Without new episodes of “Ghosts” to air this fall due to the recent Hollywood strikes, CBS — in a rare stroke of ingenuity — is importing the first season of the original UK version instead.
Broadcast networks aren’t in the habit of doing this, even if plenty of shows originated elsewhere before being remade for American audiences. It would be as unusual as seeing the UK version of “The Office” turn up on NBC.
But I’m glad U.S. viewers are getting a chance to sample this incarnation of “Ghosts” without worrying if they have to fork out money for yet another streaming service to access it. (That said, the series will also stream on Paramount+.)
The UK original comes from a six-member group called Them There, who also star, and there’s a winning conceptual comedy sensibility at play in the two versions, which share a premise: What if ghosts were petty and jealous among themselves, and also intrigued and annoyed by the living world that has gone on without them?
A young couple unexpectedly inherits a rambling estate. Score! But the wife suffers a head injury and suddenly she can see and hear the many many ghosts who occupy the home. It’s a motley crew of opinionated, dysfunctional, ridiculous personalities spanning the ages who have landed in a purgatory of sorts: Your soul stays where you died. Her husband eventually accepts this new normal, but otherwise the ghosts remain a secret to anyone else.
The American version is from creators Joe Port and Joe Wiseman and it’s quite good (and expected to return in February), but the first thing you notice about the UK original is that it’s less sitcomy in its rhythms. It’s also just shot better and more cinematic. The writing’s a smidge sharper. Rooted in a joyously absurd sense of humor, the strength of both shows is how they transcend the initial gimmick and create space for character-based comedy that’s not at odds with the occasional poignant moment.
The BBC series premiered in 2019 and is coming to an end after five seasons. It stars Charlotte Ritchie and Kiell Smith-Bynoe as the new owners of this country estate. (Ritchie might be best known to American viewers from “Call the Midwife.”) The property comes courtesy of one of her distant relatives who had no other heirs.
The home sits on the site of a former plague pit — a mass grave where victims of the Black Death were buried — and those are the ghosts who occupy the cellar. (Their delight when someone comes down and turns on the light is only matched by their sighs of disappointment when that same person exits and turns off the light behind them.)
There’s also a monosyllabic cave man (Laurence Rickard), a World War II Army officer (Ben Willbond), a woman accused of being a witch who was burned at the stake (Katy Wix), a member of Parliament who bit the dust, sans pants, in a 1990s sex scandal (Simon Farnaby), a prim Edwardian-era woman who was thrown to her death from a window (Martha Howe-Douglas), a bubbly and sweetly needy aristocratic woman from the 1700s (Lolly Adefope), a melodramatic poet from the 1800s who was killed in a duel (Mathew Baynton) and an upbeat scout leader who died in the 1980s when one of his charges accidentally shot an arrow through his neck (Jim Howick).
Viewers familiar with the CBS series will note the similarities (the pantlessness and arrow-through-the-neck gags) as well as the differences, which feel like the right sort of changes tailored to the differing histories of Britain versus the United States.
The ghosts are supernatural roommates who get along as often as they bicker. Occasionally they offer up their haunting talents to scare off intruders: “When I pass through livings, they smells burnings,” says the one who was burned at the stake. Excellent, another ghost replies sarcastically, “None of those are plural.” The scout leader tries to keep things chipper: “Hello! And welcome on behalf of me and my fellow dead people!” The poet grumbles about his old frenemy Lord Byron: “He stole my verse, my destiny and now he is to steal the woman of my dreams.” You say every woman is the woman of your dreams, someone points out. “I have a lot of dreams!” When the couple needs the ghosts to leave them alone, they distract them with DVDs of “Friends.” Surprise, they love it!
The strongest episode sees the manor rented out to a film crew shooting a period drama. The execution is just great. Egos abound in both the living and ghostly realms, the latter of whom are weirdly mesmerized by the spectacle and proximity to celebrity.
There’s no indication that CBS intends to air subsequent seasons of the UK series, but I hope the network considers it. TV could use more comedies where the camaraderie is actually funny.
“Ghosts” (UK version) — 3 stars (out of 4)
Where to watch: back-to-back episodes at 8 p.m. Thursdays on CBS (and streaming on Paramount+)
Nina Metz is a Tribune critic.
nmetz@chicagotribune.com
