The spirits of Button House make a new friend in this series four episode of Ghosts BBC, writes GEMMA JOHNSON
Eww, the loathsome Barclay is back.
Just when you think he couldn’t get any worse, he surprises you as there are no limits to the depths he will sink to.
Alison and Mike have opened the Gate House as a bed and breakfast, things were swimming along until grubby greedy Barclay interferes.
There are a couple of subplots running alongside – Mike trying to find new ways of adding entertainment and activities for guests at The Gatehouse along with the ghosts making a new friend.
Although the Barclay plotline is the main focus of the episode, personally the better story is the new ‘hedge friend’ that the ghosts make.
A gentle character called Maddocks who was caught in a badger trap and died near bushes that mark the perimeter of the land around Button House.
The way that the ghosts interacted with him reminded me of when we were all in lockdown, not able to mix with people, when lockdown was lifted and we were allowed to mix there was lots of chatter and excitement.
Well, I say we… I was not one of those people.
So excited were the ghosts that they had to create a timetable so that they could all share Maddocks equally.
Maddocks was played superbly and responded in much the same way I do when I have lots of people talking at me – smile, nod and hope it soon ends.
Back to Barclay… it isn’t surprising to find out that he has ‘contacts’ and uses these to his advantage so that he can steal guests from Alison and Mike.
He has always had sleazy political undertones to his character, speaking of which the only one suited to go toe to toe with Barclay is Button Hall’s own disgraced government figure, Julian. Julian goes lower than low to try to play Barclay at his own game.
But it isn’t just Julian that saves the day, I won’t spoil it too much but will give you a clue – asbestos and zorbing.
In comparison with other episodes of Ghosts, this was one of my least favourites, the subplots seemed clunky and lacking in flow.
Typically, there is a seamless continuity between plotlines which are connected by some clever script writing. It seemed lacking here.
The saving grace of this episode was the story surrounding Maddocks the ‘hedge friend’ and that we find out he isn’t actually as new as we thought for he has been a friend of Robin for some time.
It seems that Robin has been the only one to notice his surroundings because Maddocks has always been in clear sight.
I truly enjoyed the character of Maddocks and that he felt his only option was to fake his own ‘passing on’ to get away from the other ghosts.
Whilst I wouldn’t go as far as to fake my own death to avoid speaking to someone, I will cross the road or pretend that I haven’t seen them which is kind of similar.
Takeaway lesson from this episode – fridgebaps are disgusting.
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