Lovely ghosts
TV Series
Far from being scary, the ghosts in this series on Movistar offer viewers truly hilarious moments, especially if they are fans of the absurdity and fine irony that is so characteristic of English humour. The series premiered on BBC Comedy in 2019 and after four seasons, the fifth and final season has been announced for this year. Its success in Great Britain, where it attracted over four million viewers every week, has spawned an American remake, which can be seen here on the TNT channel. But, as is usually the case, nothing beats the original.
The story takes us to the Button mansion, a country house with a lot of history located in an imaginary rural area in the south of England. The protagonists are the young couple Alison and Mike, who are looking for a cheap apartment to rent together when she suddenly inherits a huge country mansion, which had belonged to a distant relative. Although the couple receives the news with enthusiasm, they clash head-on with reality when they see the crumbling state of the house, which requires a financial investment they cannot afford.
Also, what they don’t know at the outset is that it is also haunted by a curious cast of squabbling ghosts from across the ages who all died on the grounds. The ghosts are friendly enough, but they don’t want the newcomers to disturb their tranquility, and so they conspire to get rid of them. They don’t have much luck at first but eventually manage to get Alison to fall through an open window. She gets concussion and after spending two weeks in a coma she discovers that her near-death experience now allows her to see, hear and interact with the ghosts. With this ability, living in a mansion haunted by nine ghosts that all have their own quirks doesn’t seem like the best idea. But after convincing herself that she hasn’t gone crazy, Alison decides she’ll have to deal with the ghosts, while Mike, who can’t see them, seems to compete with them .
Among the deceased characters is a Tory MP who died in a sexual scandal in 1993, a melodramatic poet frustrated by romanticism, who immediately falls in love with Alison and does not hesitate to expose his love to her continuously, an aristocratic woman who wants to become her best friend, the medieval maid burnt as a witch who spies on Mike when he goes to the toilet, Lady Fanny, an Edwardian aristocrat who re-enacts her murder every night, the Captain, a World War II soldier, Pat, an endearing camp monitor from the 1970s who died in a ridiculous accident, Sir Humphrey, a beheaded Tudor nobleman, and finally, the oldest ghost, Robin, a caveman with a passion for chess. In short, they all form a hilarious community that has captivated both adult and young audiences, no doubt because it conveys the drive and enthusiasm of its creators, who happen to be most of the actors who play the ghosts in the television series.