Trade magazine Broadcast first reported the BBC was finalising a deal for the broadcast rights to the CBS version of the show, which premiered in the US in October 2021, and has a second season due to begin airing there on the 29th of September. The CBS remake sits alongside the critically acclaimed UK original, from the team behind Horrible Histories, which released its fourth series on the BBC in September. Both shows share an identical premise: a young couple inherits a dilapidated mansion filled with the ghosts of the people who have died there throughout history. Charlotte Ritchie and Kiell Smith-Bynoe played the roles of the couple in the UK original, with iZombie‘s Rose McIver and The Mindy Project and Never Have I Ever‘s Utkarsh Ambudkar portraying their US equivalent. UK viewers will certainly recognise most of the ghosts in the US cast, including Sheila Carrasco (Jane The Virgin), Devan Long (Doom Patrol), Succession‘s Asher Grodman and The Good Place‘s Brandon Scott Jones, whose performance earned him a nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series at the 2022 Critics’ Choice Television Awards. The creators and stars of the original Ghosts – Laurence Rickard, Mathew Baynton, Ben Willbond, Jim Howick and Martha Howe-Douglas – are also executive producers on the US version of the show alongside its creators Joe Port and Joe Wiseman. Port and Wiseman have worked as a writing duo on shows including The Office, New Girl and The Odd Couple. One major difference between the two versions of Ghosts is the number of episodes per series. While the first three series of the UK version total 20 episodes in all, the US remake of Ghosts has 18 episodes in season one alone, with a similar number expected in the second season. Both versions of Ghosts have been very well-received on their respective sides of the pond, with the CBS remake earning a 91% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, making it one of the rare successful adaptations of a British sitcom. It was also the number one comedy on Paramount+, the show’s exclusive streaming home in the US. In the UK, the BBC named the first original series ‘the top comedy series on UK television so far this year‘, and in the 2021 BAFTAs the show was nominated for Best Scripted Comedy. The BBC has also recently confirmed the UK original of Ghosts will air its third Christmas special episode in December 2022, a story putting Jim Howick’s Pat in the spotlight.
