Ghosts film was not the plan, says starring actor

Actor and comedy writer Mathew Baynton says suggestions of a Ghosts film were dismissed originally by the cast, but their minds were changed within a single morning.

The BBC sitcom, about a group of ghosts dismayed when a young couple move into the home they inhabit, first aired in 2019.

Baynton, from Southend-on-Sea, said the group decided to end production in 2023 while the quality was still intact, until producer Alison Carpenter insisted they all sat back around the table.

"'And then if you don't have anything by the end of the day, fine'," he recalled her saying.

The 45-year-old said they humoured her request and the film was released in the UK on Friday.

Baynton is part of a group of six comedy actors who have stuck together since the BBC's Horrible Histories first hit screens in 2009.

Becoming known as The Six Idiots - officially named Them There - the troupe also features Jim Howick, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond.

Baynton said being back with the gang felt like "coming home" for a "family reunion".

"Families can rub each other up the wrong way, [but] deep down, you love each other," he explained.

"We all find each other really funny, we're all fans of each other.

"You spark each other's imagination and ideas sort of snowball.

"I find when I write on my own, it's a much more drawn-out process. There's a lot more silence in between those sparks where you just stare at a wall."

Baynton said it was only while writing that the cast realised there was a strong family theme between the characters.

"I think there's a reason that family sitcoms are always the ones that seem to endure or find the biggest audiences, because people love to see family reflected back at them," he said.

Baynton was cast in the hit BBC comedy Gavin and Stacey as Smithy's gormless friend Deano, but was absent for the show's final farewell at Christmas in 2024.

"It didn't align, unfortunately," he said.

"I don't think it mattered that I wasn't there. It was a brilliant thing for the fans anyway."

He revealed that writers James Corden and Ruth Jones gave him the role after he initially auditioned for an estate agent character that eventually went to Marc Wootton.

He told BBC Essex presenter Sonia Watson about his nerves on set with "icons" like Rob Brydon, as Bryn, and Alison Steadman, as Pamela.

"I was overawed to the point of, like, I couldn't really speak to them," he said.

"I think they probably thought I was this really rude young man, but I was just starstruck by those two in particular."

Baynton grew up with a creative side, having played gigs in bands around Southend as a teenager.

He is grateful for those formative years.

"I think a lot of people... they want to get out of the town they grew up in. And now when I go back, I just can really sort of appreciate how great it is," he recalled.

"[Southend] had this great counterculture that I could be part of."

He said growing up in the Essex town (now a city) - rather than London - "felt like you could be part of something".

He recalled playing at Club Riga, The Railway Hotel and Chinnerys.

Ghosts: The Possession of Button House is being shown in cinemas.

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