Tag: Charlotte Ritchie

Review-The Ghost of Christmas (Ghosts Christmas special)

Alison and Mike are hosting Christmas at Button House, with his family joining them. Mike has taken control and is determined everything run as smoothly as possible. However, with a house full of ghosts and interfering parents, it’s not long before “the incredible sulk” has one of his annual meltdowns. As for the ghosts, they’re not big fans of Christmas.

It turns out the festive season isn’t much fun if you’re dead, Julian says “it’s just not the same when you’re dead. Can’t drink booze, can’t flirt with the filly’s at the Christmas Party if you can’t do that. What’s the point?”.



It’s Julian that takes most the focus of the special when a new arrival forces him to confront his old behaviour. Throughout the episode, he has a series of revelations that help all the ghosts rediscover the joy of Christmas.

The other ghosts mostly take a supporting role, with The Captain (Ben Willbond) taking offence to the Queen’s speech being televised “an officer and a gentleman should not be privy to the colour and thickness of the Queen’s curtain’s”. Robin (Laurence Rickard) believes Christmas is “just a fad”.

The special is full of everything you’d expect from this show. As always, the cast is uniformly great, Charlotte Ritchie and Kiell Smith-Bynoe feel like an authentic couple. Mike’s family feel like a real family, his sisters irritate him in the way only siblings can. The jokes vary from clever to crude, with strong performances all round.

The Ghosts Christmas special is the perfect way to tide us over until series 3.

The Ghost of Christmas airs on BBC One, at 20:30 on December 23rd.

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Review: Ghosts series 2-The Grey Lady

In the first episode of the highly anticipated second series of Ghosts. Alison and Mike try to find new money-making ventures to fund the restoration of Button House.


When a photographer takes a photo of the property, for a potential wedding venue. He spots a blurry Lady Button (Martha Howe-Douglas) in the upstairs window. The photo of the house goes viral, with social media users dubbing her “the grey lady”. When paranormal fans from far and wide show up at the house, Mike spots a lucrative opportunity. He convinces Alison they should give people an authentic haunted house experience. Unfortunately, Julian (Simon Farnaby) has convinced the rest of the ghosts to go on strike.

Made by most of the creative minds behind Horrible History, Ghosts was a personal highlight of 2019. With so many comedies nowadays having a bleak edge, It’s refreshing to see a family-friendly comedy, that reminded me of the type of shows I watched with my parents as a kid.


An unspecified amount of time has passed since we were last with the residents of Button House. As soon as she wakes up in the morning, Alison checks the bathroom is clear of specters, so Mike can use it. She then attends to the Ghosts needs. She starts records, helps with crosswords, turns pages in books, opens laptops, and, times the Captain (Ben Willbond) running a lap, he feels he isn’t achieving his best. This was a great way to show the passage of time and just how comfortable the residents have gotten with each other. Mike even has a board, with photos and sketches of the ghosts. So he can picture who Alison is talking to.



Charlotte Ritchie and Kiell Smith-Bynoe have such great natural chemistry and remain totally believable as a kind-hearted couple, who are completely out of their depth. They also deal with the disbelief young home-owners experience, when they tell visitors they own the house.
The rest of the cast are all equally outstanding, everyone involved with this is at the very top of their game. There’s even a great guest turn from Colin Hoult, who never disappoints. My personal highlight was Pat (Jim Howick) and Thomas (Mathew Baynton) pretending to be 80s disc jockeys.

2020 has been a dark year for us all, it’s great to finally see some light.

Ghosts returns tonight at 8:30 pm on BBC One. With all episodes on iPlayer after that.

Stars Charlotte Ritchie, Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, and others.


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