Inside filming BBC Ghosts – Kylie Minogue cameo to decision to end comedy series

20 October 2023 , 19:00

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BBC Ghosts has come to an end after five hit series (Image: BBC/Monumental/Robbie Gray)

The cast of BBC's beloved comedy Ghosts have revealed they had a very teary day as they said farewell to the show.

Filming for the fifth and final series wrapped earlier this year, with the cast bidding goodbye to their much-loved characters. The smash-hit show follows couple Alison and Mike who live in a grand manor, also populated by a group of loveable but often irritating ghosts from different time periods, who only Alison can see after a near death experience. From the creators of hit CBBC show Horrible Histories, the comedy has won over the hearts of those from many different generations.

Series five started on October 6, with the final episode airing on November 3 and also streaming on iPlayer. However, all is not yet over as the ghosts will be returning on Christmas Day where fans will say their final farewell. To mark the end of the groundbreaking show, Lady Button actress Martha Howe-Douglas gave The Mirror an insight into the filming secrets behind the programme.

Martha, who played Lady Button, has shared some filming secrets (BBC/Monumental Television/Steven Peskett)

How the ghosts were made

In the first draft of the show, the cast - made up of Martha, Laurence Rickard, Jim Howick, Simon Farnaby, Matthew Baynton and Ben Willbond - knew they wanted to create various ghosts from different eras. Martha explained each actor just gravitated to their character and stuck with that idea. She said: "In Horrible Histories, my favourite character to play was Queen Elizabeth I." Martha wanted an extreme and characterful role and so decided on Lady Button.

The actress admitted: "My touchstone to the character was Ann Widdecombe, she had just been on Strictly and she was in the in the public eye on various shows. I mean she's gone way past that, it is some what ridiculous, but that was kind of where I wanted to push it. So it's an older fuddy duddy woman. She has definitely developed from poor Ann Widdecombe but she is just such a fun character to play." Martha admitted the cast see parts of themselves in each of their ghosts.

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How they decided to end the show

Despite being hugely popular, Ghost creators decided the wanted to leave on a high. Martha admitted it was a "natural" decision, as she explained: "You don't want to recycle old stories, and you want to keep it fresh. There's only so much of that that we felt we could do without it getting tired. People are getting busier and you know, cast availability was tricky sometimes. And yeah, I just think it just it just felt right."

She added: "To have our show go out on Christmas Day, I could have only dreamt of that as a child. It's crazy. I'm sure we will carry on together as a group but on something different. I feel like we've come to the end of the road for sure.!

Emotional last day

The last day of filming was for a scene on the last episode of season five. For the cast and crew it was an emotional day. Martha confessed she had to be taken back into makeup because she cried too much. "As Matt [Mathew Baynton, who plays Thomas Thorne] says, I cried myself young because all of all of my prosthetics has been has been cried off. I have these prosthetic eyebags and they basically started to dissolve with my tears."

Keepsakes

Ghosts was created by the cast of CBBC show Horrible Histories (BBC/Monumental Television/Steven Peskett)

All the cast were able to take mementos home with them on the last day of filming. For Martha, she was able to take home the iconic Button House sign. "Everybody wanted it but nobody said anything about it," she revealed. "It was still there on the last day. Larry [Laurence Rickard, who plays Robin] said it was right that I has it because I'm the only Button in the house. I've also got my portrait, I don't quite know where I'm going to put it because it's massive and I took Lady Button's wedding ring as well." Charlotte Ritchie, who plays the non-ghostly owner of Button House, Alison Cooper, kept some of the clothes, admitting: “They were great jumpers.”

Pop star cameo

For Comic Relief, the Ghosts cast were paid a very special visit this year. Pop star Kylie Minogue rocked up to Button House for a special cameo. She had planned to make an appearance the previous year but had Covid. Martha said: "She wrote us a handwritten note to say she's sorry that she couldn't be there. But when we had her there, she was just delightful. She wasn't starry in any way. They put aside a room for her, but she didn't want to be in there she was with the crew instead." Kylie even took along crates of her own wine as a thank you to the cast and crew.

Wardrobe secret

Simon Barnaby plays Julian Fawcett, the trouser-less ghost of a Conservative MP who died at Button House in 1993. However, as Martha explained, if there's ever a shot of him waist up he actually isn't trouser less. The actor wears a pair of tartan pyjama bottoms to keep his legs warm.

How the show was made

Martha gave an insight into how they come up with ideas for each episode. She explained they first mapped out the series arc and then went into each episode. "We do the thing called the beat sheet. So you are basically beating out the each each thing that happens in that episode. Then the people who are going to go and write that script, develop that further. It comes back to the room and then people go off and write their scripts. So everything always comes back to the room. It's very collaborative in that sense."

Ghosts: The Button House Archives is published by Bloomsbury on 26^th October and is available to preorder now.

Mia O'Hare