--- title: "Ghosts" year: 2019 kind: "series" canonical: "https://film.one/tv/ghosts" fi1m_score: 80 critics_score: 79 critics_reviews: 10 published: "2026-09-17T14:57:41.364571+00:00" updated: "2026-09-17T14:58:04.641603+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Ghosts (2019) Created by Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Laurence Rickard, Jim Howick, Martha Howe-Douglas, Ben Willbond · MPA TV-14 · Comedy, Sci-Fi & Fantasy **Fi1m score: 80** · Critics 79 from 10 reviews *In a sentence:* Nine dead housemates, no rent, and the one who was an MP is still the one you cannot trust > The Horrible Histories team’s haunted-house sitcom is gentle, quick and far better built than its silliness suggests, played by an ensemble who have been making each other laugh for years. The hotel plot goes nowhere, and it hardly matters. ## Synopsis Alison Cooper (Charlotte Ritchie) and her husband Mike (Kiell Smith-Bynoe) are broke and renting when a distant relative dies and leaves Alison Button House, a crumbling country pile with rotten floors and no heating. They plan to turn it into a hotel. The house is already occupied by the dead who never left: Julian Fawcett (Simon Farnaby), a Tory MP who died in the 1990s without his trousers; Pat Butcher (Jim Howick), a scoutmaster with an arrow through his neck; Thomas Thorne (Mathew Baynton), a Regency poet; the Captain (Ben Willbond); Kitty (Lolly Adefope); and Fanny Button (Martha Howe-Douglas), the house’s former lady. They want the couple gone. Julian gives Alison a shove at an upstairs window, and when she wakes she can see every one of them. ## Review Six writer-performers who came up together on *Horrible Histories* have made a sitcom about a young couple, Alison (Charlotte Ritchie) and Mike (Kiell Smith-Bynoe), who inherit a country house full of the dead. The premise is as old as *Blithe Spirit*. The twist, such as it is, is that the ghosts are not frightening. They are bored, petty and stuck with each other, and they have been for centuries. It is a good sitcom, warm without being soft, and it ran for five series of six episodes without wearing out its welcome. We recommend it, with one caveat about the living. Amy Maguire’s production design does a good deal of the work. Button House has peeling plaster, dust sheets over the furniture and wallpaper from three different centuries visible in the same corridor; it looks like a house that has been dying as slowly as its tenants have been dead. Will Hanke shoots it in plain daylight, with no fog and no blue filter, so the ghosts stand about in ordinary rooms like relatives who have overstayed. Lucy Williams’s costumes tell you who each of them is before they speak: Pat (Jim Howick) in his scoutmaster’s uniform with the arrow still through his neck, Julian (Simon Farnaby) in shirt and tie and nothing below, the Captain (Ben Willbond) in battledress that has not creased in eighty years. That is how a nine-strong ensemble stays legible in a half-hour comedy. The ensemble is the reason to watch. These people have worked together for a long time and nobody fights for the camera. Mathew Baynton’s Thomas, a Regency poet, moons over Alison in verse. Martha Howe-Douglas’s Fanny is appalled by everything and says so. Lolly Adefope’s Kitty is the find, a Georgian girl of enormous and badly aimed enthusiasm, and Katy Wix’s Mary, burnt as a witch, describes it as if it were a spot of bad weather. Laurence Rickard plays both a caveman and a severed head, and is funnier as the head. Most of the jokes are reaction shots, six faces at once, and Mike Holliday’s editing nearly always cuts to the right one. What we did not expect was the sadness. Every one of them died badly and none of them knows why they are still here. Mary’s account of her death in the first series is played for laughs, and we laughed, and then it sat with us for longer than the joke seemed to want. The second series slows down to tell us how some of them died, and one episode, which we will not identify, stopped us cold in the middle of what had been a farce. Arthur Sharpe’s music does not push either way; the theme is jaunty and faintly sinister at the same time, which is about right. The caveat is the living. Ritchie is the anchor, and her weary patience with the dead is the show’s best running joke. Mike is given the boiler and the bank statements. Smith-Bynoe is funny with what he has, but for five series he is mostly the man who cannot see, asked to react to an empty room. The hotel plan never advances; the money worries are the same in the last series as in the first. Some episodes fall into one shape, a visitor arrives, the ghosts panic, Alison covers, and Thomas’s crush is thin by the third time round. Set against the team’s own children’s work, this is quieter and stranger, and it trusts a silence more often. Set against the American remake, which several critics prefer for its sunniness, this one is happier to let a sad moment sit unrescued, and we think it is the better for it. The directors, Simon Hynd, Nick Collett and Tom Kingsley, keep the staging flat and let the faces do it. Watch it two episodes at a time, with somebody you are stuck with. It is a comedy about being unable to leave, and it is at its best when it admits that it rather likes the company. *Fi1m score 80, published 17 September 2026.* ### Reviews we read (10) - **The Guardian** (85/100, inferred): The new BBC sitcom from the Horrible Histories team is a glorious romp set in a haunted country house filled with ancestral spirits who died in silly ways. It delivers high-spirited, clever and crude laughs with an unlikely charm that appeals broadly. