GHOSTS! Series 5 *** SPOILERS ***

[LadyHag]

Off work poorly so used the time wisely to binge watch ghosts final series

SPOILERS

I think the baby will be born on Christmas Day and I think they might do A Christmas Carol style episode - where Julian’s investments have made lots of money and he’s irrationally reluctant to hand the money over to Alison and Mike and so he gets visitations/dreams to show him the error of his ways. That might be a bit cheesy though!
Im sad that they won’t be doing another series. It was great.

Agreed - about five potatoes high.

Loved the game show sequence... especially the Captain using his baton as Terry Wogan style mic!
Loved the line dancing
Loved Pat pulling his shorts up from the bottom in his excitement!

Underwhelmed with the Obe scenes... not sure what it added really
Underwhelmed with the ending of Ep6... but hopeful that the Christmas Special will pull it out of the bag.

Really hope the team collaborate on something new and equally as brilliant!

Mike is wonderful. He and Alison are the perfect team.

It would be incredibly difficult in real life to be so gracious about something which is a major part of your partner's life but which you can't share.

I am reeeaaaallly looking forward to the Christmas special, but I don’t want to make any assumptions about there being huge changes at Button House. I think that because the show is ending, some fans are assuming all the ghosts will move on, or something happens to Mike so he can see the ghosts.

It might be just that life (and death) goes on, but with a baby.

The only thing I need to see is that Mike and Alison find a way to stay at Button House.

Aw, was also going to try and save it, but oops.

I loved it, had quite a few laugh-out-loud moments and also some touching ones. But it had a very final feel to it.

I need to rewatch, but loved Pat outsmarting Alison, Kitty's death story (was glad that she got to keep her memories of her sister) and Robin educating Humphrey in more ways than one.

I was actually a bit disappointed with the Captain's story, it's had such a big build-up and was expecting a bit more than the five or so minutes given to it.

Sad it's the last season, it just doesn't feel complete 😕 Hope they make the Christmas episode an extra-long one!

Yes I was disappointed with the Captain's story as well, made him look like a charlatan and a fool. ☹️

That was the point. All through out he's been holier than thou, superior to everyone else owing to being a captain in the British army. It was a perfect way to bring him down a peg or two

I was talking to dh about what we'd like as an ending and he said a way that Alison and Mike could make a proper living from Button House so they don't have to struggle and worry. Make be the Ghosts can find a way to help them do it.

I think the baby will be able to see the ghosts. I would like Mike to but I can't see a way for that to happen which isn't a bit grim - Alison was actually dead for a tiny bit wasn't she. I did think of a flash forward to him as a very elderly man with a loving family around him seeing them in that bit immediately after they die...

And I also love Mike.

I thought it was great. DS and I were making our Pro and Con lists when we paused to make a cuppa. We both had Thomas and Julian on the Con list, everyone else on the Pro list except Fanny, who is in both.

Not that we don’t enjoy Thomas and Julian as characters, but that they would be hell to actually live with.

Fanny’s attempts at a bucket list were very funny! I was so glad Kitty’s death wasn’t from spite.

I thought the Captain’s death was very poignant - he got to have his dying moment with the man he loved, but cursed to live forever wearing the fraudulent bars of service he can never take off. Poor James.

The line dancing was fantastic, and Robin speaking French was epic. I liked Humphrey taking revenge via Alison’s April Fools pranks, and Pat being untrickable because he’d been the butt of everything in life.

I did miss Mary.

Before this series started I thought that they would use the insurance money to rebuild the gate house and that they could move in there and sell the main house . That way they would have lots of money but the ghosts could still visit .

I think they did tie up most loose ends in a gentle way, Mike and Alison both confirmed they wanted to stay in the house when they had the opportunity to finally sell up and we got to see Kitty and the Captains stories. I was pleased it was a 'gentle-ish' end for Kitty and not due to her sister (although the Kitty actress ever changing voice was irritating). Very sad story for the Captain though and his secret that he died pretending to be decorated.

I wouldn't expect big drama in the Christmas episode either, probably just a nice festive finale showing how they've managed to keep the house going financially (I wonder if the new bank manager girlfriend is somehow linked?). I'd like to see Mike have a friend in the house though as it would be a bit lonely as the outsider. They addressed this in the US version.

Lots of favourite moments but I thought it very sweet in the episode opening with Robin laughing heartily with his pal William. I remember when Mary moved on and Robin explaining he remembers each person by a star in the sky and as he was pointing out the various stars laughing to himself again at the thought of William so it was nice to see them together.

