Pineapple day

Continuing my trip down The Guardian's Top 50 TV Shows of 2023 

#22 : Ghosts 

From headless Humphrey to Robin the caveman, mardy Lady Button to Kitty the divine, Pat the chipper scout leader with an arrow eternally through the neck and Julian the lascivious MP caught with his trousers down in perpetuity, Ghosts gave us a roster of classic characters that we have by now long adored. As the hilarious sitcom bowed out with its fifth and last season, it did so in a gloriously poignant way, with the “livings” Mike and Alison needing more cash ahead of their impending baby’s arrival … and threatening to leave the ghost gang. Cue multiple desperate attempts by the spooks to make Alison love and never leave them. Roll on the Christmas special!

This is one that The Guardian put me on to at season 3 and I made the controversial decision to jump right in there, which made it a like rather than a love.  However, I then started it from the beginning with my youngest and we both got really into it, so much so that the arrival of season 5 was highly anticipated in this house - and I'm pleased to say it didn't disappoint.

As you may or may not gather from The Guardian's description above, the ghosts are a mixed bunch who are all trapped in a house, with Alison (for a very convoluted reason) being the only living person able to see them - and much hilarity results!  A classic sitcom often relies on strong characters who behave predictably and this very much sticks to that format - and there's really nothing wrong with that when the results are as strong as they are here.

However, what Ghosts also does well (which is not always the case for classic sitcoms) is to introduce some growth and back-story over the seasons which makes the trip all the more enjoyable.  And that's all I'm really going to tell you - you've either already seen it or you should!

It's an ensemble cast, most of whom are well-known to anyone familiar with Horrible Histories and they're all great.  If I have to pick out particular favourites, I'd go for Charlotte Ritchie (her third appearance on a list but she's quietly building up an impressive portfolio) and Kiel Smith-Byrne as "the livings" and Jim Howick as Pat and Ben Wilibond as The Captain (both of whom put you through the wringer at times), but it's really the whole cast that makes it work so well.

I'm going to take a bit of a sidetrack here for those who have seen it to mention season 4, episode 4 which is an astonishingly well-written episode on grief - don't get me wrong, it's generally well-written throughout but that episode is an absolute masterclass that manages to be educational, devastating and uplifting all at the same time.  The Christmas specials are also something very special and the final one (which hadn't come out when The Guardian made its list) managed to tie things up very nicely indeed.

This is a strong recommendation from me - yes, it will be too gentle or silly for some but I really enjoyed it, as did Isobel.  So if you have kids of a certain age then I think this is well worth checking out as a family watch on iPlayer.

#19 - Sorry, no time available for this
#21 - Exactly as expected