An underlying theme/question in every iteration of Ghosts is: how does a man respond when there is something that plays an enormous role in his wife/girlfriend's life but that he is incapable of experiencing or even really understanding? How does a man deal with knowing that there are people who are important to his wife/girlfriend but whom he can never interact with directly? It's one of the reasons why it feels like the right choice to me that it's always the woman in the central couple who can see the ghosts. I'd say that, traditionally, there's less of a societal expectation on men to be interested in the things that matter to their female partners than vice versa.
In the different versions of Ghosts, the central man responds to the situation differently at different times. It's a situation that can prompt frustration, curiosity, jealousy, embarrassment, affection, and amusement. But it's a fundamental part of the basic premise that the non-ghosts-seeing partner consistently believes and supports his partner who sees ghosts, even if they might have some relationship ups and downs.
I think this is one of the things that's lovely about Ghosts, that it is built around a genuinely loving long-term romantic relationship but that relationship allows plenty of room for other significant interpersonal connections and interactions to be just as important in the narrative. It's a show which has a romantic long-term relationship as a key ingredient but which is really about found family.
And having just watched the Australian version of Ghosts, I think this is why I love Sean's proposal so much. Because he planned a proposal flashmob that he would be entirely unable to see or hear but that he knew would mean a lot to Kate. After stressing about doing a suitably big romantic gesture, he settled on something that wasn't really about him but was just about Kate's experience. When the ghosts are singing and dancing, the camera shows us Sean looking over to watch. But of course he's not watching the ghosts - he can't see anything they are doing. He's watching Kate's reaction, while she's looking away from him at what appears to him to be thin air. And this is how he looks at her looking at them:
I think that's a such important part of love, to be able to gain joy from someone's happiness, even when the thing that they are happy about isn't something you can share in.
So I went into this spin-off very uncertain about how a major network would adapt the BBC Ghosts format to Australian history and cultural diversity. And to be honest, they did much better than I expected.
My Main Concern:
So for non-Aussies, some cultural context: in many Aboriginal Australian cultures, it is taboo or disrespectful to name, depict, or disturb the remains of an Aboriginal person who has died. That person has joined the ancestors, Country, and/or the Dreaming and it disturbs their spirit. So it would be wildly inappropriate to depict an Aboriginal Ancestor as a ghost, even fictionally. But if you're not going to depict Aboriginal people in a show about history, well you're missing 65,000+ years (99.4%) of that history.
Now, Ghosts Australia gets around this problem two ways. One, the main character, Kate, (Allison equivalent) is Aboriginal. Two, they specifically mention the fact that it's weird that there's no mob (Aboriginal) ghosts. They've made it part of the lore of the show.
The Characters:
We get a good mix of originality and homage in the character concepts.
Kate is our lead and as mentioned she is an Aboriginal woman. Now, as of yet they haven't mentioned who her mob is, I believe because they don't want to place the show as happening in any particular state, but they have mentioned that she isn't the local mob for the Country that Ramshead Manor is located on. She's characterised as bored of her sexist and racist job and coworkers and keen turn the manor into a hotel.
Sean is Kate's boyfriend. He's notably a 'city slicker' but otherwise a very milquetoast white millennial man.
Lindy probably gets the most characterisation of the ghosts in the first two episodes, as she takes on the role of a spokesperson for the ghosts. She's adapted a bit from Kitty (BBC) in the sense that she wants to be Kate's best friend and is really energetic and into dancing. It should be noted that Lindy (and most of the other ghosts) express era-accurate sexism, as Australia has historically and somewhat presently idolised masculinity. Lindy has electricity powers like Robin (BBC) and Thor (US).
Satan also gets a fair bit of screentime as he is the one who causes Kate's accident. Satan is the lacky of Gideon in the first episode and has the power to move objects, like Julian (BBC) and Trevor (US), which Gideon orders him to use on Kate. Satan clearly has a softer side and expresses emotions and empathy a lot more than the other ghosts but hides it behind his tough, biker gang exterior. I see a lot of potential character development as he learns to open up more.
Gideon as a person sucks, however his character is almost entirely a gag. He is a former officer from the "Third Fleet" and constantly refers to everything as "his," particularly the manor. This is clearly done to make a joke of how the British colonists declared Australia to be "theirs" despite the Aboriginal population. He has an Aboriginal war spear through his chest and Kate constantly owns the shit out of him. I do think his characterisation will get old quite quickly if nothing changes though.
Eileen. I fucking love Eileen. She's a tell-it-to-ya-straight Irish woman who ran a pub with her bucket loads of kids. She's fed up with all the hoity toity ghosts (Gideon and Miranda) and talks sense into the others. Like Mary (BBC) she has some old fashioned ideas on how one should go about living life.
