Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Charlotte Ritchie, Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Lolly Adefope, Matthew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurance Rickard, Ben Willbond, Katy Wix, Geoff McGivern, Jessica Knappett.

Uproariously silly, who knew that being a ghost could do so much for your sense of humour, who could have realised that being able to see the dead would give your spirits a rise. For three series in to become one of the great British comedies of the last decade, up there with the intricate mayhem provided by The Goes Wrong Show, Not Going Out and Vicious, Ghosts is the joy provided by a set of writers who understand that with a great gag must come pathos, that truth is born out of farce, and these sterling qualities have the obligation to be captured by actors to whom timing and sympathy to the character is an absolute commitment.

The premise of utilising ghosts in comedy is not particularly new, however it is the way that the show is fashioned that has seen it become a much-admired ensemble piece, and with the grounding of the Horrible Histories series behind them, it was only natural for the team to form a tightly focused bond that sees the third outing for the ghosts of Button House, and their two alive hosts, Alison and Mike Cooper, rise to the external challenge of filming under the restrictions of Covid, of dispensing with part of the original characters in the plague pit, and yet still keeping the strength of the personalities available in such a way that the humour flows with grace and absolute comedic farce.

Under such restrictions that the current health scare has forced upon the world of television production, to have got a series of Ghosts is good fortune, but that the fact the group managed to take it in their stride and bring to life the group of the dead inhibiters of the magnificent Button House in such a way that makes it seamless, is a moment of congratulations and admiration which must be acknowledged.

With superb contributions from the whole team, including Simon Farnaby as the disgraced and trouser less former M.P. who shows in one episode how difficult it is to adjust to the world of the less than corporeal, Laurance Rikkard in the role of Sir Humprey Bone’s head and his unwitting part in the failed plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I, and Lolly Adefope as Kitty as she starts to remember the way in which her adopted sister made her life almost unbearable, Ghosts stridently secures its place as one of the highly thought of comedies of the last decade.

Full of fun and life, the soul of Ghosts flows freely.

Ian D. Hall