How accurate is BBC sitcom Ghosts? History experts and creatives weigh in

The dearly departed sitcom Ghosts has been hailed as a rare comedy series that the entire family can enjoy, but can its daft lampooning of British history and familiar archetypes help to nurture real knowledge?

The story begins when young married couple Alison (Charlotte Ritchie) and Mike (Kiell Smith-Bynoe) inherit the dilapidated Button House (played by real-life manor West Horsley Place) from a very, very distant relative.

Following a near-death experience, Alison gains the ability to perceive apparitions of past inhabitants, who were unfortunate enough to perish on the estate – and for reasons unknown, remain unable to move on to the "other place".

Each figure represents a different historical period, spanning from prehistoric cave man Robin (Laurence Rickard) to Edwardian lady of the manor Fanny Button (Martha Howe-Douglas) and Thatcherite MP Julian Fawcett (Simon Farnaby).

Of course, the Ghosts creators were then coming off a celebrated run on CBBC's Horrible Histories and, as original producer Matthew Mulot told RadioTimes.com, were "definitely mindful of the audience that they would be bringing with them".

In other words, some degree of accuracy would be crucial to upholding their trusted reputation, but co-creator Rickard told crowds at MCM London Comic-Con 2025 that they never intended for Ghosts to be another set of history lessons.

"Having done Horrible Histories, where the rule was you couldn't lie, there would be times when we'd come up with a really funny punchline, and then go, 'but we can't do that because that's not what happened'," he explained.

"I think that's what led initially to [2015's Shakespeare spoof] Bill, was going 'What about if we were freed from the constraints of telling the truth?' That film is set in a bit of history where there is no history... so we can say whatever we like!"

The underrated feature imagines the playwright's 'lost years' and ultimately provided the "template" for Ghosts, according to Rickard, in which "meticulous" historical backdrops would set the stage for predominantly "silly" storylines.

In some ways, then, Ghosts was the culmination of everything the team had done to date, encompassing the factual foundation of Horrible Histories, the creative licence of Bill and the risqué innuendo of Sky's fantastical farce Yonderland.

Despite this relative freedom, Mulot spoke to the danger of being "too free and easy" with the historical elements of the show, as glaring inaccuracies would inevitably cause viewers to "snap out" of the plot and its rapid, joyous gags.

It leaves us with one question: just how plausible is Ghosts' faux history? To answer, we've enlisted History Extra's Elinor Evans, delved into our sister site's archive, and sought out insider thoughts from Mulot and costume designer Lucy Williams.

Here's what we learnt about each historical figure in the much-loved series.

Humphrey Bone

Sir Humphrey Bone (also played by Rickard) is one of the most long-term residents of Button House, having lost his head during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I – although not in the way that you might assume.

The Tudors are somewhat synonymous with beheadings – in no small part due to King Henry VIII's tyrannical rule, and the grisly fate of two of his wives – but in true Ghosts fashion, Humphrey's death is far more bizarre than anyone depicted in Wolf Hall.

His French wife, Sophie (Chloé Delanney), was indeed plotting against the crown, but Humphrey was blissfully unaware of this due to his inability to speak her language. Suffice to say, he wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Ironically, it was the sharpest sword on the wall that caused his premature demise in a freak accident, as it unhinged from a fireplace display and cleaved him in twain. Royal guards took the credit, as you would in those days.

All this was revealed to us in season 3 episode The Bone Plot, and 'plot' certainly seems to be an appropriate word as the Tudor era was rife with them, fuelled largely by a bloody power struggle between Catholics and Protestants.

"Humphrey's story is drawing together a lot of those inspirations," said Evans of History Extra, who spotted one particularly noteworthy parallel in the case of Thomas and Anne Percy.

This noble couple were leaders in the Northern Rebellion, which sought to free Catholic monarch Mary, Queen of Scots and overthrow Protestant Queen Elizabeth I, in one of the most notable uprisings of her reign.

As Evans notes: "Specifically in this plot, it was Anne who played quite an unusually active role. She was rallying support among Catholic gentry; she was writing letters; she was doing a lot of the secret and subversive activity that we see Humphrey's wife doing.

"It's quite unique because, a lot of the time, it was groups of male nobles who would do this."

Evans also points out a reference that might have flown over the heads of non-history buffs, as Button House is revealed to have a priest hole; a name given to secret hiding places for Catholic sympathisers, which would provide crucial lifelines during raids.

Mary

Witch trial victim Mary represents arguably one of the more obvious deviations from history in the manner of her death, having been burned by the stake in a horrific execution that left her carrying a smoky odour to the afterlife.

Self-proclaimed Ghosts super fan Evans is quick to clarify that any minor critiques are said with "love", but considers Mary's fate a minor "bugbear" as very few suspected witches were actually burned at the stake in England.

