Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Lolly Adefope, Matthew Bayton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard, Charlotte Ritchie, Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Neil Edmond, Dare Emmanuel, Sutara Gayle, Neriah Johnson.

All good things must end.

We may not want them to, we may shed tears at the prospect of the conclusion we have come to hold dear to our hearts, we could feel heartbroken at the prospect of dealing with feelings for that which has come to be an important part of life, and whether it is the understanding of losing a loved one, a friend, a work colleague that didn’t annoy us as much as any other that laboured alongside us, or even the adoration of a sporting figure of artist who leaves this temporary coil long before their time, we can honestly say that we grieve in a way that befits that which we hold in esteem for what it means to us.

While a television series could be considered a strange beast to feel the sting of departure from your life, the fact that a series can go out on its own terms and choosing the moment when it will cease to be a consideration of an evening’s entertainment is perhaps not only one for a shedding of a tear, but one of celebration; just knowing that a series has not been forced to meet its maker thanks to the intrusion of executives or falling viewing numbers, is one for cause of absolution celebration.

Ghosts has become a by-word for unexpected excellence, a seriously enjoyable treat which confounds the norm or considered safe hands approach by being at times direct, but never crude, often wonderfully silly, but never coarse, and rightly so the characters have become ones that the British public have taken very much to their hearts.

A final hurrah, a memory maybe of all that has been so delightful about the series, and in a ultimate offering the possibility of upset as the writer’s pulled a crowning deception in belief that they would kill off every ghost inside the crumbling Button House, so it was relief that the ending came not with a bang but a moment of poignancy, a moment in which we all must acknowledge was a sound send off for the popular show.

What may come next for the writers/actors behind the hit series is up for debate, but as Ghosts soon fades it will leave forever an indelible mark on the viewers who found the sitcom and never departed from its loving grasp.

A Christmas marvel; one not to be forgotten.

Ian D. Hall