Production for Ghosts Australia, the local adaptation of the UK and US comedy hit, has officially begun in Western Australia.
The new series, set in a haunted country house, will follow Kate and Sean as they navigate life and love while dealing with a group of eccentric ghosts from different periods of Australian history.
The show promises plenty of laughs, as these ghostly housemates bring their own chaos to the mix.
From Paramount Australia:
Paramount Australia, BBC Studios Productions Australia and Screenwest, announced today that filming has commenced in Western Australia for Ghosts Australia, the new local adaptation of the beloved and critically acclaimed British and U.S. comedy.
The eight-episode comedy series is set in a haunted country house full of new ghosts who are as chaotic, unpredictable and messy as Australian history itself.
Ghosts Australia stars Tamala (Cleverman, Nowhere Boys) as Kate and Rowan Witt (Totally Completely Fine, Book Of Mormon) as Sean, with an impressive ensemble of ghosts played by Mandy McElhinney (Love Child, House of Hancock), Brent Hill (Hamilton, School of Rock), Ines English (Last Days of the Space Age, The Last Anniversary), Michelle Brasier (Thank God You’re Here, Aunty Donna), George Zhao (The Family Law, Gold Diggers ) and Jackson Tozer (Ricky Stanicky, Deadloch ).
Young lovebirds Kate and Sean are about to jump into the hellscape of the inner-city property market, until Kate inherits a huge and historic mansion in the country. The only problem? It’s haunted by a motley collection of spirits who over the centuries, carked it under this very roof.
When go-getter Kate decides to revamp “Ramshead Manor” into a boutique hotel, nerdy city boy Sean has his doubts. But when a near-death experience gives Kate the power to see the ghosts, all their lives (and afterlives) will change forever.
The question is, as Kate and Sean navigate the milestones of a new relationship, build a business and deal with the emotional needs of six neurotic ghosts, will their relationship survive… or end up as dead as their new housemates?
Haunting the Australian halls are six ghostly residents, each with a tale to tell.
- Eileen (Mandy McElhinney) is an Irish potato famine survivor, hardworking publican and mother of 13 children – all of which she never, ever complains about. Ever.
- Gideon (Brent Hill) is a stoic naval officer, fresh off the Third Fleet with similarly fresh ideas about race, gender and politics.
- Miranda (Ines English) is a socialite bride-to-be from the early 1900s, repressing more than just her brutal opinions on the other Ghosts.
- Lindy (Michelle Brasier) is a vibrant 1980s aerobics instructor with people-pleasing tendencies and terrible taste in men.
- Joon (George Zhao) is a handsome young Chinese miner from the gold rush era with an eternal concussion and a penchant for married women.
- Satan (Jackson Tozer) is a misunderstood 90s bikie with a heart of gold who is most comfortable in a 2IC role and watching rom coms in secret.
Six spirits, one sprawling mansion, and enough supernatural shenanigans to fill a haunted eternity.
Daniel Monaghan, SVP Content and Programming, Paramount Australia said:
“We’re delighted to commence production on the Australian iteration of this much-loved global comedy hit.”
“Ghosts Australia boasts a stellar cast and an incredibly talented creative team. We can’t wait to bring this witty and heartfelt show to life, complete with our set of uniquely Australian ghosts.”
Kylie Washington, EVP and General Manager, Global Entertainment Australia, BBC Studios Australia and New Zealand, said:
“We’re excited to have assembled such a talented ensemble cast to breathe life into our distinctly Australian reimagining of Ghosts.”
“Ghosts has been a runaway hit in the UK and U.S. and we’re looking forward to introducing audiences to these comedic, warm-hearted and unlikely group of flat mates that draw on our unique Australian culture and history.”
Rikki Lea Bestall, Screenwest Chief Executive Officer, said:
“Ghosts has entertained audiences all around the world, and we’re so pleased to welcome Network 10, Paramount+ and BBC Studios Productions Australia to Western Australia for the Australian series.”
