias are snakes and heights. I mean, I hate flying. I don't like the turbulence. I don't like flying, even though I flew around the world, but I hate it. I don't like snakes. I've met a lot of snakes in my time, but the slippery ones. Just those two, really. Apart from that, I'm not too bad."
Former boxing superstar Chris Eubank
Former pro boxing World Champion Chris Eubank has appeared on Celebrity Gogglebox, Celebrity Masterchef and reality series At Home with the Eubanks.
Chris reveals if her was ever scared of the dark: "When I was a child I talked and thought and reasoned like a child. Now I'm a man. No, I am the light now. The dark is going to meet the light. When I was a kid, I mean, when the thunder thundered, then I'd cry and I would run for cover because I didn't understand what thunder was. So, yeah, it scared me. It should have scared me because I was a kid and I didn't know. So I'd run to my mother, and then she would always comfort me. But I'm a man now. And the dark, there's nothing there. And if there is anything there, it's an illusion. It's fake. It doesn't exist. My entire life has been my preparation. It's no different at all. What you call different is an illusion. I'm a man. I'm not a child anymore. So you think like a man. You think like the person your mother taught you to be. They taught me to be a King and so that’s what I am.
Love Island's Chloe Burrows
Chloe Burrows took part in Love Island 2021. She’s also been on Trainspotting with Francis Bourgeois and Catchpoint. Chloe says: "I actually am terrified of the dark. I have the biggest fear of the dark probably known to man. I sleep with the main lights on. Even last night in the hotel, the TV kept going on standby and I kept waking up and I was like, “No!" I feel like I wanted to challenge myself and then see if I can actually do it. And I feel like eight days, it'll be fun, I don't think it'll be traumatising…"
Music star Max George
Musician Max George is part of the band The Wanted. He’s also took part in Strictly Come Dancing, Bear Grylls: Mission Survive and The Games.
Max George says: "I've always been a lights out kind of guy. Even when I was a kid, I never had a door cracked. You know what I mean? With the bathroom light on. I was never like that. Although, the house I lived in in Salford got broken into 12 times in eight years. And a few of those times it was pitch black and we were home. We'd looked down and couldn't see he was there, I suppose that was a bit sketchy. I think after the 12th we moved out. That was the cut point for me mum!"
Scarlett Moffatt on her very special secret mission in Scared Of The Dark...
In Scared of The Dar, the celebs also have no idea that Scarlett Moffatt is living among them in secret, kitted out with infrared goggles and an earpiece with the challenge is to stay completely unnoticed.
"It’s going to be so tough,’ says Scarlett. ‘I’ve signed up for some pretty crazy things but this is definitely the craziest!’
"To be honest, all of my career in this mad industry has been made up of fun and quirky opportunities. Whether it's going to Namibia, or doing I'm a Celeb, or watching the TV with my family, it's all been a little bit outside the box. So I think, whenever I get given an opportunity I just grab it with both hands, because I think, "Who else is ever going to get to do this?" Do you know what I mean? So I always just go, 'Yeah, of course. Yeah.'
"I'm not scared of the dark, well, I'm scared of what's in the dark. If that makes sense. So I'm not scared of night time. You know when you turn the light off in your bedroom, and then you run to your bed? I feel like I still do that. So I feel like I'm not scared of the dark, but I'm not a massive fan of it."
* Scarlett Moffatt shot to fame on Gogglebox. She’s since won I’m A Celebrity… and went on to host the spin off Extra Camp as well as Love Bites, Scarlett’s Driving School and Street Mate. She was also a regular on Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway.
Blind comedian Chris McCausland
British actor and stand-up comedian Chris McCausland is blind through the condition retinitis pigmentosa but could being blind be a significant advantage in the Scared of The Dark bunker.
Chris says: "I think in a way, I am, I suppose, maybe the control group in this experiment, but still susceptible to a lot of the same issues as everybody else socially in terms of deprivation. I'm blind but I don't see black. I still see light and space, I still have an awareness of the space around me, not in terms of objects and things, but in terms of the room and whether there might be something in front of me. It just gives you that awareness that you're taking that away from me. I'm a slave to my iPhone like everybody else. So on paper you go, "Well, I should nail this," but in one area I should be more practically adjusted. It'll be quite interesting to see how quickly everybody else gets to that point. I'm quite looking forward to being the most able bodied person for a while. It doesn't happen often."
Actor Donna Preston
Donna Preston is an actress who's starred in Apocalypse Wow, Hey Tracey! and she played Despair in The Sandman on Netflix.
