Ghosts legend Simon Farnaby talks movie spin-off and acting opposite Queen Elizabeth II

Ghosts fans have been rejoicing ever since the news that everyone's favourite supernatural and often sassy beings would be returning to Button House once more.

Ghosts: The Possession of Button House will make its silver screen debut later this year, three years after the show's creators confirmed it'd be coming to an end - a conclusion that was watched by 7.2 million viewers.

While the shenanigans of Button House seemed well and truly over, co-writer Simon Farnaby recently opened up on the decision to return to the beloved characters.

Speaking to Radio Times in an upcoming interview with Stephen Kelly, Farnanby said: "We knocked it on the head at its height. But I think we were just not finished with Ghosts. We thought about a stage show for a bit and then eventually had a great idea for a movie. It’s the right sort of different flavour to the TV show."

Details on the plot are currently under wraps, but it has been teased that it's an exciting one, with the creators/writers behind Ghosts previously saying in a statement: "We thought we had said goodbye to Button House at the end of the final series. We never planned to come back. But when we had the idea for this story, we all got so excited that we couldn’t resist returning to our haunted home for one more adventure.

"We can’t wait to be together and to welcome some brilliant new faces, to tell this soul-stirring tale of life and death."

But it's not just Ghosts Farnaby is busy with, as the writer's adaptation of The Magic Faraway Tree is coming to cinemas soon. The movie has been adapted from the Enid Blyton book series, though this wouldn't be Farnaby's first outing in a beloved children's classic, having appeared in a Paddington-themed sketch to celebrate the 2022 Platinum Jubilee.

It was during that sketch that Farnaby got to share a screen with the Queen, as he recalled to Radio Times: "I told her, 'You’re a good actress, ma’am'. And she said, 'I do it all the time, you see.'"

Farnaby had assumed she was being metaphorical and replied: "'Oh, you mean playing the part of the Queen?' She went, 'No, I am the Queen'. Then she looked at me like I was an idiot and pointed at where Paddington was supposed to be sitting and said, 'He’s not real, but I am. I’m the Queen!'"

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Ghosts: The Possession of Button House will be released in cinemas across the UK and Ireland on Friday 23 October 2026. Ghosts is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

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