They were more often hanged, but this would be a rather too graphic to depict in a family-friendly series. Notably, one of the rare exceptions was an accused woman named Mary Lakeland, who may well have been an inspiration for Katy Wix's character.

History Extra recently hosted a course on witchcraft by Marion Gibson, the University of Exeter's Professor of Renaissance and magical literatures, who spoke at length on witch trials in a publicly available taster session on YouTube.

Across the pond, in the British colony of Salem, Massachusetts – one of the most infamous locations of witch trials – Gibson references two victims who share traits with Ghosts character Mary.

One is Sarah Good, who was "very poor" to the extent of "living rough" in the local community, and the other is Sarah Osbourne, who was widowed prior to being accused, just as Mary had been too.

Mary's poverty and low social status is reflected in her illiteracy and broken speech, which contrasts starkly against more affluent characters such as Kitty (Lolly Adefope), Thomas (Mathew Baynton) and the aforementioned Lady Button.

"Being from a rural, poorer background, Mary would definitely have been at the tail end of the spread of literacy," said Evans, discussing a "turning point" that began in the early 16th century, spurred on by the printing of the Gutenberg Bible.

"It wasn't until the second half of the 17th Century that most men could read, and I'm saying most men here, because it would have spread to women much later," added Evans. "Mary would have been really low down the pecking order in terms of literacy."

Notably, at MCM London Comic-Con, Ghosts co-creator Martha Howe-Douglas shared that the varying language of the deceased characters was actually one of her "favourite parts" of writing the series and a "great" thing to research.

When it came to designing Mary's costume, Williams cites The Milkmaid by Johannes Vermeer as a key reference; the 17th Century painting depicts a woman working in a kitchen, wearing similar shades of blue and yellow as the Button House resident.

"I loved the colours and chose natural fabrics which were true to the era and would be easy to show the burnt marks," she explained. "I burnt sections of the costume using a candle, sending photographs to [director] Tom Kingsley to achieve the right level."

Kitty

Georgian noblewoman Kitty is the sole person of colour among the deceased characters in Ghosts, and though such representation in upper class society was rare in 18th century Britain, there is a clear precedent which likely inspired her story.

The Ghosts wiki states that Kitty had been born in Jamaica – at that time, a British colony – and adopted by a wealthy English family, with the precise circumstances leading to this arrangement never fully explained.

Her experience, however, is reflected in the real life of Dido Elizabeth Belle, a mixed-race woman born to enslaved 15-year-old Maria and naval officer Sir John Lindsay, who was around nine years her senior.

Clearly, there are serious implications to be acknowledged regarding her conception, brought up by their vast disparity in age and social status; Lindsay's life clearly cannot be sanitised in any reading of the history.

But to focus on Belle and her shared experience with Kitty, she too was able to live freely as a British noble, moving at a young age from what was then known as Spanish Florida to Lindsay's familial estate of Kenwood House in north London.

Although Belle was never formally acknowledged as Lindsay's daughter (hence their differing surnames), she lived the comfortable life of a noble and was left a large sum in her father's will, allowing her to continue doing so after his death.

In a recent article for Black History Month, Tamara Morgan summarised: "Dido Elizabeth Belle's life challenges us to rethink the boundaries of history.

She was not enslaved, yet her life was shaped by slavery's shadow. She was privileged, yet subject to prejudice. She belonged to one of Britain’s most powerful families, yet her presence questioned the very system that underpinned their wealth.

"To look at her portrait is to glimpse a history that is both unique and universal: the story of a woman who stood between worlds, and whose life still speaks to questions of identity, justice, and belonging today."

Belle was the subject of a fictionalised feature film of the same name in 2013, where she was played by Loki and The Woman in Cabin 10 star Gugu Mbatha-Raw; it served as one of several references for Ghosts costume designer Williams.

Thomas

Thomas Thorne lived in the Regency era, where he strived to become a legendary Romantic poet, although the extent of his success never quite reached the giddy heights that he felt he deserved.

His unfortunate demise is explored in season 2 episode The Thomas Thorne Affair, in which he is tricked into a duel by a love rival, who proceeds to give him some deceptive and deadly advice on precisely when to draw his gun.

Although it seems bizarre today, Evans explains that duelling was "very prevalent" in aristocratic society during Thomas's day, noting that there was a strict "etiquette" to the process – and breaking rules could result in criminal charges.

Alas, the sabotage that costs Thomas his life went undetected as far as we know.

On a meta level, The Thomas Thorne Affair plays out much like the course of real historical debate, argues Evans, who compares the conflicting narratives of the Button House ghosts to frequent disagreements in academic circles.

"Each ghost having their own bias really reflects the approach to history," she explains. "I love that Alison, as the live person, is almost playing the role of the historian, trying to weed out what's fact, what's fiction, and whose bias is where."

