Ghosts is a British sitcom broadcast on BBC One from April 2019 to December 2023. It follows a group of ghosts from different historical periods haunting a country house while sharing it with its new living occupants. It is written and performed by the collective group Them There, who had previously worked together on productions including Horrible Histories and Yonderland.^[1]

Ghosts was the first post-watershed comedy by the ensemble, although some television critics said that it was suitable for adults and children alike,^[2][3] and it was moved to a pre-watershed slot from series 2 onwards. Reviews were positive, with critics appreciating its high joke rate, premise, and strong ensemble. It is produced by Monumental Pictures, part of ITV Studios,^[1] in association with Them There^[4][5][6] and filmed on location at West Horsley Place in Surrey.^[7] A tie-in book, The Button House Archives, was released on 26 October 2023.^[8]

Alison Cooper unexpectedly inherits the vast but crumbling Button House from a distant relative. The house is haunted by numerous squabbling ghosts from across the ages who died on its grounds and are invisible and intangible to the living. Ignoring their solicitor's advice to sell the property, Alison and her husband Mike decide to move in and renovate it, with the idea of turning the house into a luxury hotel.

At first, the ghosts are not happy with the living couple's plans and conspire to get rid of the newcomers. After various failed attempts to scare them, one of the ghosts pushes Alison from an upstairs window, resulting in her being clinically dead for three minutes. When she awakens from an induced coma two weeks later, Alison discovers that her husband has arranged a huge mortgage, and that her near-death experience has given her the ability to see and hear the ghosts.^[9]

Initially believing the ghosts to be an after-effect of her accident, Alison eventually accepts the truth and confronts them. Because the Coopers cannot leave for financial reasons, and the ghosts are bound to the mansion's land until they can ascend into the afterlife (which they refer to as being 'sucked off', unaware that the phrase is considered an innuendo in modern times), both sides eventually agree that they have to coexist as best they can. Meanwhile, the house requires a lot of work, and Alison and Mike devise several schemes to assist their perilous finances.^[3]

According to Mathew Baynton, the idea of a haunted house was one of the first ideas the writers developed after the end of Horrible Histories. However, they were initially uncertain because there was "no jeopardy that we could write into it" and they created the sitcom Yonderland for Sky One instead. When that series ended, they "realised the boredom of eternity and the existential aspects of the ghosts idea was unique... We realised it was a house-share sitcom—and as soon as you stop thinking about those kind of major drama stakes, you unlock a story that is really domestic and petty."^[15] Mike and Alison, the two living characters, were introduced as a foil for the ghosts, and to introduce "the stakes, the worries about money, life and everything you need for a story".^[15]

Writing in Broadcast, Jim Howick noted that the 2016 episode of Who Do You Think You Are?, where EastEnders actor Danny Dyer discovered he was related to Edward III of England, formed the basis of the idea of Alison: "We loved the idea of Danny Dyer's royal lineage... We've mirrored this with our character Alison, who discovers her aristocratic roots, which she embraces immediately and takes on with relish."^[16]

Baynton recalled that BBC head of comedy commissioning Shane Allen was looking for a pre-watershed primetime sitcom for BBC One. During the writing process, the intention was to make an adult show, but one that would appeal to older children, along the lines of Blackadder: "We wanted to do something that has a properly creaky atmosphere. I love the idea that some kids might stay up for it. It's great as a kid when you think something isn't quite for you and it's a bit cheekier."^[16] In the event, the programme was scheduled at 9.30 on Monday evenings after the sitcom Not Going Out. Baynton noted in the i newspaper that as the original audience of Horrible Histories would now be grown up, "hopefully we're making something so they can continue to watch us!"^[17]

Baynton said the Tim Burton film Beetlejuice provided the writers a "useful tonal reference" as did The Rocky Horror Show. Jim Howick, addressing its similarity to the 1970s series Rentaghost, noted that most of the writers were either slightly too young or too old to have watched it, but the series did make knowing use of many of the clichés of horror programmes, such as headless Tudor noblemen.^[16]

The programme is filmed at West Horsley Place in Surrey, England, a large country house unexpectedly inherited by the writer and former University Challenge presenter Bamber Gascoigne in 2014 from his great aunt, the Duchess of Roxburghe, under circumstances not dissimilar to those depicted in the series.^[18][19] Some scenes were also filmed on London Road and Clandon Road in nearby Guildford^[20] with outside images of the famous Bettys Tea Rooms in Harrogate, North Yorkshire rebranded as "Sandrine's" in the penultimate scene of the final episode of series three.

