Makers of sitcom Ghosts return with a feature film after series ended

The creative team behind the British television sitcom Ghosts, in which the living and the dead share an inherited manor house, has made a feature film, Ghosts: The Possession of Button House. The series ended in December 2023, and at the time its makers believed the story was complete. In an interview with The Guardian, they explain how they came round to a film and whether more is planned.

From refusal to agreement

Co-creator and actor Mathew Baynton, who plays the romantic poet Thomas, says everyone cried on the last day of filming and nobody intended to return. Alison Carpenter, an executive at production company Monumental, repeatedly offered to find funding for a film, but the creators turned her down. They feared the result would simply be a 90-minute stretch of a TV episode.

Carpenter eventually persuaded the show's six creators and stars to at least meet and talk it over. They went in at 9:30am expecting to say no, and by 11 o'clock they agreed they had to do it. The turning point was the idea of possession, which lets one of the ghosts leave the grounds of the house.

About the film

The film keeps the series' absurd humour and emotional moments, but adds higher stakes, a ticking clock and large set pieces. The makers cite Big, Back to the Future and The Goonies as touchstones. It also features new cast members, including Scott Ellis Watson. Alison and her husband Mike (Kiell Smith-Bynoe), who no longer live in the house, are drawn into the events.

Will there be more?

The team has worked together for almost two decades, since the TV show Horrible Histories. Baynton insists nothing is secretly in development, but says they will keep working together if people will pay them to. Laurence Rickard calls the film the "big swan song", though he adds that a separate story about the caveman Robin would be possible.