Evans adds that Thomas might, at least, take comfort in how his premature death was mirrored by prominent poets of the time, such as Lord Byron, John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley, which arguably added to their "mystique" and a sense of "lost genius".

Paintings of the real romantic poets helped inform Thomas's look, revealed Williams, who also used Bright Star as a guiding reference; Jane Campion's Keats biopic, which earned an Academy Award nomination for its own costume design.

Lady Button

Lady Button is among the most popular Ghosts characters, famed for her outlandish facial expressions and eccentric grunts of shock or disapproval.

In an early episode, we learn that her husband pushed her from a top storey window after she discovered he was having a homosexual affair – the gravity of which we can address in the next section.

The dark turn of events leaves her with some prejudice, which is gradually ironed out in the enlightening early seasons; but she can never unlearn her comical obsession with manners, etiquette and respect for Button House itself.

It's a believable character trait for someone raised in a day when women of her social class were expected to be domestic "angels" and run their fully staffed home as a tight ship (in spite of Fanny's earlier aspirations to have a career of her own).

"This is the late Victorian, early Edwardian ideal that she's expected to grow up and to fulfil," said Evans. "She's obviously got conflict in that, and I think that obviously manifests in the drama in really funny and wonderful ways."

The Captain

The Captain has perhaps broken more hearts than any other Button House resident (sorry, Thomas), with early hints towards the character's unrecognised homosexuality eventually moving to the forefront in season 5.

The World War II-era character meets fellow serviceman Havers (Peter Sandys-Clarke) when they are briefly stationed together at the haunted estate, and their profound connection never leaves him in the many decades since elapsed.

At the conclusion of the war, The Captain crashes an event for frontline soldiers (of which he was not) in a desperate bid to be reunited with Havers, but suffers a heart attack in sheer panic as his intrusion goes angrily noticed.

It's difficult to overstate the risks involved in The Captain pursuing any kind of relationship with Havers, at a time when homosexuality remained illegal in Britain.

Although some openly gay men had been "unofficially tolerated" in the Armed Forces during the long and gruelling conflict, others had faced severe penalties, such as being court-martialled and imprisoned, according to Stephen Bourne (via History Extra).

He writes: "At the end of the war, the British public wanted to get back to 'normal', so women were expected to return to the kitchen, Black recruits were expected to return to west Africa and the West Indies, and homosexual men found themselves subjected to the draconian law that would see them in prison, even if they had helped to win the war."

The risk of being discovered and disgraced as a gay man may be compounded by guilt or embarrassment over having never seen combat himself, creating a "perfect storm" within The Captain that ultimately leads to his catastrophic heart attack.

So, how accurate is Ghosts?

In short, while Ghosts may not be informative enough to pass as an educational resource (sorry, kids), it's by no means a slouch in the core details of its various historical periods and character arcs.

From producer Mulot's point of view, any perceived shortcuts in depicting earlier eras can be chalked up to the restrictions of making a BBC One comedy.

"You've got a certain amount of time, you've got a certain amount of money, and we also have the joy – but also the limitation – of being at West Horsley Place," he said. "There's only so much you can do, logistically, because you're not knocking walls down."

Overall though, he considers the location a "gift" to the show and says there's "no way" that it could have looked anywhere near as authentic on a studio set.

Meanwhile, Williams described historical accuracy as "integral" to each of her designs for the ghosts, which came with "huge pressure" as they couldn't be changed in any major way beyond their debut in the very first episode.

"Each character's costume was true to the period," she explained, from Humphrey's velvet doublet to Kitty's robe à l'anglaise-style dress. In a strong show of commitment, Howe-Douglas and Adefope also endured the discomfort of wearing corsets.

Of course, total accuracy isn't an absolute requirement for a sitcom as intentionally silly as Ghosts, and the broad strokes present on its canvas would still be enough to stir an interest in certain viewers, particularly younger ones.

Evans doesn't necessarily see any harm in that, but notes that any films or TV shows playing fast-and-loose with real history do have a "responsibility to do that knowingly and do it with full transparency".

"This is obviously parody and satire, the figures aren't real so I wouldn't hold them to any historical rigour in that sense," she continued. "If it starts a conversation, if it gets people asking about real events and real characters, and it's not posing as fact, that's really great."

Evans elaborated: "I think the stickier problems come in when you have such statements as 'based on a true story' or 'this really happened', which lose all the nuance of the reality that we can never truly know.

"There are always going to be different interpretations... The phrase that we often see now is 'inspired by true events' or 'inspired by a true story', which covers all manner of sins, really.

"People can definitely say: 'we were inspired by this person, but we're not doing a historical recreation or a faithful retelling of their lives'," she concluded. "That's a good thing, because you probably couldn't do that anyway."

Ghosts is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

Add Ghosts to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more.

Check out more of our Comedy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.