Filming of the second series started on 13 January 2020. It started airing, on BBC One, on 12 September that year.^[21] The series was moved to a pre-watershed slot of 8.30 pm.^[22] Production on the third series began in early 2021^[23] and finished on 7 April 2021.^[24] It premiered on 9 August 2021.^[25] Filming of the fourth series wrapped on 16 March 2022.^[26]

Series 4 of Ghosts was covered in the BBC podcast series Inside..., which is a companion podcast to popular comedy series and offers a deeper, behind the scenes look into each episode via discussions with the writers and cast members. The Ghosts episodes are hosted by Nathan Bryon, who plays Obi, a friend of Mike and Alison in the series.^[27]

A fifth and final series, broadcast from 6 October 2023, was confirmed by the BBC in December 2022, with a final Christmas special being confirmed shortly before the broadcast of the final series.^{[28][29][30][31]}

Ghosts also airs on Paramount+ and CBC Gem in Canada. It used to be available in the US on Warner Bros. Discovery's HBO Max (now Max) until they lost the streaming rights to the show 12 September 2023. In November 2023, due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike causing a delay in production of the show's American remake, CBS began to broadcast episodes of the British series as Ghosts UK on linear US television.^[39]

Critical reception to the series has been positive. On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the first series holds approval rating of 83%, based on 12 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The website's critical consensus said: "The perfect blend of spooky and silly, Ghosts's ghastly giggles are a delight."^[40] The second series received an approval rating of 100%, based on five reviews, with an average rating of 6.7/10.^[41] The third series also received a 100% approval rating, but with a higher average rating of 8.7/10, based on six reviews.^[42]

Stuart Jeffries in The Guardian wrote: "In making us giggle at the supernatural, Ghosts is very British – a mash-up of Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), not to mention the manifold sillinesses of Hammer horror films. But it is American in the sense of having a gag-to-airtime ratio much higher than British sitcoms normally manage these days."^[9] Michael Hogan in The Daily Telegraph was similarly positive, comparing it to the 1970s' children's sitcom Rentaghost but noting that "This deliriously daft supernatural romp, however, was none the worse for that."^[7]

Susannah Butter in the Evening Standard said the first episode reminded her of a property show, watching the couple view a terrible flat, before making their escape to the country. She was critical of the post-watershed scheduling of 9.30 pm, saying "it feels like a show that children would enjoy" and noting: "This is a gentle ensemble comedy. Alison and Mike are wide-eyed, charming and likeable. I would gladly have them as friends, even though they can't sing...Nothing about this show is scary."^[3] Carol Midgley in The Times was also confused by the scheduling, noting that "Ghosts is smut[-] and swearword-free" and calling it "a curiously life-affirming comedy about death".^[2]

Contrasting it with the bleak "sadcoms" such as Fleabag and After Life, Pat Stacey in the Irish Independent noted "It's joyously, infectiously silly, yet at the same time whip-smart. It's just the ticket to scare those sadcom blues away."^[43]

A second series was announced a week after the transmission of episode 6.^[44] The BBC Press Office announcement noted it received a consolidated average of 3.7 million viewers across the series, highlighting its popularity with 16–34-year-old viewers.^[44] On 8 October 2019, Rickard confirmed that a third series had also been commissioned.^[45][46]

In April 2021, the sitcom was nominated for the Scripted Comedy BAFTA Award and the Comedy Writer BAFTA Craft Award.^[47]

Due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, CBS aired Ghosts starting on 16 November 2023.^[48]

Series 5, released all at once on iPlayer on 6 October 2023, received particularly high praise from critics with five star reviews in The Telegraph and The Guardian.^[49][50]

An American adaptation of the series was announced on 29 November 2019 by CBS.^[51] On 4 February 2020, it was announced that a pilot had been ordered to be produced by BBC Studios, Lionsgate Television and CBS Studios.^[52] On 4 March 2020, Rose McIver was cast in the pilot.^[53] On 1 July 2020, Utkarsh Ambudkar was also cast.^[54] On 9 December 2020, additional casting of Brandon Scott Jones, Richie Moriarty, Asher Grodman, Rebecca Wisocky, Sheila Carrasco, Danielle Pinnock and Roman Zaragoza was announced.^[55] On 31 March 2021, it was announced that a full series had been ordered.^[56] The series premiered on 7 October 2021.^[57] On 24 January 2022, it was renewed for a second series which premiered on 29 September 2022.^[58] In January 2023, it was renewed for a third series.^[59]