{"id":808886,"date":"2026-10-20T19:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T19:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/808886\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T19:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T19:04:09","slug":"ghosts-the-possession-of-button-house-review-non-stop-chuckles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/808886\/","title":{"rendered":"Ghosts: The Possession Of Button House Review \u2013 ‘Non-stop chuckles’"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the future of Button House at stake, the ghosts who reside there seek help from former owners Alison (Charlotte Ritchie) and Mike (Kiell Smith-Bynoe).<\/p>\n

For fans of BBC sitcom Ghosts, it\u2019s been three long years since Season 5 concluded on a bittersweet note that still hangs in the air. It\u2019s a pleasure, then, to be back in the spirited company of disgraced Tory MP Julian (Simon Farnaby), Edwardian matriarch Fanny (Martha Howe-Douglas), World War II captain, er, Captain (Ben Willbond), youth-group leader Pat (Jim Howick), caveman Robin (Laurence Rickard), failed Georgian poet Thomas (Mathew Baynton) and naive Georgian noblewoman Kitty (Lolly Adefope).<\/p>\n

Forever bickering and bonding, they\u2019re resigned to haunting ramshackle manor Button House, having died there over the centuries; and all have been bored silly since the last owners, Alison and Mike (Charlotte Ritchie, Kiell Smith-Bynoe), upped sticks at the end of the TV show.<\/p>\n

\"Ghosts:<\/p>\n

Alison and Mike sold Button House so that it might be turned into a hotel and golf resort, but 112 days on, nothing\u2019s happened. \u201cCan\u2019t get the tradesmen,\u201d huffs Julian, who opens the movie by spelling out \u201cLEAVE\u201d on a Ouija board when some local kids break in to hold a s\u00e9ance. They scarper before he can add \u201cEUROPE\u201d.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no surprise that The Possession Of Button House offers non-stop chuckles.<\/p>\n

The team behind Ghosts, sitcom and movie, are Them There, the comedy troupe that created Horrible Histories. It\u2019s therefore no surprise that The Possession Of Button House offers non-stop chuckles. It\u2019s neatly plotted, too, introducing a band of eco protestors, a corrupt MP and the aforementioned group of kids, led by anguished foster child Jack (I Swear<\/a>\u2019s Scott Ellis Watson). Each party has a role to play in the titular abode\u2019s fate. As do Alison and Mike, who the Ghosts track down.<\/p>\n

So, why exist as a movie? Well, apart from the formal language being a tad more cinematic (crane shots!), it comes down to Them There conjuring up a standalone story by having our fab phantoms learn that they can possess the kids. This gives fans such unexpected, thrilling sights as Julian, who\u2019s been without trousers since dying in a 1993 sex scandal, wearing jeans.<\/p>\n

Also fresh is the mix of genres, with Ghosts\u2019 mild scares and domestic-sitcom giggles now spliced with antics borrowed from body-swap, coming-of-age, culture-clash, political-conspiracy and action movies. In a film that nonetheless feels familiar and comforting, it\u2019s a surprising medley. As the Captain would undoubtedly say: bally hell!<\/p>\n

Shit just got corporeal. A joyous spectre-cal that welcomes newbies and takes surprising turns yet still offers a hug to fans. Let\u2019s hope a sequel makes itself known.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the future of Button House at stake, the ghosts who reside there seek help from former owners…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":808887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[96,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-808886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=808886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/808887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=808886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=808886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=808886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}