Ghostly apparition appears in The Lake District to launch Sky's brand-new supernatural crime thriller, The Rising

The figure ascended near the banks of Derwentwater in the early hours of the morning, stunning passers-by with its eerie lifelike presence.

Today, a ghostly apparition appeared on the banks of Derwentwater, Lake District to mark the launch of Sky’s brand-new supernatural crime thriller, The Rising.

Appearing in the early hours of the morning, the eerie figure began to rise from beneath the water set against the dramatic backdrop of the mountains. Surrounded by a grey mist, the blue-grey hue of the life-sized figure stunned passers-by who looked on in awe as she appeared to mouth the words “come find me”.

Created using cutting edge technology the visual was, in fact, a hologram depicting lead character Neve Kelly (Clara Rugaard), to launch the brand-new, Sky Original series, The Rising. In the show, set in the lake district, Neve is seen to emerge from a lake as she returns from the afterlife to help those investigating her death to find her killer.

Daniella Hope, local to Derwentwater said: “I woke up to take a walk by the lake as I do most mornings and was stunned to see a ghostly figure coming out of the water. I couldn’t believe my eyes at how real it looked, to the point I was speechless for the first few moments.

“It’s certainly an interesting way to start the morning and now I’m intrigued to find out about what happened to her.”

Developed by Kaleida, the same team who created the viral Robert Kardashian hologram in 2020, the impressive artwork took two months to create. By using an array of postproduction techniques and a transparent holographic gauze, Kaleida have been able to create a modern-day three dimensional ‘ghost’ that looks real enough to touch.

The hologram was inspired by new research commissioned by Sky today that found that more than two-fifths of Brits (42%) believe in life after death with a further 63% admitting to believing they have been guided through life by a deceased loved one. The top five ‘signs’ Brits think can indicate a spirit include - sensing a presence in the room (27%), household pets / dogs behaving strangely (23%) smelling a particular scent and not knowing the source (22%), feeling someone touch you when no one is (21%), and seeing spiritual symbols such as birds (21%).

A Sky Original, The Rising is an eight-episode series based on the popular Belgian drama Beau Séjour (international distribution rights by LS Distribution – a Mediawan group company) which has been adapted to a contemporary British setting by Sky Studios. The protagonist Neve Kelly, played by Clara Rugaard (I Am Mother), is scared and confused to one day discover that she is dead. In this new plane of existence, she becomes furiously determined to find her killer and get justice, convinced that her killer was someone she knew. The Rising is the first series produced entirely in-house by Sky Studios, Sky’s original programming arm across Europe.

Serena Thompson, Executive Producer at Sky Studios, said: “We wanted to do something to mark the launch of this brand new series, and so we looked at how we could create something which stayed true to the show’s premise. Given that the series takes a fresh, modern look at how the afterlife could interact with the real world, this ghostly figure felt very in keeping with the series.

“We worked with a tech production partner who used cutting edge technology to create a life-like 3D projection. Recreating a key scene from the series and bringing about a ghost-like presence to The Lake District - the location where it was originally filmed – seemed like a great way to kick off the launch of this brand new series”

All episodes of The Rising are on Sky Max and streaming service NOW from 22^nd April.

Notes to Editors

The holographic projection draws attention to Britain’s obsession with the supernatural and has been created to promote the launch of Sky’s new series The Rising. The artwork is not indicative of Sky’s views on the supernatural, but instead illustrates a core theme of the show, which was written by Pete McTighe (A Discovery of Witches) and Charlotte Wolf (The Last Kingdom), alongside Charlene James (A Discovery of Witches), Roanne Bardsley (Free Rein), and Laura Grace (Das Boot).

About Sky

Sky is Europe’s leading media and entertainment company and is proud to be part of Comcast Corporation. Across six countries, we connect our 23 million customers to the best entertainment, sports, news, arts and to our own award-winning original content. 

Following the launch of Sky Glass, we now offer customers our strongest ever line-up of products and services. As well as the new streaming TV with Sky inside and everything integrated, customers can enjoy the award-winning Sky Q with all your favourite channels and apps in one place, and with Sky Go you can now access an even better experience on your devices. Sky TV has new channels, new shows and new deals with Peacock, Paramount+ and more. Sky Mobile was voted Best Pay Monthly and Best Value Pay Monthly network by Uswitch, and with Sky Broadband we’re offering our fastest speeds yet.

Building on the success of Sky Originals like Chernobyl, Gangs of London and Brassic, we are doubling our investment in original content by 2024 through Sky Studios. Our new TV and movie studio, Sky Studios Elstree, is expected to create over 2,000 new jobs and generate an additional £3 billion of production investment in the UK over the first five years alone. Sky News provides impartial and trustworthy journalism for free, Sky Arts is the UK’s only dedicated free-to-air arts channel making the arts accessible for everyone and Sky Sports, our leading sports broadcasting service, brings customers some of the biggest and best global sporting events from the Premier League to Formula 1 and everything in-between. Sky Cinema is the home of Sky Original films with brand new films launching every month alongside an unrivalled range of the latest cinema releases and on demand library.

We believe that we can be a force for good in the communities in which we operate. We’re committed to being Europe’s first net zero carbon entertainment company by 2030 and we’re proud to be a Principal Partner and Media Partner of COP26 – the UN Climate Change Conference. We take pride in our approach to diversity and inclusion: we’ve been recognised by The Times and Stonewall for our commitment to diversity, and we’ve set ambitious 2025 targets to continue to increase diversity and representation.  We’re also committed to investing £30million across our markets over the next three years to improve our approach to diversity and inclusion, and to tackle racial injustice.

About The Rising

Based on the Belgian crime drama Beau Séjour, The Rising is a story about love, justice, and the cost of pursuing the truth in a world that wants to keep it hidden. Billed as having a distinctive tone and visual style, it stars Clara Rugaard as Neve Kelly, a woman who discovers she is dead. She’s scared and confused by this new existence. But, when she realizes she has been murdered, she’s furious. She’s determined to find her killer and get justice, believing that it was someone she knew.