BBC renews Ghosts for second season

Updated 28-05-19 | 09:01 AM | Staff Reporter

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BBC One has ordered a second season of undead sitcom Ghosts.

The first BBC One project for the team behind Horrible Histories and Yonderland – Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond – Ghosts is house-share comedy about a young couple who inherit a grand country estate, only to find it teeming with the ghosts of former inhabitants.

The crumbling country pile of Button House is home to a troupe of restless spirits who have died there over the centuries, each ghost very much a product of their time, resigned to squabbling with each other for eternity over the most inane of daily gripes. Their lives – or, rather, afterlives – are thrown into turmoil when Alison (Charlotte Ritchie) and Mike (Kiell Smith-Bynoe) inherit the derelict house and make plans to turn it into a bustling family hotel.

“This hilarious undead sitcom from the Horrible Histories team is quaintly spooky and irresistibly silly,” we wrote in our review of Season 1.

Audiences agreed, with the show going on to become the top comedy series on UK television so far this year, with a consolidated series average of 3.7m viewers. The show is also the second-top BBC comedy series so far this year for 16-34 year olds after This Time With Alan Partridge, which launched in the same slot.

The creators of the show say: “We are DEAD excited to be returning to BBC One for a second series of Ghosts. We could not have asked for a more enthusiastic response to the show, and can’t wait to get haunting Button House once again.

“We’d like to thank Charlotte, Kiell, Lolly, Katy and our fantastic crew for helping us realise such a hugely ambitious project. And thanks also to everyone at Monumental and the BBC for their tireless support of what is clearly a ridiculous idea. We are already hard at work on stories for series two, and can’t wait to share them with you.”

Shane Allen, Controller of Comedy Commissioning, says: “Ghosts gave us all a very pleasant shock in landing so fully formed as an instant mainstream hit. This very special gang of writer-performers have created a rich character world shot through with their trademark wit, warmth and mischief.”

Ghosts is a Monumental Television production in association with Them There for BBC One. The producer is Matthew Mulot, the director is Tom Kingsley, and the creators serve as Executive Producers alongside Monumental’s Alison Carpenter, Debra Hayward and Alison Owen. The series is commissioned by Shane Allen, Controller of Comedy Commissioning and Charlotte Moore, Director of BBC Content.