“The production will kick off what is set to be an exciting year for the WA screen sector, creating a slew of opportunities for Western Australians.”
Directed by Christiaan Van Vuuren (Top End Bub, A Sunburnt Christmas ) and Madeleine Dyer (Colin from Accounts, Austin), the series is produced by Bree-Anne Sykes (Critical Incident, Wellmania) and Executive Produced by Sophia Zachariou (Ladies in Black, The Office Australia), Kylie Washington, EVP and GM Global Entertainment BBC Studios ANZ plus Paramount ANZ Head of Scripted and Comedy, Sophia Mogford.
The writing team is led by writer and executive producer Josh Mapleston (Surviving Summer ), with script editor and writer Libby Butler (Surviving Summer, Neighbours) alongside writers Shontell Ketchell (Gold Diggers), Philip Tarl Denson (Zero-Point) and Steph Tisdell (Fisk, Rosehaven).
Ghosts Australia is produced by BBC Studios Productions Australia for Network 10 and Paramount+ with major production investment from Screenwest and the Western Australian Production Attraction Incentive.
Based on the original series Ghosts, produced by Monumental Television in association with Them There for BBC One. Distributed by BBC Studios.
First produced for the BBC in the UK, the format continues to go from strength to strength. The U.S. version on CBS has just been renewed for a further two seasons, the German and French adaptations are now airing, and a Greek version is currently in production.
Ghosts Australia is made possible thanks to the State Government’s Western Australian Production Attraction Incentive – Australia’s most competitive incentive, which is designed to attract high profile, market driven screen productions to the State.
this looks 💩 & poorly cast !
Robert Fitzpatrick you can tell this from a single photo!?
Siobhãn Singh There is no arrow guy. And why is the old fashioned Asian guy the no pants guy? It makes more sense that it’s a corporate or political type. It might be good, but I’m not expecting much.
Bronwyn O’Brien i’ll withhold judgement until I’ve seen a couple of eps personally
Siobhãn Singh oh you with your common sense! This is the internet 🤣
Bronwyn O’Brien i think it’s better that they don’t try to do exactly copies of the original characters. US did that and I don’t think they should have. I think it’s best they make the characters their own. It might be good, we will wait and see. Obviously the UK one will remain the best but this could still be fun
Bronwyn because we didn’t use many arrows in Australia, they had guns by then. Most people got shot in Australia!
Floss Rutter We have bows and arrows and scouts though. And in both Ghosts the arrow guy is a scout leader giving kids a lesson with bows and arrows in the 80s.
Bronwyn less likely in Australia though, we had kind of learnt from other countries what not to do with scouts.
I think making it more Aussie might be best.
Bronwyn O’Brien in the German version It’s a woman with an arrow and she was a school teacher.
Ed Lord oh OK.
Floss Rutter Fair enough.
Robert Fitzpatrick Okay, chubby. 🤣
Robert Fitzpatrick which actor(s) do you have an issue with?
Another tv show ruined 😾
Jodie Nielsen so… You know, just as an idea… Don’t watch it.
NO!
Really! It will be crap – just like all the other shite Australia attempts to copy.
Where’s the original inhabitant – ie indigenous?
Megan Tuffley, that was my thought, too.
Megan Tuffley cultural beliefs would mean this could be considered unacceptable by some even if its just fiction
Megan Tuffley cultural appropriation means they cannot show any indigenous as being deceased. Though I would have thought Jay would be.
Lisa MC how is cultural appropriation responsible for that?
Lisa MC some Australian indigenous cultures are ok with it though
Lis Monro but others aren’t.
Megan Tuffley can’t see how they could make any stereotypical jokes about indigenous people in the current climate. This show is basically one big mass of stereotypes. The rich landowner hating the Irish and the poor, the politician being sleazy and corrupt, the hippy being ditzy, the lady of the manor looking down on everyone. Probably could have had an indigenous character if they made it in the 70s and screened it after Kingswood country.
