Trigger Happy star calls in the paranormal investigators

Dom Joly believes his Gloucestershire home might be haunted.

The comedian’s son Jackson has complained of  ‘paranormal’ occurrences emanating from his bedroom in the basement, including hearing the distant melodies of a female opera singer.

‘Honestly, I thought he was on the wacky baccy when I first heard him talk about it,’ the Trigger Happy TV creator said. ‘I just thought, yeah, whatever. 

‘But quite a few times he heard it and I started to take it seriously. I did go down once and I heard something and it did absolutely freak me out. My wife paints down there and Jackson sleeps down there and I avoid it. I get completely creeped out by things and I do get freaked out in the dark… I can't watch horror films.’

Paranormal investigators Barri Ghai, Ian Lawman and Jayne Harris have now looked into the strange goings-on for the Discovery+ show Celebrity Help! My House Is Haunted.

Harris discovered that a famous opera singer called Agnes Nicholls did in fact live in the property back in 1878. 

‘That’s blown my mind a little bit,’ Joly says as Jayne relays the news

As the team use their equipment to seek out a connection with Agnes, July is disturbed when they feel they have been contacted by a ‘male spirit’ in the property. 

‘I don’t know what I’m hearing any more, I’m slightly freaked out by the whole experience,’ Joly says before wondering what to do about the ‘haunting’.

‘That’s the bit they don’t tell you about on Scooby Doo,’ he told the team. ‘Are you going to get rid of it, or do I have to pay?

As the first day of investigation draws to a close, the team stay overnight in the property. ‘We need to crack on with the investigation, we need to get further clarification as to why Agnes is here, what she’s trying to communicate, and does she like being here?," Ghai explains to Dom. 

‘We need to go to the pub,’ jokes Joly. ‘Will you have answers for us tomorrow? I don’t need any more spirits… I think Agnes is quite enough. If you start finding more then this house is for sale.’

The team try to contact the spirit using ‘automatic writing’ – in which Ghai supposedly writes what the spirit of Agnes tells him. After ‘snapping out’ of his state, he exclaims: ‘This isn’t my handwriting. It was surreal.’

The following day, Dom and son Jackson return to their home and are shocked when Jayne plays them a recording of the name ‘Agnes’ being whispered. 

‘In over20 years of being involved in this kind of work, that is probably the clearest name I think we’ve ever captured,’ Harris says. 

‘That’s 100 per cent someone saying Agnes, I mean that’s crazy,; Dom agrees. ‘Right so we’ve got an inconsolable opera singer adrift in my basement.

‘I’ve got to tell you, I was very sceptical about the whole thing, but the link though… the moment we found out that there was someone, an opera singer…what are the chances that an opera singer is living in this house? I mean that’s crazy!"

• The new series of Celebrity Help! My House Is Haunted is available to stream exclusively on Discovery+ from today.

Published: 23 Jan 2025