GHOSTS. LAST EVER EPISODE BBC XMAS DAY 7.45

[Blondeshavemorefun]

Aka now !!!

Couldnt see a thread

Last episode ever

Gets tissues

I didn’t mind the ending but the ideas on here were so much better. Also of the camp that I don’t think Alison would leave.

I thought it was sad but perfect and brilliant. Especially that they would come back and visit. It was just like growing up and moving out but you still come back to stay.

I agree that the episode was less laugh a minute than usual. But if felt like they were wrapping it up which of course they were. When the old Alison and Mike appeared at the end I lost it! I need to go back and rewatch that but as I was crying so much (I'm really really pathetic!) that I missed all the little details. The plague ghosts were fabulous as always.
I know Alison sees ghosts everywhere but she always did. I like to imagine them moving somewhere that didn't have spirits on site so to speak! The absolute love between the ghosts and her family and the ghosts wanting her to fly free was utterly beautiful. The HH team are geniuses

I think a hotel was ideal for the ghosts. Always someone around, lots of TVs on at any one time so always something for them to watch, lots of behaviour for the Judgey ones to Judge, kitchens producing all that food for them to dream about, music, dancing and jollity for Kitty…….
They’ve come to terms over the years (Robin especially) with only ever having other ghosts as companions and had become too reliant on Alison as their sole link to the outside world. They needed to let her go and for her to know it was okay to leave their ‘family’.

I think it was far better than any of the ideas anyone has posted here. A beautiful, poignant ending. Well done Ghosts team.

I was a bit disappointed too - the ending was okay but it all happened far too quickly. If it had been drawn out over a couple of episodes - a three part Christmas tale (like The Office Christmas special) - that would have been perfect. They could have written more jokes in for one thing.

I thought it was perfect, an enjoyable Christmas Day watch and left things satisfactorily for the main characters. I assume Alison and Mike agreed concessions for the ghosts with the new owners, like the room names and maybe Loose Women on every day. I’m glad it wasn’t written by mumsnetters, I would have been distraught if Alison or Mike died, let alone baby Mia! I wouldn’t want to condemn them to eternity with the same people and same land and walls either. The ghosts “moved on” in their own way.

I really enjoyed the episode and pacing, it wasn’t just “annoying MIL”, it was “oh my gosh the ghosts are going to be discovered!” and then the tension that they might be gone! I felt it could have ended there when they reappeared after the priest left and with the nativity scene, but they were kind enough to leave time to wrap it up at the end with a storyline that let us know they were all ok into their 70s, leaving us with warm fuzzy feeling. That was my perspective once it ended.

I would also assume that Alison and Mike stayed nearby for the great girls school, and visited often for tea or lunch. And that they’d choose a place with no ghosts or ghosts Alison could tolerate as part of family life, and Alison would get better at ignoring ones on the edge of land like the WW2 soldiers who weren’t actually in the flat. I don’t think the set up in the first season applies, they’ve learned so much and grown and changed since then. I felt that was set up for Mike really well in series 5.

Loved the series, loved the finale and looking forward to it being a December annual advent watch. 34 episodes takes it from the 1st December to 3rd January perfectly! It means a lot to me, I started watching it whilst heavily pregnant on mat leave in the pandemic in 2020 winter lockdown. Anyone up for a daily thread watch next year?

I thought they wrapped it up well without it being too clichéd.

I didn’t enjoy it mainly because there wasn’t enough ghost interaction and too much annoying MIL. Maybe that was deliberate to show that the ghosts can no longer be so significant in Alison’s life but it felt flat and sad. I suppose she was always going to leave them, her lifespan would be a drop in the ocean of eternity so they just chose to ‘let her go’ a few decades earlier. I’d have liked to see more of the visits, even just a last glimpse of the ghosts. The spa scene at the end has stuck in my mind as a redeeming touch.

I was hugely disappointed with it. I liked how they tied up the loose ends but it was just so bland and lacking in what made Ghosts enjoyable.

Yep, I agree - not enough Ghosts and not enough laughs! The storyline about the MIL actually seeing the ghosts and then the exorcism had the potential to be interesting but it just felt a bit rushed. And the weird sideline about Thomas mooching about just went nowhere.
There were a couple of nice Robin moments, a Fanny joke and I did enjoy the plague ghosts in the spa but overall I think the plot let it down.