Nicholas Birmingham easy, just make him the most charismatic character
Megan Tuffley I can’t decide whether having a token stereotyped Indigenous ghost is better than nothing at all… no, I’m not hoping they’d be able to do better
Megan Tuffley not sure how they’d be an ancestor of the current one though?
Megan Tuffley my first thought too, there should be first nations representation.
And where is the original inhabitant – an indigenous person?
Why, oh why?
Oldfella Ray why not?
Don’t know any of them except for Mandy McInerney(?) of ‘Rhonda & Katoot’ ad fame.
Dear god, why?
Talks about how it’s fun with Australia’s history etc…. It’s literally all white… so yeah
Morgan James One of the characters is Chinese, but yeah. Even in the UK and US versions there was more diversity.
Morgan James that is because putting any of the other nationalities we have on screen to play ghosts would be either deeply disrespectful of so stereotypical it would be harmful. This way it is white people poking fun at themselves. Not perpetuating harmful stereotypes.
In reality they should have cast the live people diversely, seen the reception and then reached out to cultural representatives to see if there was a way to do ghost diversity respectfully.
I mean- we can’t to a comedy about First Australian’s can we? It is different in other countries. And Australian humour is known to go too offensive.
Brittany Kempaiah what are you talking about? There is plenty of comedies with / about indigenous Australian people
In the other versions, they don’t perpetuate negative stereotypes, the same could’ve happened here
Have to be better than the American copy
Lisa Voce the original one is better then the American one
Soffire Hades I know,so good! I would never even consider watching the American one🤣
Lisa Voce the American version is amazing!
Adele Close I doubt it, when they copy stuff it’s usually rubbish🤷🏼♀️
Lisa Voce i usely agree but the American version was better then the English version, I found the English version to kidish
Why is Jay white?
Lisa MC Maybe because this isn’t Jay?
Ben Ainsworth the leading male spouse is always black on both the UK and US versions.
Lisa MC So? They’re fictional characters.
Not gonna lie. Looking forward to it
Amanda Kettlestring me too. Seen some of the English one, and recently binged the American
Sharon Weller me too . Naysayers can change channels
Why ruin this show with an Australian remake
Look at this diversity 😂
Dear God! even the characters look like carbon copies of the US one – which is a copy of the UK one
Mel Saville
Kayla Osborne there is a version in every country lol it’s ridiculous
No. Just, no.
Lisa Voce the costumes arent
Just leave it with the original
I appreciate taking on our own flavour, and as someone explained why it wasn’t possible to include a first nations ghost ( which if genuine cultural and historicals bits were included would have been wonderful).
But given how diverse culturally Australia has been since the 1860’s ( and I’m guessing that’s where the gold rush Chinese man comes from) I would expect more diversity in the cast and characters. Particularly with the modern couple.
Sounds like the Australian show glitch ( which has a range of undead from the same town from different times in history) had more diversity.
Can’t wait to watch the show and see how everything plays out.
Was looking forward to it but it’s pretty… white… I get not including an indigenous character for the sake of cultural sensitivity, but there is so much diversity in this country, and always has been, and the best they can do is one Chinese character… and they make him the “pantsless” one… Even the “living” couple are both white, unlike the US and UK versions… I’ll be giving it a miss, I think.
Benjamin Small the living woman is First Nations
Benjamin Small agreed. It’s a cop out not including a first nations ghost and opting for the main character to be Indigenous instead. Just want to white wash history and think Aussies can’t deal with it. It’s 2025
I’m sure some people just love to hate on anything new! I love both the US and UK Ghosts! Can’t wait for this!! Can’t we just let people enjoy things without judging!?
Rebecca Damjanovic ohhhh x
I love Aussie humour! If you don’t get it you don’t get it!
Danielle Zambara
Only time ive liked an American version of a English show is ghosts this looks so bad
🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
Hugh Mackrell