Ghostswas first a BBC show that was such a hit, an American adaptation of the show was made. It isn’t uncommon for a UK show to be remade for Americans. American television is popular in the UK, but it doesn’t go both ways. Some of the most notable shows that were originally made in the United Kingdom includeThe Office,Veep(The Thick Of It),Shameless, andHouse of Cards, but that is not an exhaustive list.
Both versions ofGhostsstart the same: a young woman unexpectedly inherits a large, but haunted home after the passing of a distant relative. When she and her husband arrive, they find the house in disarray but decide to renovate it. Both women face near-death experiences, both at the hands of the ghosts. After they each die for exactly three minutes,they can see ghosts. Despite believing the ghosts to be side effects of their injuries, they both eventually come to terms with it and convince their husbands of their existence as well. From here, the stories begging to grow in different directions. Both continue to be heartfelt, funny, and dark all at once, but there are a few key differences.
10The Set Up
To differentiate the couples from the very beginning, Sam and Jay in the American version are struggling for money and see this mansion as a chance to start over. Contrastingly, Mike and Alison find themselves in financial trouble because while she is in a coma, Mike takes out a gigantic mortgage on the house to renovate it. Speaking of a coma, Alison sustains her ghost-inducing injury by being pushed out of a window by a ghost and dies. Sam, on the other hand, is tripped down the stairs by a ghost and dies.
Their plans for the house also differ. Sam and Jay want to turn the house into a cozy bed and breakfast, while Mike and Alison have big plans to flip the house and make it a luxury hotel. These key differences in the exposition set up the shows to have wildly different takes on the same story.
9UK Ghosts Fleshes Out the Ghosts
While the ghosts in the UKhave rich backstories, they do blend together a little bit giving off a general group vibe of old-timey British aristocrat. The American ghosts are very individualized even if they aren’t as multifaceted in their backstories. Despite the generalization of the UK ghosts, there are fewer of them so more of them can have a backstory, and it can carry on between episodes. In the American version, most of the ghosts have some explanation, but they tend to fall short. For example, Crash obviously died in a car accident, but there’s little more detail.
8American Ghosts Focuses on the Couple
In the American version, Sam is a freelance writer and Jay is a chef, whereas, in the UK version, the couple’s backstory is a little more ambiguous. The American version goes on to prioritize character development for Sam and Jay and focuses more on them than the ghosts at times. In the UK version, Mike and Alison are vessels to drive the ghosts’ antics and stories. The American story also features more living guest stars. In this version, there are other living humans coming and interacting with Sam and Jay such as neighbors, workers, and family. In the UK version, most guests are of the undead variety.
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7Cultural Folklore
Respectively, the UK and America have their own folklore and that is reflected in the different versions ofGhosts. In the UK version, there is a headless ghost reflecting the common character of a headless man in UK folklore. Because of this, Sir Humphrey is a character that makes total sense and even gets his own storyline in the UK version ofGhosts.
Due to his popularity, they added a headless man to the American show, but without the trope to back it, he doesn’t really make sense and is underused. They call the American headless ghost Crash whichimplies a car accident, but just doesn’t really add to the story the way it does in the UK version. The version ofGhostsset in the UK also features folklore tropes like finding a hitchhiker, a woman in white, and a historically inaccurate “witch” ghost.
There is a lot more folklore in the American version, mainly because the AmericanGhostsis releasing longer seasons, so they need more stories. It features séances, a hippie ghost, a haunted workplace, death at a boy scout camp, hazing, ghost-proof vaults, and British Revolutionary ghosts hiding out in the shed thinking it’s the barracks. In a pleasant surprise, so far the US version has avoided overdone folklore tropes such as psychiatric hospital grounds, Native American burial grounds, the Salem witch trials, and similar clichéd ghost stories.
Stephanie is the ghost who embodies American folklore best. She is a teenage girl who was murdered on prom night by a chainsaw murderer. This ghost dies in a very stereotypical American trope, but also lives the trope as a ghost. She lives up in the attic and sleeps all day, just like a living American teenager.
6Differing History
There are many different historical differences between the UK and American versions ofGhosts, considering each country has a very different past, but the most obvious one is that they both feature ghosts who have died from diseases. In America, cholera was a big disease, in the same way the plague was a killer in the UK. Each series has a set of disease-ridden ghosts, and they are historically accurate to the country. These ghosts include British World War II officers in the UK version and soldiers from the War of Independence in the American version.
In smaller ways, Crash in the American version of the show reflects a 1950s greaser type that was common in the States. There is another character in the American version, Trevor, who died after lending clothes to a friend that was hazed in a “bro-code” ritual symbolizing the American fraternity hazing and corruption that don’t exist in other parts of the world.