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2019/apr/15/ghosts-review-tv-to-give-you-a-right-giggle-at-the-supernatural) - **The i Paper**, Sarah Carson (★★★★): The critic finds the series delightfully bonkers and jolly good fun as a transposition of children's TV silliness to adult comedy. She singles out the ghosts' mix of supreme daftness and a suggestion of darkness, along with the slick execution of the original premise. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/ghosts-review-comedy-bbc1-horrible-histories-delightfully-bonkers-280647) - **The Telegraph**, Michael Hogan (4/5): The second episode of the Horrible Histories spin-off charms and tickles with its gaggle of historical ghosts in a country house. It plays wittily with horror tropes and offers a silly ray of sunshine amid darker TV schedules. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2019/04/22/ghosts-episode-2-review-comedy-silly-ray-springtime-sunshine/) - **Evening Standard** (75/100, inferred): The episode finds the young couple hosting a dinner party for neighbours after winning over the ghosts, leading to high-energy chaotic comedy. It is lovingly crafted, warm-spirited and references other sitcoms while delivering hilarious results. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/tvfilm/ghosts-tv-review-if-you-thought-the-spooky-spectres-in-your-home-were-bad-look-at-the-neighbours-a4141211.html) - **The Times**, Carol Midgley (★★★★☆): The new sitcom from the Horrible Histories team is a curiously life-affirming comedy about death, set in a mansion haunted by petty spectres from various eras. The gentle, nicely observed gags come quickly even if not every one lands. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/tv-review-ghosts-a-house-through-time-6wxddg5xb) - **Den of Geek**, Laura Vickers-Green (90/100, inferred): The critic praises the Christmas special's polished script, strong ensemble performances, and blend of laughs with emotional depth, calling it high-quality festive viewing that elevates the sitcom format. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/ghosts-christmas-special-review-its-behind-you/) - **NME**, Mark Beaumont (85/100, inferred): The critic calls Ghosts the best mainstream British sitcom in years for its smart evolution of the ensemble format and deep character histories for the ghosts. They single out the second series for fleshing out the spirits' backstories with pathos and inventive storytelling. [Read](https://www.nme.com/features/ghosts-sitcom-british-tv-2813523) - **/Film** (80/100, inferred): The piece praises the UK Ghosts as grittier and more willing to embrace the darkness and tragedy of its premise than the US version, highlighting the harsher dynamics in the central couple's relationship. It singles out the British series' comfort with extended sad moments as a strength. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/1839741/best-tv-show-about-ghosts-cbs-sitcom-not-horror/) - **Collider**, Rhianna Malas (75/100, inferred): The article recommends the BBC Ghosts as one of the best UK sitcoms of recent years thanks to its unique ensemble cast and rich historical elements. It singles out the 'Six Idiots' creators' chemistry and the show's blend of comedy and heart as standout features. [Read](https://collider.com/ghosts-bbc-must-watch-max/) - **Paste**, Alexis Gunderson (7.3/10): The review finds both versions genial but notes the BBC original has a broader sensibility and more willingness to let darkness land. It singles out the US version's cheesiness as a flaw while affirming the core premise works well in either iteration. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/ghosts/ghosts-tv-show-review) ## Details - **Created by:** Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Laurence Rickard, Jim Howick, Martha Howe-Douglas, Ben Willbond - **Creator:** Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Laurence Rickard, Jim Howick, Martha Howe-Douglas, Ben Willbond - **Director:** Simon Hynd, Tom Kingsley, Nick Collett - **Writer:** Mathew Baynton, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard, Ben Willbond, Martha Howe-Douglas, Simon Farnaby - **Cinematography:** Will Hanke - **Editor:** Mike Holliday - **Music:** Arthur Sharpe - **Production design:** Amy Maguire - **Costume design:** Lucy Williams - **Producer:** Matthew Mulot - **Cast:** Charlotte Ritchie as Alison Cooper; Kiell Smith-Bynoe as Michael 'Mike' Cooper; Mathew Baynton as Thomas Thorne; Simon Farnaby as Julian Fawcett; Martha Howe-Douglas as Stephanie 'Fanny' Button; Jim Howick as Patrick 'Pat' Butcher; Laurence Rickard as Robin / Humphrey's Head; Ben Willbond as The Captain - **Certificate (MPA):** TV-14 - **Release (the US):** 15 April 2019 - **Genres:** Comedy, Sci-Fi & Fantasy - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GJrrrF5_4M ## Where to watch in the US - Paramount+: streaming - Amazon Prime Video: add-on - Apple TV: add-on, hd - The Roku Channel: add-on, hd - Apple TV: buy, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy, sd *Checked 2026-09-17.* Also available in: AU, CA, DK, FI, GB, IN, NO, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Yonderland* (2013): The same six, earlier, in a fantasy kingdom of puppets and idiots. - *Detectorists* (2014), Fi1m 87: Two men in a field, and English melancholy played for gentle laughs. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/detectorists.md) - *What We Do in the Shadows* (2014): Flatmates who happen to be vampires, arguing about the washing up. - *Blithe Spirit* (1945): Noël Coward’s dead wife comes back and is not remotely sorry. - *The Good Place* (2016): An afterlife sitcom that turns out to have ideas as well as jokes. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/ghosts