Abstract: An optically triggered interactive apparatus (100), comprises a video camera (104) arranged to capture a reference video image of a scene (112). A graphical user interface (107) is used to select a target area (124b) within the reference video image. A processor (106) arranged to detect the presence of light incident within the target area (124b) of an active video image captured by the video camera (104). The processor is arranged to determine an outer extent of an torch beam (136a,b) within the scene (112) and outputs a trigger signal to a further processor (102ah) when a given proportion of the target area forms part of the illuminated area and/or when a given proportion of the illuminated area lies within the target area.