CBS, which aired the American version of the sitcom Ghosts from 2021, has now begun airing episodes from the original British version of the same name from 16 November 2023. This decision was taken due to a delay in production of the American adaptation caused by the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike.
Ghosts is a British sitcom that was first broadcast on BBC One in April 2019. The story follows a couple who had recently inherited a mansion haunted by ghosts of various different generations. While the living attempt to convert the house into a lavish hotel, the ghosts try to spook the guests away for their own peace.
Ghosts is also an American television sitcom, adapted from the British series for CBS by Joe Port and Joe Wiseman, and premiered on October 7, 2021. The premise is kept very similar, with minor changes made only to the origins of the various ghosts.
Fans of the series can easily find parallels between the central living characters Alison and Michael Cooper in the UK series and their American counterpart couple Samantha and Jay Arondekar. Both Alison and Samantha are pushed into an accident by one of the ghosts, which makes them clinically dead for three minutes.
This incident gives the female protagonists unique abilities, which allow them to finally see and hear the ghosts. Both the series thus follow the stories of how the humans come to terms with living together with supernatural spirits in a haunted hotel.
The Original Ghosts UK
Ghosts UK is written and performed by the Them There theatrical production, and it ran for five seasons, ending on 10 November 2023. Charlotte Ritchie plays the role of Alison Cooper, who suddenly inherits the Button House from a distant relative.
Michael Cooper, Alison’s husband who is played by Kiell Smith-Bynoe, has big plans for transforming their newly inherited mansion into a grand hotel to earn their living. However, unlike Alison, Michael does not have the superpowers to be able to see the ghosts, but he tries his best to support his wife and communicate with the other realm.
Each of the ghosts, too, has their own unique personalities and origin stories for being attached to the house itself. For example, Katherine ‘Kitty’ Higham, played by Lolly Adefope, is a naïve Georgian noblewoman who dies from the bite of a venomous spider hidden on an imported pineapple.
The colorful cast also includes the Romantic poet Thomas Angus Thorne, Member of Parliament Julian Fawcett, Edwardian lady of the manor Stephanie Button, Youth Group Leader Pat Butcher, Headless Tudor nobleman Sir Humphrey Bone, witch trial victim Mary Guppy, a homosexual World War II Army Captain and a caveman named Rogh.
The cellar of the house also inhabits the plague victim ghosts, who died during the Black Death and then buried in a plague pit under Button House.
The 2021 American Adaptation
With a third season scheduled to premiere on 15 February 2024, the Ghosts adaptation is an ongoing American sitcom that follows the story of married New Yorkers Samantha and Jay Arondekar.
Parallel to the Coopers in the UK original, the Arondekars, played by Rose McIver and Utkarsh Ambudkar, inherit a beautiful country house from Sam’s great aunt, which they decide to turn into a hotel.
The colorful cast of ghosts is also quite similar, with small changes made to fit their American origins, such as Susan Montero, a hippie played by Sheila Carrasco, who shares her cheerful and naive nature with Kitty Higham from the UK original.
Other ghosts include Prohibition-era Lounge singer Alberta Haynes, wealthy stockbroker Trevor Lefkowitz, lady of the manor Henrietta Woodstone, Pinecone Trooper leader Pete Martino, headless greaser Crash, Viking Thorfinn, gay continental army captain Isaac Higgintoot and a Lenape indigenous man named Sasappis.
The basement of the house also inhabits the cholera victim ghosts, who died during the 19th-century cholera outbreak, and they play a similar role to their plague victim counterparts.