Donna Preston says: "I like a challenge, I think. I'm a big believer in taking chances. And if opportunity arises like this, I just think, 'Yeah!'
"I never really think about it, but I don't think I will be because I'm with people. Unless they're prankers. I don't know if I'll like that. I mean, it'll just get exhausting. I imagine it'll be really exhausting in there anyway, because it's just that you're constantly going to be like, "Where am I?" It's going to be an effort to even get from A to B, wherever A to B is.
"Back in the day when I was 13, I went on a ride called the Black Hole, it was in a swimming pool and that was quite scary. But I was ejected on this rubber dinghy into a black hole. That was probably my scariest moment in the dark."
Scared Of The Dark's clinical psychiatrist Dr Tharaka Gunarathne
Clinical psychiatrist Dr Tharaka Gunarathne oversees the celebrities' mental wellbeing on Scared Of The Dark. He says: "One the hardest challenges the celebrities face is dealing with the unknown; their psychological sense of uncertainty is at an all-time high. When you can’t see, your brain fills in the blanks and often imagines the worse. When you switch off the lights your ability to stay safe is suddenly threatened and that is what makes this particularly frightening
Scared Of The Dark episode guide
Want to know what happens in all five episodes of Scared Of The Dark? Here's our guide to each...
Episode 1: Sunday April 16
From the start it’s clear that everything in The Bunker will be challenging, including meeting people for the first time in the dark. Personalities clash almost immediately thanks to the exacting standards of boxing legend Chris Eubank who doesn’t take lightly to swearing! But not everyone struggles with their new environment, in fact for blind Comedian Chris McCausland, it’s all too familiar. However, one thing immediately changes for him in the bunker; as the most able-bodied person of the group in the pitch black, he soon becomes the most relied upon to survive. We see football legend Paul Gascoigne getting to grips with his new environment, and when Comedian Donna Preston and Love Island Star Chloe Burrows take on the first terrifying challenge, things go from bad to worse. Just the thought of being alone in the dark has an emotional Chloe begging to leave and screaming ‘I’m Scared of the Dark!’
Episode 2: Monday April 17
Danny Dyer and psychologist Dr T analyse from the side lines as a group of celebrities continue to struggle, having been living in a pitch-black bunker for the last 30 hours. Tensions flare as boxer Chris Eubank calls out the group on their language and behaviour. Comedian Chris McCausland takes it upon himself to defend the younger members of the group against the boxing legend. The tense atmosphere only increases as the celebrities are then shackled into pairs for 12 hours. With Eubank paired with McCausland – will being forced into close proximity drive them closer together or will they come to blows?
Episode 3: Tuesday April 18
Having been forced to spend the last 12 hours in the ‘black hole’, reality star Scarlett Moffatt and actress Donna Preston are finally released from their night of pure terror. Conversation quickly turns sour as Gazza tells the group about his worst night ever - flying next to a dead man for 9 hours. Chris Eubank is not impressed with Gazza’s jaw dropping tales from his legendary life on and off the pitch! As the celebrities begin to bond, Chris Eubank starts to withdraw further from the group and he refuses to take part in two tasks.
Episode 4: Wednesday April 19
After nearly 70 hours living in complete darkness, the frustration for some is inescapable and we see our celebs battling with the daunting thought of getting through their final days in the darkness. The bunker has yet more surprises in store, and with a shock exit from the group, the celebrities go from eight to seven. Some celebrities are left buzzing in their next challenge as electric shocks are administered to those unable to navigate their way into a tiny box, drawn on the floor of a vast pitch-black hangar. At the end of a tumultuous day, the celebs will be presented with the ultimate decision...
Episode 5: Thursday April 20
In the dramatic finale of Scared of the Dark, the 7 remaining celebrities will power to remain in the bunker is tested from the outset. Challenges test both fears and the strength of their camaraderie, as the celebrities overcome trepidation to battle it out for time in the light. One final challenge remains; a leap of faith into the unknown, which, if they don’t complete as a group, will bring their time in the bunker abruptly to the end. Spoiler not everyone makes it to the end, those that do must vote for the person they feel deserves to be the winner of the experience.
Behind the scenes and more on Scared Of The Dark
Scared of the Dark is produced by ITV Studios label, MultiStory Media, from an original idea by Possessed, and was commissioned for Channel 4 by Tom Beck, Head of Live Events with Phil Harris, Head of Entertainment and Events. Executive Producers on the series are Glenn Hugill, Simone Haywood and Jon Cahn.