Joon is a beautiful himbo. Like Julian (BBC) and Trevor (US) he is missing his pants. Why? Who knows. He's not much more than a friendly airhead in the first two episodes, so I don't have much to say. I do like him but they'll need to do more with him to make him interesting.
Miranda is a spoiled rich girl. She's seen to be lounging around most of the time and is extremely classist (on-top of the era-accurate racism and sexism). She wants Kate to be her typist for a book she wants to write. She has the ghost power to chill a room (with her cold heart).
The Convicts are the equivalent to the plague ghosts (BBC). They hang out in the dark because it reminds them of being on the First Fleet, which is narratively treated like it was schoolies or Corey Worthington's party (like a frat, for Americans).
Thoughts:
I am pleasantly surprised by this adaptation. There's some really good jokes, the characters seem interesting, and the writers have really put thought into the world they're constructing. I much prefer the humour in this version to the US version, being more similar to the British style of humour in the original. There's some really quick blink-and-you'll miss jokes, particularly to do with Australian culture and humour, which I did appreciate.
I'm interested in seeing where this show goes, and hopefully it will continue to be pleasantly surprising.
What we know about the ghosts in Ghosts Australia so far, and other stories to look forward to
So I've really gotten fixated on this show and want to talk about what we know about each ghost, and my speculations about how/why they died, and any other things I think might be relevant.
Obviously this is going to be full of Spoilers, so please be mindful. I shall put them under the cut but a fair warning. I will also be putting in ages and years of death based on information given in the character advertising
Gideon - born 1775, died 1815 at ~ 40, he is chronologicallythe eldest ghost at Ramshead. We know the most about him and his death as we see his stabbing on screen. I imagine his on going story arc will be related to him being less racist, but still being a punching bag for bigoted white Aussies trying to make 'Reverse Racism' a thing. We, so far as I can tell, don't know his surname, but know he's from Bath. We also don't have a ghost power for him yet, if he even has one. I can also see him being more of a presence in any on going Larkin stories, and being able to give some more perspective for any ghosts telling their stories as he'd like have seen them as with Joon.
The Convicts - They're convicts. It might be nice to get a spotlight episode or old open on them. They seem to have been contemporaries with Gideon and Larkin but have a variety of ages and like a variety of times of death.
Joon - born in 1829, died in 1856 at ~27 - We know a good amount about Joon, we know a lot about his life while he was alive how he we very popular with lonely married women for his himbo tendencies. While we have seen a lot of what his last day seems to have been (the day with his big gold nugget) we don't actually have confirmation on how he died. I personally assume he died from complications due to his concussion, but we don't yet know. We also have some assumption that he will be shown to get ghost powers at some point as they pointed out specificly that he doesn't yet have them. I assume that the first episode of next season will be about whylere his gold nugget should go and if he will leave the manor. I could also see an episode where his great times whatever nieces and nephews come to pay respects at some point.
Eileen - born in 1827, died in 1882 at ~ 55, she is our longest lived ghost, but is only two years older than Joon chronologically. We saw no flashbacks of her this season, but based oh her, frankly quite horiffic, life story as she tells it, she was a child during the great hunger and seems to have travelled to Australia at around the same age, her ship may have had an accident and she had to use her cousins body to get her to her location, Tasmania. Some time after that she becomes the publican of Ramshead, and the mother of about 13 kids, only getting married after the third. I imagine her wedding, or one of her children's might actually get shown on screen in the lead up to Kate's wedding. Cause of death currently unknown, but if ghost powers are a reliable tell at all, it may have been something related to alcohol, however ghost powers in this series might be more based on general life stuff. I could also see an episode where her family comes back to the manor (maybe one has converted to being a protestant?)
Miranda - Born 1897, died 1919 at ~22, she is our shortest lived ghost, and likely our first ghost to be born on the continent. Full name of Miranda Persephone Bathsheba Munchen. Our repressed historical gay, we love that for her. She has Make things cold ghost powers, and it's implied she died from the Spanish Flu (just like Edward Cullen) . I think her ongoing novel writing woes and stuck up attitude might be her centeral but going forward, I also have home that her and Virginia may be reunited. Virginia is implied to have died at the Larkins home, which shares a boarder with Ramshead so I think there could be story line in which Kate and Sean go to the Larkins to bury the hatchet and Kate sees Virginia, leading to an very tearful reunion and a good earnest character beat for Miranda.
"Ned", died some time in the 1970s - I can see him coming back for bit roles, maybe as a sequal to his episode and giving Lindy some more active character development. Could also see him being the first ghost that Kate sees get sucked off, maybe because he finally accepts that he's an actor?
