This week’s episode of Ghosts is a reminder that the series is at its heart a love letter to the original BBC Ghosts series.
Isaac (Brandon Scott Jones) and Nigel (John Hartman)’s conflict this week also reminds the audience that our common histories outweigh our cultural and political differences. Sam (Rose McIver) informs both of them that the bitter divide between the American colonists and the British was left behind after the Revolutionary War. In a way, their conflict is also a reminder to the fandom that there’s plenty of room to appreciate both series of Ghosts.
While Issac and Nigel debate the merits of the Stamp Act, a documentary television crew from the in-universe series “Dumb Deaths” wants to highlight Pete’s (Richie Moriarty) archery accident. Sam and Jay agree to the film crew taking over Woodstone Manor because they want to advertise the history of the house to potential guests. Pete overhears the documentarians discussing how they believe alcohol influenced his death. He doesn’t want his relatives to see him portrayed that way. UK series fans will also recognize the “documentary recreating the death of a ghost” plot but the setup and payoff is tailored to fit Pete’s character development.
Mathew Baynton plays an over-the-top British method actor cast as Pete in the documentary. This is also the first time he’s playing a living as he plays Thomas Thorne in the UK series, a poet who failed to achieve stardom. Thomas died about 50 years after Issac and Nigel in the mid-1820’s. He is also known for acting in and producing Horrible Histories and several other U.K. comedy series. Baynton spoke to Den of Geek about what it was like to film the U.S. series as a U.K. writer and actor, his thoughts on adapting the Ghosts concept to the United States, and why American Ghosts fans should sample U.K. Ghosts if they haven’t already.
MATHEW BAYNTON: I have such a bad memory, but it was sometime during the summer holidays because I took my kids out to Montreal with me, and it was great. It was such a privilege to be the first [of the U.K. Ghosts cast] to get the chance to go play with our American cousins. I got to absorb all of the love from those guys for us creating the original. Everyone was lovely. The vibe we have on the set in the U.K. is a real supportive, friendly, family vibe. We really like to try to make sure that everyone in the cast and crew feels part of the team and wants to come to work every day and enjoy themselves. And it felt like it was exactly the same atmosphere out there on the CBS version, so I felt right at home.
