The BBC's Ghosts season 5 will sadly be the last of the show – apart from a one-off Christmas special – and now the cast and writers have reacted to the emotional final episode.
Although the fifth season of the hit comedy only premiered on Friday, October 6, all of the new episodes were released as a boxset for fans to binge on BBC iPlayer. But don't worry, there are NO SPOILERS here.
Digital Spy spoke to Ben Willbond, who plays the Captain, along with Laurence Rickard, who plays both Robin the caveman and the head of Humphrey the headless ghost, about how fans will be feeling after the emotional finale.
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Laurence said: "Well, if our reaction is anything to go by – I was shown the sort of last couple of scenes of the last episode while I was on set, by our director, as a rough cut. I was certainly emotionally affected by it. So I apologise in advance.
"But what we hope to do is give them a good send-off. You try to be sort of satisfying but surprising. We've kind of tried to do that throughout. You know, never doing entirely what's expected with each character, but I feel like we're doing them justice. And hopefully, we've kind of considered that through to the very final furlong."
Ben added: "I know that there's going to be a lot of sadness, but, you know what? I keep trying to say that weirdly it's a lesson in that sometimes you have to let these things go. You've got to move on.
"We've been very, very careful in how we tie things up. We've made sure that we look at all the ghosts' stories, and that we're sensitive towards all that. All good things have to come to an end. That's really the spirit of it, I think."
Meanwhile, Charlotte Ritchie, who plays Alison, told Digital Spy: "I think fans will be really sad, but I think [the writers] have done it really beautifully and very tactfully.
"The writers care so deeply about the show. It's not like they're just chucking it in the bin. For them, it's so emotional for it to be ending. They pulled out all the stops to make it a thoughtful and loving ending. I think it's great."
And she's expecting you to be in tears, "unless you've got a heart of stone. But if you have a heart of stone, you're probably not watching Ghosts."
But will there be many unanswered questions for fans to be, ahem, haunted by?
Laurence said: "I mean, there's always a few, little tantalising strings you want to leave hanging. You know, I love The Italian Job. But I remember, the first time I saw it, I was like, 'You end it there?' There's always a bit of me where you want it to be… Not tied up with a bow, but tied up in some way.
"So hopefully we haven't left too many threads dangling. But we would hope the way in which we've tied most of them up will not be necessarily what people have been expecting. That's the line we sort of tried to tread with it."
Ben continued: "There'll be some questions, but then there always are, I think – without wishing to be too deep about it, that's life."
Whether those tantalising questions will be answered in the upcoming festive special remains to be seen.
However, there's also a companion book called Ghosts: The Button House Archives, written by the show's creators, which uses letters, emails, and newspaper clippings to expand on unused ideas for the show.
But in terms of the (great) beyond, nothing is confirmed. The team has discussed the idea of exploring a movie, or some form of follow-up eventually, if there is interest, as they undeniably love working with each other.
But for now, you'll just have to make do with the US version of Ghosts, which has two seasons so far. It airs on CBS in the States, and streams on BBC iPlayer in the UK. The show will have a third underway after the actors and writers' strikes conclude.
Ghosts' final series is airing on Fridays at 8.30pm on BBC One, and the full series boxset is available now on BBC iPlayer.
Ghosts: The Button House Archives is published by Bloomsbury on October 26, and is available to pre-order now.
Laurence Mozafari (he/him) is a multi-award winning journalist, editor, and presenter. A former Editor-in-Chief of Digital Spy, Laurence previously held roles as the site's Editor, Deputy Editor, and Associate Editor focusing on news, social, and video. Laurence hosted the BBC Sounds podcast Obsessed with Peaky Blinders in 2019. He also hosts his own podcast production, Time of My Life, where he interviews fascinating elders about their life lessons, including Only Fools and Horses' Sir David Jason, Star Trek’s George Takei and Bridgerton’s Adjoa Andoh.
Laurence was named Editorial Director – Youth Audience at Reach in early 2025. Prior to joining Digital Spy, he was previously at Bauer Media working as Digital Editor of Heat magazine's website Heatworld.com, and has also worked at and written for Sky, NME, Q magazine, Grazia, Closer, FHM and dedicated careers website GoThinkBig. He secured a first-class BA journalism degree at Staffordshire University, along with several NCTJ qualifications, and now has 14 years' experience in digital publishing covering TV, movies, music, gaming, tech, showbiz, and travel.
Laurence has been a broadcasting contributor on television and radio, including KISS, Heat Radio, BBC Radio London, Radio 5 Live, and BBC Breakfast.
He is also a visiting lecturer at various universities teaching journalism, including City, University of London, Nottingham Trent, Staffordshire University and London Metropolitan. Laurence has won numerous awards in his journalism career, including the BSME Talent Award’s Best Deputy Editor, the PPA's 30 Under 30, and the New Editor and Editor of the Year at the AOP and BSMEs. He led Digital Spy to win PPA's Digital Content Team of the Year twice, along with the British Media Awards’ Brand of the Year in 2021.
Laurence joined the committee for the British Society of Magazine Editors in 2022 and was named vice-chair in 2025. He has since hosted panels with CEOs of Immediate Media and the Media Trust at the PPA Festival, as well as presenting his own radio show on Green Man Radio at Green Man Festival in 2022. Laurence is also a Brits voting academy member.
Laurence has been lucky enough to interview numerous celebrities, actors, and musicians throughout his career. Arnold Schwarzenegger loved his hair, Jimmy Carr loved his coat and Antonio Banderas gave a shout-out to his mum. Laurence has covered set visits for The Witcher on Netflix and Marvel’s Inhumans, he got Daisy Ridley to do a Chewbacca impression and loves Marvel, PlayStation, Glastonbury and craft beer. Linkedin
