Ghosts has been a hit for the BBC in the UK and CBS in the U.S. Now viewers in France are going to get their own version of the comedy series, which follows a group of spooks from different eras who reside alongside a living couple who move into a country mansion.
The French series — Ghosts : Fantômes en Héritage — will drop on Disney+ in France and then play on commercial broadcaster TF1. The show was set up through BBC Studios, the French arm of which produces. It is a version of the Monumental-produced UK series not its U.S. equivalent.
The team behind the French comedy tell Deadline that having become fans of the show and its writing, they stuck closely to the stories from the UK series in their first season, which like its British forbear runs to six instalments. They are, however, already working on a potential Season 2. If that is greenlit, they will take a page out of the books of the U.S. version of The Office and stray further from the Brit scripts.
Arthur Sanigou writes and directs and said that even before Season 1 has bowed, the team is working on a potential second run. “Yeah, we’d love to,” he said when asked if he wants the French Ghosts journey to continue. “ We are writing the Season 2.”
Joris Goulenok co-wrote the series and is also hopeful the French story continues. “We wanted to have something that if a few seasons happen after [Season 1], to be able to go further in our own path,” he said. The same as with the U.S. version of The Office, which sticks to the Ricky Gervais version at first.”
Alison and Nabil are the young couple in Ghosts: Fantômes en Héritage. The line-up of spooks will be familiar to fans of the British show, with some twists to account for French culture and history. There is also new character, a Nazi collaborator from World War 2 who is a social outcast.
The ensemble cast includes Camille Chamoux, Hafid F. Benamar, Fred Testot, Tiphaine Daviot, Bruno Sanches, Paul Scarfoglio, Monsieur Poulpe and Paul Deby.
Sanigou and Goulenok did not know the UK show before becoming involved with the French series but quickly became fans.
“The English show was not very famous in France, it was very new for us, and we watched all the UK series,” Sanigou explained. “After the first two minutes, I was like: Okay, I love it, the energy, the comedy, the setup with some shots where you see the ghosts and some where you don’t.”
If further seasons happen the team might stray further from the UK scripts. They are clear, however, that for opening season, they stuck closely to the hit BBC show to establish the set-up and characters. “We are very close to the UK version [in Season 1], there is some magical stuff that’s working in the UK series,” Sanigou said.
Goulenok elaborated: “We didn’t want to break what was going well, you know, the structures. They are very good, the English writers.”
All episodes of the series drop on Disney+ in France on April 9 and will also be on the streamer’s Belgian service. It will be on TF1 in a later window. Studio TF1 is selling the French show internationally.
