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'We play the Ghost we’re most like’ – Inside the casting for our favourite supernatural sitcom

Four series down and Ghosts has established itself as essential viewing on the British television comedy scene.

When the talented team behind Horrible Histories turned their supernatural hands to a post-watershed sitcom, their skill of merging the past with the laughs once again came to the fore.

For the latest series, accompanying podcast boxset Inside… Ghosts pulls back the veil to reveal all the secrets of the show.

“Everyone thought about who their favourite character from history was,” reveals Ben Willbond, writer and star of Ghosts. “As soon as we got the idea of Button House, that was it.”

With a Christmas special imminent, we go inside Inside… Ghosts to find out more about its iconic paranormal residents.

Thomas Thorne

A wistful and hopelessly lost Romantic poet, Thomas preens round the house, fawning over lead character Alison and baring his soul at least once an episode.

He is basically me as a child
Mathew Baynton

But where did creator and actor Mathew Baynton find inspiration for such a character?

“Over time, I’ve just gradually had to it how much like me Thomas is,” he explains on Inside… Ghosts. “He is basically me as a child.

“Over-reacting to everything, believing he feels things more than other people and thinking the most attractive quality to a potential romantic partner is how much in pain you are.

"Screaming ‘I love you so much it HURTS’ at someone and thinking it’s actually attractive.

“I’ve definitely written romantic lyrics for girls I felt I was in love with.”

Robin

Robin is Button’s House’s oldest resident – as a Stone Age caveman he is quite literally pre-historic. However, his patchy speech and childlike wonder hides a source of great wisdom, and his creation was a very deliberate kickback against other fictional ghosts, reveals creator and actor Laurence Rickard.

“For some reason, the earliest ghosts you see always tend to be Tudor,” he explains. “You very rarely see really old ghosts.

“He’s a very basic creature, is a bit like a family dog, but then he’s got a weird amount of amassed wisdom and knowledge because he’s been around so long.”

So how did Rickard end up with the part?

“There was a very slow look around the room when we were working out who was the best to be a caveman,” he shrugs.

Lady Fanny Button

As the resident ‘lady’ of the house, Fanny carries herself with pomp and authority and is painfully dismissive of anything modern or, indeed, other people.

They try and say that somehow I'm like her - I can't see it!
Martha Howe-Douglas

Played by Martha Howe-Douglas, she playfully resents the idea portrayed by the cast of any similarity to her character.

“The boys would say I’m quite bossy in real life and somehow that I’m like her!” she laughs of her fellow cast and writers. “I can’t see it!

“When I did Horrible Histories, Queen Elizabeth was one of my favourites. Fearsome, bossy – I watching Ann Widdicombe as well and wanting to be more fuddy duddy like her.

“I have pushed it though – Ann’s a dot in the distance now.”

Martha’s joy at playing Lady Button is tempered by the make-up and costume routine required.

“I can’t eat, I have to get loosened from my corset for lunch and I can’t sit down properly,” she says.

“And my day starts at the crack of dawn with two hours of make-up before filming. The guys just rumble in 15 minutes before the start.”

The Captain

Veteran of World War Two and always immaculately presented, the Captain believes himself to be in charge and it’s a persona Ben is delighted to play up to.

“I love playing officious military types as I find them deeply funny,” he says on Inside… Ghosts. “They have to be so serious and I find myself imagining what they are like when sat in their ‘relaxing pants’ at home.

“They are human beings but they dress themselves up as so important. And the Captain is a fascinating character with a deeply personal conflict.

“For me, my whole childhood was surrounded by these people – so it was a chance to echo the absurdity of those memories.”

The Captain is deliberately anonymous and Ben its a sympathy for the man he plays.

“He has a deep humanity about him, coming for a situation where a whole generation had to step up,” he says.

“Everyone had to do whatever they could – even if he would have been the first to run for cover if the Germans had come out of the woods.”

For more exclusive character revelations – and a fascinating dive into the storyline of each episode from series four – check out Inside... Ghosts now on BBC Sounds.

And don’t forget to see what festive mischief the residents of Button House accomplish in the Christmas special from 25 December on BBC iPlayer.

The new Christmas special of Inside... Ghosts will drop exclusively over here on BBC Sounds immediately following the TV show