A leading producer on Ghosts season 5, the central conceit begins with Sam (Rose McIver) and Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar) wanting to turn their old manor into a successful bed-and-breakfast.

According to Deadline, while speaking at the Seriencamp Conference recently, BBC Studios International Scripted Formats Producer Charles Harrison explained why Ghosts' success owes a debt of gratitude to the beloved sitcom Friends. In the quote below, Harrison talks about the British version of Ghosts and why it shares some characteristics with “the greatest flat-share comedy”, which, he says, is Friends:

“What the castle is about is something very deep in the English psyche. For the last 20 years in the UK, all of our television has been about aspiring to own a home, to own a home in the country, or to do up a home, so the idea of winning a castle is the dream for English people. In this case, it means you’re never alone – and you end up with a flat-share comedy. The greatest flat-share comedy is Friends, and this show is indebted to Friends.”

What The Concept Of Home Means For Ghosts

The Setting Brings Out A Lot Of Comedy

Just like Friends, the adaptations of the supernatural comedy gain a lot of comedy from their location. Even in the recent Ghosts season 4 finale, some of the comedy could be gleaned from the fact that Jay's life was at risk because the objects at Woodstone Manor had started to turn on him in Final Destination fashion. That is the lighter side of the fact that Sam and Jay, in particular, pin a lot of their hopes on Woodstone's success and give the otherwise zany sitcom some of its heart.

Harrison is right that Friends set the template for how to use a location as almost another character. The apartments that all six characters on Friends lived in, in one way or another, informed the characters and gave the seminal NBC comedy many of its exciting moments. The Ghosts cast is following along those lines, creating memorable scenes in the location that they're generally not allowed to leave, with the notable exception of Richie Moriarty's Pete.

Our Take On The Ghosts & Friends Connection

The Best Shows Inform Others

It's no surprise that the BBC Studios would cite Friends as an influence. But it is surprising, perhaps, the way that Friends seems to have worked its way into the seemingly totally different premise of Ghosts. But at its core, both shows share a conceit that's common in comedies and zeroes in on very different people sharing a space and clashing. The best ones know how to make that familiarity feel brand new.

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Source: Deadline