5Differing Geographical Characters
While the American version avoided stereotypical Native American tropes, it embraced featuring more historically accurate Indigenous characters. They have Indigenous representation in their writer’s room as well as a consultant to make sure they are doing the character justice.Sasappis is a Lenape characterwho is from the 1500s. His life was lived before America was established, making him one of the older ghosts in the American version, a unique issue exclusive to the American version: it hasn’t existed nearly as long, so many of the ghosts are more modern.
The oldest ghost in the American version is parallel to the UK one. In the AmericanGhosts, he is a Viking named Thorfinn whereas in the UKGhosts, there is a caveman named Robin. These characters reflect the people who have lived and died on both continents, while tactfully avoiding ones that nobody wants to hear more about like Christopher Columbus or other widely praised colonizers.
4Sexuality and Race
Sexuality and race aren’t the biggest changes in the series, but it is done tactfully, when necessary, to reflect each country’s differences. Captain Isaac Higgintoot and The Captain are two characters that reflect each other in their occupation well as their sexuality. Despite their similarities, the two’s differences are defined by their geography and abilities. Captain Isaac Higgintoot causes the living to smell a foul odor when he passes through them. The Captain in the UK version has no extra abilities.
The characters that parallel each other most, but still differ greatly are Kitty and Alberta. Kitty’s backstory is one that originated in the Caribbean as a slave. She was based on the life of Dido Elizabeth Belle and her struggles of growing up with her white family. Kitty’s story reflects some of Black history in the UK and while it is not completely untrue for America, her story wouldn’t be as effective.
Slavery is a much heavier and close-to-home topic in the United States and so Alberta’s story lends itself more to an American comedy. She is a Prohibition-era lounge singer whostill faced racismin her life living in the 20s, but not as intensely as slavery, which likely would’ve been a turnoff for American viewers watching a comedy. Her story was important and told to reflect America’s history, as Kitty’s was for the UK.
3Parallel Characters
As previously mentioned, there are several parallel characters in the series and some have slightly different backstories or importance in the series. One example of differing importance is the headless character in each series. The UK version makes Sir Humphrey a bigger character and develops a story for him. The US headless ghost does not hit the nail on the head, and he drifts into the background. The US version is also missing a parallel for the UK’s poet character, Thomas Thorne. A poet would’ve been easy to plug into the American version and much easier to justify than a headless man.
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Another parallel character with a differing backstory is the pantsless man. While Trevor in the American version is far more nefarious in his nudity, the UK pantsless doesn’t behave in such a lighthearted way. Julian is the ghostwho tried to murder Alison, but he didn’t die in an honorable way, so why be an honorable ghost? He died after having a heart attack during a scandalous sex act. While Trevor claims a similar story saying that he died after having sex with a limousine driver, the truth is that he gave his pants, wallet, and underwear to a friend who lost his own in a hazing ritual. In their afterlife, they differ too. Julian is more serious and badly behaved at times, whereas Trevor is mischievous and fun.
2British Horror
Both shows are dark comedies that have some element of darkness to them. It comes with the territory of being a television show about ghosts and how they died, but the UK version leans more into British horror creating a different tone compared to the American version. Lady Button re-enacts her own death in the middle of the night until Julian changes her clock. This in itself is darker than most of the American show. This constant re-enactment of throwing herself out the window is less palatable to US viewers.
In the first episode of the UK version, Julian sets out to kill Alison by pushing her out of the window. Contrastingly, Trevor only tries to scare Sam in the first episode by tripping her. This darker theme in the UK version continues through another ghost trying to kill Alison to be with her, the Plague ghosts being creepy and less funny than the Cholera ghosts, and the terrifying little girl who lives in the boiler room. Overall, the UK version ofGhostsis just scarier than the American one.
The UK version is spookier, so of course, the US version is goofier. The UK style of humor is very dry and the series doesn’t really stray from what works. Conversely, in the American version, there are a lot of different comedy styles utilized. Trevor’s character is mentioned not to have pants, just like Julian in the UK series, but the American version is comedically graphic. Trevor waltzes around without underwear and even has to be comedically censored with blurring when he “flashes” the camera.
Another example of the differences in humor between the two shows is reflected in the parallel characters Pete and Pat. They are both scout leaders whowere killed accidentally by a child. The American version leaves it as a freak accident that is somehow still funny whereas in the UK version, the boy is seen mourning and dealing with the consequences of his mistake. This would be far too heavy to bounce back from so quickly in the American version but is not so detrimental to the UK version ofGhosts.
