BBC Ghosts star shares why series is ending and spills on emotional final day

25 December 2023 , 20:00

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Lady Button actress Martha Howe-Douglas has opened up on Ghosts coming to an end

The end of BBC's hit series Ghosts was "really traumatic" for the cast as they said goodbye to their characters for the final time.

Christmas Day marks the final episode of the beloved series as the show comes to an end after five series and two festive specials. The smash-hit programme has followed 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.

Filming for the fifth and final series wrapped earlier this year, which was a very teary day for all. Ghosts was created by the same cast as popular children's series Horrible Histories, who call themselves a "family" after years of working together. Lady Button actress Martha Howe-Douglas has given The Mirror an insight into how the show finally came to an end and teased if there ever will be a Horrible Histories reunion.

The cast of Ghosts had an emotional last day - but it won't be the last time they work together (BBC/Monumental/Guido Mandozzi)

Explaining why now was the right time to finish Ghosts, Martha said: "I think there was a natural [feeling] in the room. The writers room was kind of not coming to the end of stories, but you don't want to recycle old stories and you want to keep it fresh. There's only so much of that we felt we could do and without it getting tired. People are getting busier and cast availability was tricky sometimes."

She added: "I just think it just it just felt right. What a privilege to have had five series and and it be so successful and to have our Christmas specials. To have a show go out Christmas Day, I could have only dreamt of that as a child. It's just crazy." Martha explained: "We wanted it to be a strong finish. There's such a love for the show, we wanted to honour the show in the way that we think it is justified to give the viewer the full experience and not to be disappointed. That would be the worst thing after the success and the love of the show to leave people disappointed. I think it's the right decision but it was a hard one to make for sure."

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Martha teased it won't be the last time the cast, who also starred in film Bill and TV series Yonderland, will work together. The actress said: "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 the series. I think we miss very much." When asked what it was like to say goodbye to her character Lady Button after all these years, Martha admitted it was "really traumatic".

"I cried bucket," she confessed. "I was the biggest crier for sure. I mean, I was crying for two or three days prior to the final day. It's such a special show. A lot of our crew have been with us from day one. We go back to the same house every year. We don't move from there for 10 weeks. It's a family. The ghosts are a family, but the cast and the crew all together are a family.

"It's a really special house. It's a really special place. I'm not sure I could go back there just yet because I think I'd get really emotional because we're not doing it anymore. I think it's just playing the same character for five years is something I've not done." Martha confessed she had to be taken back into makeup because she cried too much on the final day.

"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," she laughed.

When asked the all important question of if the cast would ever return to Horrible Histories, Martha confessed: "I think we are too old now. I think that chapter is laid to rest. We talk about it all the time. A lot of our joke references are about that time in our lives, because it really was quite full on playing so many different characters in the day. We look back at that time very, very fondly. We loved it and, you know, it's what brought us together so we feel very lucky to have had that time."

Mia O'Hare