This!

In the final scenes when Alison and Mike were older and came back to the hotel, they're obviously frequent visitors. They're coming home for Christmas each year to see the family. Just as we need our own space, we also come back together. It's family, innit?

Completely agree. That’s because the writers came up with a way for the whole thing to come to an end whereas most of the suggestions on here (eg Mike has an accident and can see the ghosts too!!) were suggestions for plot developments not series endings.

I enjoyed it. It wasn’t as fun as other episodes but I think it captured the exhaustion of new parenthood and how you need to focus on that for a while/how everything changes with a new baby. I liked the message about letting people go so they can flourish, and I loved the ending. Do you think it was actually Charlotte Richie at the end? I think it was Mike because of his profile but not sure about Alison. Anyway if it was Charlotte she did a very good ‘old lady walking up the stairs’.

I loved the idea they had moved on with enough money to be very comfortable and to bring up Mia and other children perhaps. And that they returned often to Button House where Mike could play golf and Alison could catch up with the Ghosts. A very good ending for me.

I just rewatched the very end and yes it is Charlotte.

Thinking about this again this morning, I think its not so much that they left that annoyed me, it was just so rushed and had none of the fantastic writing that the entire programme had. The scene where the ghosts come into the kitchen, suggest they leave so they can be a family, she literally says one unheard sentence to Mike and then he's immediately in agreement and thanks the ghosts. Next scene they've packed up and are out. It was just so rushed and made it feel like Mike had never wanted to be there at all, which we know wasn't true. They both loved living there.
If they were on mumsnet we'd be saying don't make any decisions in the first few months of a new baby because you're sleep deprived and not thinking straight. They didn't even give the ghosts a chance to settle into the new baby as mil was only gone a day or two. Even Thomas was trying to give them space. Surely they'd just say we need a but of space stop crowding us all the time? Kitty even was backing off and not disturbing her, and Fanny caught herself being bossy and stopped.

Was there a reason it was so short? Did they have limited filming time or something?

I think the writers must have forgotten they had her seeing ghosts away from the house too.

More likely they hoped the viewers would. No chance on Mumsnet 😂

Better writing would have helped. If Alison had protested, the ghosts could have explained that she’d taught them how to live in the world so they’d be okay without her.

We could have seen Julian watching the adult channels with solo businessmen, the Captain rushing about during wedding preparations, Kitty and Pat dancing at discos, etc. Robin could have used the gym to work on his core. That would have been funny.

Instead we had what seemed like the full seven weeks of the frankly horrible mother-in-law and a stupid exorcism. Pfft.

I like Luna's idea of seeing the ghosts interacting with the hotel facilities. That would have been a much happier ending than the feeling that Alison and Mike couldnt wait to get away. It was sad and not in a good way.

Nice idea but they are massively constrained by budget. The wedding episode was contrived to be affected by snow so they only had a few guests, for example.

I just watched the ending again (actually I rewatched it twice ). It was so lovely and I'm in bits again. It was absolutely perfect.

There's a whole new series just there!!

I watched it again when I woke up this morning and was more disappointed this time. Alison shows no interest in the ghosts at all during the whole episode. She just looks irritated by them and takes up their suggestion to sell-up like a shot.
As she is packing up and leaving she looks sad about the house but NEVER interacts with the ghosts. I felt really sad for them. Even at the end when she and Mike visit she sounds bored.

I don't like to criticise because I have loved 'Ghosts' more than anything on tv in many years. I'll always re-watch it, it's like a lovely happy, funny, warm comfort blanket to me. However, last night's episode was a let-down. Just doesn't work, doesn't ring true to the series, wasn't well-written- and I'm really very sad to say that.

@LuluBlakey1 I think you've explained my issue with it. I think the ending would have worked better had 20mins of it not been taken up with the Mother in Law story and instead had been about Alison & Mike having the best last Christmas with the Ghosts.. before moving on to a new home.

It just felt rushed and like Alison was annoyed and fed up of the Ghosts, it should have been a heartwarming celebration of them all coming together.

Not just budget, the building really cannot take big crowds, the floors aren't strong enough.

I think it would have spoiled it if we'd seen the ghosts in their new life, or Alison and Mike in their new home. Going out with the farewells, the fast forward so we know it was happy ever after and the plague ghosts for humour was exactly the right thing to do IMO.