Ghosts Series 1 [NEW]
Ghosts is a British sitcom first broadcast on BBC One in April 2019. The series follows a collection of ghosts from different historical periods haunting a country house while sharing the house with its new living occupants. The series is written and performed by many of the cast members of Horrible Histories and Yonderland.[1] The series also airs on HBO Max in the US and CBC Gem in Canada.
Ghosts Series 1
The series is the first post-watershed comedy by the ensemble, although some television critics said that it was suitable for adults and children alike.[2][3] Reviews of the series have been positive, with critics appreciating the high joke rate, the premise and the strength of the acting ensemble. The series is made by the production company Monumental Pictures, part of ITV Studios.[1] It is filmed on location at West Horsley Place in Surrey.[4]
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 very 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 awakes two weeks later from an induced coma, Alison discovers her husband has arranged a huge mortgage, and that her near-death experience has given her the ability to see and hear ghosts.[5]
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, 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]
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 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.[9]
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.[11][12] Some scenes were also filmed on London Road and Clandon Road in nearby Guildford[13] 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.[14] The series was moved to a pre-watershed slot of 8.30pm.[15] Production on the third series began in early 2021[16] and finished on 7 April 2021.[17] It premiered on 9 August 2021.[18] Filming of the fourth series wrapped on 16 March 2022.[19]
A special 7 minute long episode for Comic Relief, broadcast on 17 March 2023. Kylie Minogue visits Button House while scouting for concert venues and reveals that she can also see ghosts following a roller skating accident while filming the Spinning Around video.[27] Minogue had been due to appear in the sketch in 2022, but that appearance was cancelled due to her contracting COVID.[28]
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."[29] The second series received an approval rating of 100%, based on five reviews, with an average rating of 6.7/10.[30] The third series also received a 100% approval rating, but with a higher average rating of 8.7/10, based on six reviews.[31]
An American adaptation of the series was announced on 29 November 2019 by CBS.[37] On 4 February 2020, it was announced that a pilot had been ordered to be produced by BBC Studios, Lionsgate Television and CBS Studios.[38] On 4 March 2020, Rose McIver was cast in the pilot.[39] On 1 July 2020, Utkarsh Ambudkar was also cast.[40] 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.[41] On 31 March 2021, it was announced that a full series had been ordered.[42] The series premiered on 7 October 2021.[43] On 24 January 2022, the series was renewed for a second season.[44] The second season premiered on 29 September 2022.
The series is an American adaptation of the BBC UK sitcom of the same name. Many previous US remakes of UK sitcoms and dramas have not succeeded in the past. But through word of mouth and social media buzz, American audiences have fallen in love with the supernatural residents of Woodstone Manor and the show is now the most successful CBS sitcom in years, especially with Millennials and Gen X viewers. Since the first season finale wraps an intriguing cliffhanger in a heartwarming package, Den of Geek spoke to series executive producers Joe Port and Joe Wiseman for some inside Woodstone Manor information.
The events leading up to Sam's fateful fall are as follows: Sam expresses her desire to turn the Woodstone into a B&B, yet Jay is skeptical of the idea. When the ghosts catch wind of Sam's plans, they plot to haunt Jay and Sam out of the mansion. Sam's long fall was the result of Trevor (Asher Grodman), the pants-less 90s stockbroker ghost, testing out his ability to affect objects. He knocks down a vase, and Sam slips on it. When Sam returns, the ghosts realize that she can see them. Sam denies that they are real, simply attributing her visions to head trauma from the fall. However, after a trip to the hospital, Sam realizes that she sees different ghosts in other settings. Sam takes this to be evidence that her visions of ghosts are indeed real. Sam accepts this new reality and pals up with the ghosts, acting as a liaison of sorts between the ghost plane and the land of the living.
Throughout the season, the rules of the ghost universe are slowly built up. These fleeting nuggets of ghost lore are strategically introduced, so as to leave more to explore in future seasons. One striking trait is that the ghosts sleep every night. The function of this is hilariously questioned by the ghosts themselves at multiple points throughout the season. They also appear to retain certain human senses. As ghosts are non-corporeal, they cannot taste food. However, they can still smell, so they constantly request Sam and Jay to cook them certain foods so that they can still have a sliver of a human experience. In addition, as recounted by Sasappis (Roman Zaragoza), ghosts can have sex--they just can't finish. As of now, the ghosts are bound to the environment they died in. If the Woodstone ghosts attempt to leave the estate, their ghost body is looped back around from whence they came. Midway through the season it is established that children can see ghosts, and that Thorfinn (Devan Long) sang to Hetty (Rebecca Wisocky) as a child.
Ghosts' shining light is its eclectic ensemble cast of ghosts from different time periods and backgrounds. This allows for an endless amount of backstories to dive into, providing fodder for multiple seasons worth of scenarios. Each ghost has their time in the limelight, with some even earning their own episode (such as Trevor's phenomenal origin story). There are even a few unresolved threads, such as the mysterious poisoning of Alberta (Danielle Pinnock).
The first ghosts' backstory explored is that of Thorfinn, the Viking ghost. When excavating the grounds, the workers find human remains: the bones of Thorfinn. Thorfinn decides that he wants to go out with a Viking funeral in the hopes of transcending the ghost plane. Along the way, Thorfinn reveals that he was inexplicably abandoned by his crew. After the group holds a Viking funeral for Thorfinn, he still does not ascend to the heavens. Yet he makes peace with it, announcing that "it was not time for Thor to be sucked off."
In the opening sequence of the season finale "Farnsby & B," it is revealed that there are termites in the basement. Thor then confesses to the group that he placed a Norse curse on Sam and Jay after the ghosts caught wind of their plans to open a B&B. To make matters worse, the Farnsbys (Mark Linn-Baker and Kathryn Greenwood) express their disdain for the prospect of a Woodstone B&B by opening their own: The Farnsby and B. Sam and Jay follow Thor's advice to boil cinnamon and sugar in order to break the curse.
As Sam prepares to boil the sugar, the ghosts theorize that reversing the curse (which presumably caused Sam's fall down the stairs and her subsequent ghost vision) could potentially result in her losing the ability to see ghosts. This leads to a heartwarming, precautionary goodbye from all of the ghosts. Sam decides to not risk losing the ghosts, and she and Jay challenge the Farnsbys to a pickleball match. Jay and Sam win the game by default after Mr. Farnsby's back goes out, which leads to the official designation of the Woodstone B&B. 041b061a72