Nessie capté par un sonar

Nessie caught on sonar?
Published: 28 May, 2009

The sonar images seen by 'Allo 'Allo stars Jeffrey Holland and Vicki Michelle which have baffled a Loch Ness expert.

CELEBRITY stage stars of the classic TV sitcom 'Allo 'Allo are at the centre of a Nessie mystery.

And a leading Loch Ness expert is baffled by one of the most unusual sonar readings recorded on Loch Ness while the cast was on a pleasure cruise.

Sonar pictures taken on the voyage revealed five unexplained images which have lead to monster speculation.


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The mysterious images – which appear to be 200ft apart – have now been sent for scientific analysis.

The riddle began on Thursday morning when the cast of the stage adaptation of 'Allo 'Allo – including stars Jeffrey Holland and original TV series sexy favourite Vicki Michelle – were on board the Jacobite Queen taking the opportunity to visit the world famous loch whilst they were in the Highland capital for a week-long run at Eden Court Theatre.

The sonar reading, which illustrates five individual characters, was recorded at precisely 11.20am between Dores village and Urquhart Castle.

According to Jacobite Queen captain John Askew, it was the first time in his 15 years working on the loch that he successfully picked up images of this kind on any of the Jacobite fleet's sonar screens.

The Loch Ness Project's Adrian Shine, an expert in sonar who has been studying the loch since 1973, could not explain the sighting.

He said: "This has got me puzzled and has every appearance of a genuine sonar contact. A single object often appears again, as an echo.

"I would like to see the boat go back to this spot and see if the same thing could be produced again.

"This certainly adds to the Loch Ness mystery and will be the subject of further investigation.

"I don't understand five separate images on a sonar reading. It could possibly be a string of targets anchored to the bed of the loch, but that is again not likely, as the targets are 200ft apart exactly, which is why I would like to see the boat go back to that spot. There will be an explanation for this, but at the moment I just don't have one."

TV star Vicki Michelle was shocked at what she saw.

She explained: "I went down to the boat's cabin and caught an arch shape on the monitor, followed by two more. The whole cast had been hoping to see something on the trip and, if it was Nessie, that positive energy probably brought her out. Or perhaps she's just a fan of the show!"

She added: "In all seriousness, whether it was Nessie or not, we all definitely saw something on that monitor."

Jeffrey Holland said: "We're all very intrigued by the sonar image and keenly awaiting the results of the analysis."

* Recorded sightings of the Loch Ness Monster go back nearly 1,500 years dating to AD565, although many photographs of the legendary Nessie taken in the past century have proved to be either hoaxes or simply optical illusions.