Absence makes the heart grow fonder (or “makes the big feelings feel more big” as hapless romantic wordsmith Thomas (Mathew Baynton) would have it) in this return to Button House and our favourite spectres after the BBC series finished in 2023.
The American version just doesn’t scratch that itch, so it’s with utter joy we are reunited with the gang, including living folk Mike (Kiell Smith-Bynoe) and Alison (Charlotte Ritchie), after the two left the decrepit stately home to raise baby Mia.
Button House is due to be turned into a luxury golfing resort, but the builders are dragging their heels and the ghosts are bored with playing the menu game (where they must identify which food corresponds to the numbers on a Chinese takeaway flyer), and waiting for Alison to visit.
When a bunch of kids on bikes, led by disaffected teen Jack (Scott Ellis Watson, who played the young John Davidson in I Swear) show up at the house planning to host a seance, things get interesting. It turns out the ghosts can possess the bodies of living humans under the right circumstances.
Just as well – a group of environmentalists protesting the new development aren’t quite what they seem, so with Button House and its residents under threat, the ghosts need to find a way to contact Mike and Alison.
The unspoken rules of big screen TV adaptations are adhered to with panache via the very smart script written by cast members Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond.
There is sufficient exposition to allow non-initiates to get the film, but not so much that it’s clunky or annoying for series devotees. Our favourites are all here, and each gets at least one “hero” moment: Kitty (Lolly Adefope) dances, Pat (Howick) gets a scotch egg, Lady Button (Howe-Douglas) explores her feminist side, the Captain (Willbond) leads a mission and Humphry (Rickard)... is left behind, while new characters are introduced, including Rufus Jones's dodgy politician and Sian Clifford’s tree-dwelling activist, who caveman Robin (also Rickard) takes a shine to.
View Green Video on the source websiteAnd the world of Ghosts expands. Often with TV movie spin-offs characters go abroad - here it’s more than enough that they can leave Button House while the duality of the ghosts looking like young teens to the living, gives loads of scope for gags. The audience mostly see the ghosts as themselves, but Ellis Watson deserves kudos for his embodiment of sleazebag Julian (Farnaby), able to convince Alison and Mike (and us) that the young lad they see before them is actually a dead MP by repeating his mantra “Ord-ah! Ord-ah!”.
It’s an ensemble, but Julian on the lam, trying to get to Alison and Mike with only a tenner to his name has the most fun – his shock at how much things cost (“whaaaattt???”) never gets old. Regular Ghosts director Simon Hyde maintains his steady hand with characters (and a cast) who truly feel like family, and frankly it’s wonderful to spend time with them. At 97 minutes, it whips by, packing in a “one crazy night” plot and some real peril, which is still suitable for youngsters.
It will surprise no one that The Possession of Button House is also incredibly good hearted. Jack isn’t just a vessel for the ghosts, he has his own story too, and when the gang aren’t possessing young folk, riding their bikes and causing havoc, they are trying to get through to a troubled young man they have nothing in common with. Though it might not be cinematic high art, this is funny, heartfelt and elating stuff. Good spirited, indeed.
Ghosts: The Possession of Button House is released in cinemas on Friday 23 October.
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