Lindy- Born 1953, Died 1987 at ~ 34. She would be 72 had she lived to current day. Full Name of Lindy Darwin-Paul. Oh Lindy can someone PLEASE give this girl a hug and also sit her in front of a computer to watch a Feminism and Body Positivity 101 playlist. We know she has electricity powers like Robin and Thor in the other series, but no implications that she was struck by lightning or what her specific death was. Given she's in her Aerobics gear I assume she was maybe filming on location and a set accident happened, or maybe her shitty boyfriend/stepdad Dale had her killed on purpose. I can see her having more 'let's give Kate advice on romance and love' episodes.
Satan - Born 1965, died in 1999 aged 34, he would be about 60 if he was still alive. His given name is Brian. Was a Bikie sold and cooked meth in Ramshead and seems to have done more enforcer/intimidation work for the gang. He also clearly has a lot of more feminism interests in chickflicks and if you watch carefully you can see knows all of Danny's lines in Grease as he and Lindy are mouthing along. It's also pretty easy to tell he has a crush on Lindy and I think it'd be cute to see that explored more, especially as Satan's arc is hopefully going to be about him being more vulnerable. He has the touch ghost power, but we don't know how he died, he does have a big burn on his face, but until we get flashbacks, it remains to be seen if that's related to his death or just an accident that made him look a bit scary.
Kate and Sean - Born in 1995 and 1993 respectively, both in their early 30's. I imagine most of the second season will be dedicated their engagement and upcoming wedding. As part of that, I can see a story in which Kate's mum insists on smoking the house before the wedding, which makes Kate worried for the Ghosts.
EDIT FOR ADITIONAL INTERESTING DETAIL:
Lindy in literally the opening sceen states that they've lived in the house with Great Uncle Alfred for 30 years, which if she's not rounding up, it might mean that he was in the Bikie gang with Satan. Though the house could have very easily been sold on the cheep after Satan died to Alfred who himself became a reclusive hoarder.
okay ghosts australia eps 1&2 were so very fun! I will be watching them week to week bc i dont have paramount ALSO i wanna drag it out and enjoy for as long as possible. If ppl arent tagging spoilers already, might be good to do so for folks like me! <3
giving initial thoughts below the cut!
Love Kate, and the incorporation of her indigenous heritage, will def be interested to see how they deal with/explain the lack of indigenous ghosts. In regards to colonisation etc they seem very self aware, def interested to see how they continue to tackle this stuff!
The whole thing feels distinctly Aussie and the couple are very contemporary but not in a weird way ? (ie, Kate's house of darwin shirt, them at horrible rental inspections, the list of things shaun (shawn?) likes about the city, mentioning welcome to country)
All of the ghosts got at least one laugh out of me, I already have a soft spot for all of them (except Gideon, but thats his function and he did make me laugh) ESP Lindy, but I'm def biased cos I'm a Michelle Brasier stan and they gave her Robin's powers and Kitty's joy like of course I'm gonna love her.
The convicts in the basement are very fun, another bizarre way of poking fun at colonial australia.
I also enjoy how Kate just kinda accepts the seeing ghosts thing relatively quick? Like shes quite nice to them quite quickly, not so hesitant as Alison.
The scenery is really lovely, i always love seeing Australian plants and landscapes in film.
My only real gripe is that the pacing is VERY fast and the eps are VERY short so honestly I don't feel entirely across everyone whos in the house yet, like its honestly hard to parse out their names but its only ep 2 so forgiven, but something to note I suppose. This is more a signal of the state of the Australian TV industry than bad writing. It also doesnt have the grimey feel that the UK does, but its not as shiny as the US, the house they filmed in feels super dynamic and interesting, which I love.
Overall, looking forward to more!!!
Also! Did anyone else see Ned Kelly?? Cos i sure did! Would be super funny if he comes back.
Holy shit, if Miranda is named because of iconic Australian film Picnic at Hanging Rock, does that mean that Lindy Darwin-Paul is named after another Lindy who was famous in the 80s??
Back in September 2024 the news about Ghosts Australia broke, and I was not optimistic...
I was wrong about it being bad, it is best case scenario all around! Was I right about anything?
"Uptight governor's wide" ❌ But we do have an uptight governor, so I'm giving myself partial points
"Plucky Irish groom" ❌ But there is an Irish stereotypical character, so I wasn't completely off!
"Chinese gold rush guy" ✅ Yay, got one!
"Some guy called Dane who died after being king hit by a guy he called the C word" ❓ Ya know what, I'm giving myself some credit for this one - I went too specific, but I think Satan works on vibes
"Can't have any more chicks cos women weren't invented in Australia till 1995" ❌❌❌❌❌ So happy to be wrong about this one! Bubbly 80s aerobics instructor! Bored and bitchy spoiled rich girl! Bawdy Irish inn keeper! Everyone everywhere calling out misogyny!
"Slutty maid" ❓ Eileen's an inn keeper rather than a maid... But we do have a slut! Yeah okay it's Joon, but the elements are there 😅
I was also so ready to be mad about indigenous representation/lack of acknowledgement and I am delighted to be wrong!
