‘Ghosts: The Possession Of Button House’ review: Beloved BBC sitcom makes a charming transition to the big screen

Dir: Simon Hynd. UK. 2026. 97mins

Running for five seasons from 2019 to 2023, BBC sitcom Ghosts proved a winner thanks to its charming cast of characters, warm-hearted storylines and cheeky, family-friendly humour. This full-length feature hews closely to that template, the filmmakers correctly betting that the show’s existing fans are looking for familiarity, rather than experimentation. And so we’re back at Button House, in the company of the eclectic group of phantoms as they get to grips with an uncertain future and encounter new experiences. It’s a cosy, delightful affair, with the show’s deft mix of comedy and pathos proving ripe for big screen adaptation.

 Equal parts funny and bittersweet

Ghosts: The Possession Of Button House is written by the show’s creators/stars Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond (known collectively as Them There, the team behind Horrible Histories, Yonderland and 2015 feature Bill), and directed by Simon Hynd, who helmed 15 episodes of the series. It will surely find an audience on home soil where it is released by Lionsgate on October 23. But with the show having been remade in various territories (to varying degrees of success), including the US, France and Australia, there is scope for the feature to travel – even if most of its jokes (about such things as tabloids and scotch eggs) are aimed squarely at a UK sense of humour.

Almost a year after the events of the show (and decades before its tearjerking epilogue) former (human) residents Alison (Charlotte Ritchie) and Mike (Kiell Smith-Bynoe) have moved out with their new baby while they attempt to renovate Button House into a golf course and hotel. They are sorely missed by the house’s resident ghosts – not least because Alison is the only human who can see and hear them, thanks to a head injury sustained in the first episode of the series. Despite the attempts of former Eighties Scout leader Pat (Howick) to entertain them with gentle group activities, spirits are low.

Their solitude is rudely interrupted, however, when a group of teens break into the house looking for spooky thrills at the same time that a protest group starts to camp on the land. And when the ghosts accidentally discover the art of human possession – something explored in the US version of the show but brand new here – their horizons are expanded in unexpected ways.

To say more would be to spoil the discovery of a story that is equal parts funny and bittersweet – indeed, for fans, it will be such a pleasure to be back in the company of these characters that the specifics of the plot may not really matter. Safe to say that, like the show, it leans on the ghosts’ distinctive personalities both as individuals and as a group. Highlights include Georgian noblewoman Kitty’s (Lolly Adefope) giddy interactions with teenager Jack (Scott Ellis Watson); Edwardian matriarch Fanny (Howe-Douglas) having her mind opened to modern feminism; caveman Robin’s (Rickard) crush on a dreadlocked protester (Sian Clifford); and politically incorrect 1980s Tory MP Julian’s (Farnaby) bumbling attempts to navigate the modern world.

One of the strengths of Ghosts has always been that it is a true collective, with no one character overshadowing the others, and that remains true here. And so fellow ghosts World War II soldier Captain (Willbond), failed Georgian poet Thomas (Baynton) and often-headless Tudor nobleman Humphry (also Rickard) are given plenty of opportunities to shine, as are Alison and Mike – who, despite their move to the safety of new-build suburbia, seem secretly thrilled to find themselves embroiled in another madcap adventure. And while there are undoubtedly some moments where the feature-length narrative begins to feel somewhat stretched, the visual gags and funny quips come so thick and fast that they keep things moving.

Filmmaking is straightforward throughout, with Sunna Wehrmeijer’s energetic score including riffs on the theme song as a repeated aural motif, and cinematography from Alvaro Gutierrez bringing a more cinematic feel to proceedings while retaining the warm tones and unfussy framing of the show. There’s nothing flashy here, nor does there need to be – the characters are the film’s biggest strength, and they do not disappoint.