What is it that screams in almost every outdoor night scene I see from UK TV?

Hi everyone,

I am a fan of UK TV from Australia. It seems whenever there is a night scene in the UK countryside, when the mood is meant to be dramatic, I always seem to hear a screeching sound, I'm guessing an owl maybe?

Shows I remember hearing this screeching in the nightime outdoors include Sherlock, Midsummer Murders, Jonathan Creek, etc.

Could someone please enlighten me as to what bird/creature is making these screeching call?

Thanks, Matty

  • Hi Matty, do I understand that you live in Australia and have been watching UK TV there? Although I've seen some of these programmes that you mention I can't say I've ever noticed or recall the screeching you refer to. I don't think many of them are current in the UK.
    I think you'd have to find a way of giving an example otherwise we would just be guessing. It could be anything from barn owl to a vixen.
  • Hi TJ, yes you are right, I am watching UK TV in Aus. The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon suggests because I have been hearing this "screech" in this context many times over the years, I have become more and more attuned to it. I have heard it many times in UK countryside night scenes.

    Alan, thanks for the suggestion, but that is much too mild and owl-like. I admit my description is vague, but I don't have a sample to share with you all unfortunately. The only thing I can do is describe it as well as I can - a higher pitched, bark-like screech/scream. It lasts only a second or two.
  • Awesome! Vixen/red fox scream is exactly what I am hearing. Thank you all for solving that one for me - it's bugged me for years!
  • I posed this question to my British friends on Twitter. David Oakes (The Borgias, The Pillars of the Earth, Victoria, etc.) told me that it's the nocturnal Thin-throated Hazel Ferret (Mustela furofaucium). Since David is a nature enthusiast (which is an understatement), I believe his answer is more accurate than the others above. ;)
  • I reckon you're right there Robbo someone is starting a wind up. Going back to Matty's original query any background noise at the time when the Baader Meinhof series was running in the UK would most likely be the pubs kicking out at closing time lol
  • Hi guys,
    I just got a couple of notifications indicating that a little bit of life has returned to this thread, so I thought I'd come back and give you an update.
    Back in 2020, I was determined to find the creature responsible for that iconic sound haunting my viewing pleasure. For the longest time, it was a given to me that if you saw a night scene in a UK TV show (ala Midsummer Murders, Johnathon Creek), you would hear that eerie screeching cry.
    There was no real importance attached to knowing the animals’ name of course, aside from the intense curiosity of a disempowered, disenfranchised, disillusioned intellectual. As a realmer living in a land far, far away, I simply did not possess the cultural background to intuit the answer. Thusly, a rally cry to the internet was the obvious solution.
    I embarked on what I expected to be a long, arduous and intriguing quest. A quest, not merely a search, because I dared seek a correct answer in the foul moors of www.asted potential.
    This forum was part of that quest. It appears my concerns were well founded.
    While it may be a tale worthy of Chaucer to convey my adventures, brevity is apropos in this limited forum. Suffice to say I spent many hours, looking long and hard and enduring much cramping in my typing fingers to, eventually, astoundingly, actually, discover my personal not-so-holy grail. And now I reveal it to you.
    It held great astonishment to me that the creature in question wasn’t some species of owl, or at least a bird of some sort. For the longest time I was at a loss to imagine what else it could be.
    Well dear internet friend, the creature in question is not an owl. It’s not even a bird. It is in fact [dramatic drumroll, maestro, if you please…] a female red fox. You can prove it for yourself by finding the video on youtube I was linked to that confirmed the claim (alas, a link no longer in my possession).
    The person and site I got that information from has long escaped my memory, but thank you mysterious stranger, for giving me eternal relief to that splinter in my mind. A little joy has been garnered as another of life’s little mysteries has been solved; the ever-increasing chaos of the modern world is held abated one moment longer.

    As I lay in my bed, basking in the glow of blue light and joyous revelation, I do recall that my thoughts drifted into idle and curious considerations. I began to wonder… why does this pretty creature cry at night? Does this cry interrupt the locals sleepy time? Does it have a contract with the BBC, or is it merely another sad exploited oink of the realm?
    Ahh, so many questions. Dare I search for an answer at such a late hour? One more. Why not.
    My last dozy google search revealed that if you truly want to drive this pesky critter away from your domain, you can apparently employ the services of a royal hunting party to sally forth and what not. This event will definitely rid you of this cute pest. Better yet, the service won’t cost you a farthing, aside from perhaps a little derogatory dry wit and insult laced with arrogance and privilege, and perhaps a slight touch-up from security.
    As I drifted off to sleep in my own peaceful cry-free domain, my final thought was on the accuracy of this information and to ponder whether it was yet another example of the lesser veracity typical of a google quick search.
    At a whim I may endeavour to seek confirmation at a public library, although I fear that finding one may be in itself a quest more impossible than the release of Excalibur itself. Good night.
  • Haha well there you go. I felt like having a bit of fun with the reply. Thanks for letting me know.
  • You were waxing quite lyrical there Matt, I was quite enjoying reading it.
  • I DIDN'T make anything up, Robbo! If I could include a picture here, I'd show you a screenshot of what I mentioned above. I was Googling the SAME question that I had asked JUST last week on Twitter and came across this thread. I was teasing when I said that I thought his answer was more accurate (which is why I included the winking emoji). Now I'll be leaving altogether because not only do I not have the time to read the ESSAY above (must be nice to care THAT much about trivial ***), and the last few posts in this thread seemed to have NOTHING to do with the original question. And why haven't I said anything ELSE? Because again, I don't have that kind of time. It pisses me off that I even wrote THIS.
  • I’ve heard the sound you’re referring to in the episode “The Seer Of The Sands” (2004) of Jonathan Creek Season 4 Episode 4. The screaming sound can be heard at the 30 minutes & 40 seconds mark of the episode. I’ve heard this sound before in other Jonathan Creek episodes. The sound can be also be heard in earlier parts of the episode “The Seer Of The Sands”. I’d been wondering myself what the heck the noise is. It almost sounds like a person screaming at times. Interesting, I thought I would google if anyone else had heard the screaming sounds in Jonathan Creek’s episodes, and crazily, others have.