Ghosts UK Premiere: Grade the British Spirits’ Debut on CBS
Sam and Jay’s Ghosts friends have some new companions, with Thursday’s broadcast debut of the original BBC One comedy on CBS.
If you’ve watched the Eye network’s American update, this premise will sound very familiar: Alison (played by YOU’s Charlotte Ritchie) and Mike (Kiell Smith-Bynoe) are a young, married couple looking at grim rental prospects when they discover that she’s inherited a large but rundown estate from a distant relative. They plan to fix up Button House into a hotel, much to the residing ghosts’ horror.
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Before we get to their plan to push out Alison and Mike, let’s meet our British spirits: Romantic poet Thomas Thorne (Mathew Baynton), who immediately becomes smitten with Alison’s beauty; disgraced, pantsless MP Julian Fawcett (Simon Farnaby); lady of the manor Fanny Button (Martha Howe-Douglas), who disapproves of her descendent Alison’s tattered jeans and tattoos; goodhearted scout leader Pat Butcher (Jim Howick); caveman Robin (Laurence Rickard); the closeted WWII officer Captain (Ben Willbond); excitable noblewoman Kitty (Lolly Adefop); and witch trial victim Mary (Katy Wix).
Some of the ghosts suggest killing (!) Alison and Mike, but that means they could be stuck with the pair forever. So Pat suggests that they try haunting them, like the ghosts that they are. Robin uses his ability to make the lights flicker, but Alison dismisses it as faulty wiring. Then she smells smoke when passing through Mary, but thinks it’s burning toast. Thomas has the best/scariest idea: the plague girl ghost sings a creepy rendition of “Ring Around the Rosie,” but she’s drowned out by the sound of Mike’s music. And Julian fails to move a vase with his powers before Alison exits the room. (The basement’s plague victim ghosts are more happier to see livings among their ranks when Alison and Mike fruitlessly try to fix the boiler.)
Julian decides to test out his powers on Alison as she’s leaning out the window. The next thing the ghosts know, Alison is screaming and has fallen to the ground below, before being rushed to the hospital.
“You don’t just do that to someone. What kind of coward would push a lady out the window?!” exclaims Fanny, who spends every night sleep-leaping from the second story bedroom window and screaming. Her husband did that to her after she caught him upon the groundskeeper… with the butler upon him.
Ghosts Guide: How the UK Characters Compare to American Counterparts
Two weeks later, Alison wakes up from an induced coma and returns to Button House. As the construction crew begins work, Alison sees Julian and tells him that he should be wearing a hardhat.
“She saw me! She spoke to me!” a stunned Julian tells the others.
As Mike and Alison discuss the big repair job ahead, the ghosts start coming through the walls, much to Alison’s shock. When she spots the headless body of Sir Humphrey Bone (Laurence Rickard), that’s the final straw for Alison, who shrieks in horror.
What did you think of the Ghosts UK premiere? Grade it below, then hit the comments!
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