Ghosts Season 1 Episode 5 Recap & Review

Moonah Ston

Out of all the comedies I’ve watched this year, I’m really going to miss Ghosts when it finishes next week. The anachronistic humour of seeing ghosts plucked out of different time periods has really made the show such a joy to watch. Back for episode 5, Ghosts returns this week with the pigeon still terrorizing the house while Alison and Mike meet their posh neighbours for the first time.

After telling Alison and Mike about the rumoured hauntings in the house, Alison offers to invite him over for dinner to which he hastily accepts. It turns out he has a legitimate land claim to part of their driveway and this dinner could just prove to be a crucial negotiation ploy for the couple to try and resolve this issue.

Meanwhile, the ghosts entertain themselves by playing charades before the Captain helps Alison & Mike shoot a pheasant in preparation for cooking the dinner that evening. All seems well after a slight wardrobe malfunction, as Bunny and Beckley arrive and the ghosts introduce themselves. Of course, they can’t hear them but that doesn’t stop them putting on a big show. Forgetting about the ghosts for now, Alison tries handing a wine bottle to Kitty but it smashes on the ground. With a perfect bout of awkward silence following, things go from bad to worse as Alison takes drastic measures to preserve the night, taking all the ghosts upstairs and playing them Friends on the TV.

Meanwhile, Mike accidentally shakes on a deal for the driveway which he assumes is for £20…only it’s actually £20,000. Lamenting his inability not to shake when someone has their hand outstretched, the neighbours settle down and grab port and poker as a celebratory nightcap. After losing some money, Alison has an idea and decides to call forth Mary’s expertise to tell her the opposition’s cards while playing. Unfortunately, Mary isn’t the smartest ghost and they wind up losing £40,000. Desperately, Alison pleads with the other ghosts to help her but instead, she gets a tip-off about an offshore Fiji account, leading their neighbours to drop the whole ordeal and call it square when Alison mentions this to them.

The episode the ends with a touching tribute to Robin, as Alison movies the sofa outside so they can watch the moon.

There’s a great dose of humour in this week’s episode and for the most part, the timing is spot on most of the way through. While I still think it would have been nice to have a few more episodes to really flesh out the other ghosts, there’s enough here to make Ghosts a highly enjoyable comedy nonetheless. Quite what the finale holds in store next week is anyone’s guess but for now, Ghosts is a funny and well written series well worth checking out.