Aside from the Obi storyline in the last episode, I think it was a nice final series overall with the mix of poignancy and humour.

Am I right to assume that if they don't sell the house for the hotel, then they are going to lose the whole golf consortium deal, i.e. they can't sell just the land for the golf course as originally planned?

I took that from it, yes. Surprised Alison didn't say, "I told you so!" given she'd told Mike to keep his cocktail bar idea to himself.
But, as I asked upthread, what made them decide to go it alone as a b+b rather than sell to a consortium. Plague pit put paid to one deal iirc but why did they not sell later, I've forgotten.

Has the captain's honours decoration been upside down the whole time then? Was that an initial error pointed out to production or they played the long game, knowing his backstory five series ago?

Answered my own questions

1. They made the decision to run it as a hotel in the first episode.
2. They couldn't sell unless it was for £££££ as paying back renovation loan will wipe out their savings.
3. The £££££ eventual offer from hotelier is retracted after plague pit revealed.
4. They use the main house for weddings/events/film set to fund renovation.
5. They use the gate house as B+B in interim.
6. The gate house burning down means selling the land it stood on is now possible (as golf course) but now the business wants the whole lot.

I assume the Xmas episode will finalise it. I'm guessing a big National Lottery win would fix it (unless that counts as advertising on the beeb). Maybe Julian becoming fixated with scratchcards as a sidestory. No other way to keep the
house otherwise as it's a money pit, still not renovated and new baby due.
Side hustle before baby's birth could be using the gatehouse land as a Winter Wonderland or a living nativity. Could see either working along with a new baby in the manger ending. Infants can see ghosts so that will be the end scene as all peer around the crib. But you don't make that the crux as has been done before with Julian.
Alternatively...in a six feet under/After Life type ending, you see from the crib's perspective future generations as one by one the original ghosts go then Mike and Alison appear by the crib side of their great grandchild. Or the house in different seasons.

As to the Captain, the badges have always been upside down and allegedly, it was said at some point, it was to respect real life veterans but then later was confirmed to be connected with James's death so props to writers for having it in the bag from the start/being able to write it in.
James could have had a couple of badges himself but obviously not the active service ones. The only other question would be, if Havers was at the party because he had seen service, why did he still have the lower-ranking stick he gave to James as he died?

I’ve binged. But wasn’t overwhelmed by the final episode. Hope it’s wrapped up at Christmas.

@SequinsandStiIettos that’s interesting re the upside down badge, I saw someone had spotted that on Twitter last series and wondered if they had planned it all along.

I’ve watched it all now - agree with lots that pp have said like Robin speaking French, the line dancing, Fanny’s bucket list. Also the continuing jokes about Fanny Button “come on Fanny”

I thought episode 2 was the weakest, it didn’t really go anywhere but I guess was setting up for the following episodes. What I love the most is the tight plotting, I’m in awe how they manage to get so much in and tied up in 30 minutes and have interweaving stories and it all hangs together beautifully. The line dancing episode was a perfect example. The podcast is interesting about how they write it, sometimes they reverse engineer to build a plot line that will generate a particular moment to make sense…I just find the process fascinating and way beyond my capabilities. I think they are all geniuses!

I think the final scene should have been the line dancing. Alison looked so happy.

Lots to laugh at ..Robins pet mouse called Graham Souness, Pats face as he finished singing Blankety Blank !

Just finished the series. In a way I'm relieved everything will continue much as it had been (with a happy addition) and I don't think the Christmas special will contain any massive plot changes. It has to be feel good, it's the series finale and it's Christmas, you can't really have people dying/being sucked off. Well only minor characters like Barclay.

Having said that, I actually really hoped Robin would be sucked off during episode 5. He seems like he really wants to go now.

I know I’d love for the baby to be able to see the ghosts. Also would like them to have some money so they aren’t for ever worrying.

We really enjoyed the 6 episodes and glad we binged so we appreciated the series as a whole.
Lovely mix of humour and pathos. The Captain's story was heartbreaking.
I'm not sure what loose ends people are referring to as needing to be tied up.
Really all that's left is a way of securing them financially without having to sell up and the birth of their baby. It would be fitting if it's Julian's investment. A form of reparation for his actions
Then we leave Button House just to carry on.

I can't believe Julian's investments were mentioned for nothing, it feels like a seed was planted there...

"Cake" - Kitty is my most favourite, most adorable character. I like the dirty basement Kitty too with her plague!