Don’t ghost this show and let it join the undead.

Additionally, the economic crises that the pandemic has caused are also reflected, along with a time freeze in technology that denies phones and smart watches from helping the high-octane heroes. Quarantine is solely reflected by a night curfew, but the desire for everyday objects to be clean of ghosts and the need to cover things (like masks) or let in daylight (like ventilation) also set up the show to be a depressing but honest depiction of the persistent and pervasive pandemic that has recently come to pass. As is normal with London, the issues of class, gender and popularity versus skill are commonplace in this show

15-year-old Lucy Carlisle (Ruby Stokes, whom you might recognise from Bridgerton) is the main protagonist; a recently fired agent from the north of England, an origin which changes our understanding that the main hero has to have some kind of noble, posh voice Anthony Lockwood (Cameron Chapman, whom you will not recognise from Bridgerton or indeed anywhere else) initially occupies the eccentric-mystery-man role that can be seen in Strangers on a Train (though I’m sure he’s a better man than he is), but as the show progresses, we see that unlike the films and TV shows of the past, it is Mr Lockwood that will depend on Lucy, not the other way round.

The third member of the agency is not an agent at all, but someone who (in slang terms) we could describe as a nerd, called George (Ali Hadji-Heshmati). Although initially seeming repellent and useless with his rude manners towards Lucy and Mr Lockwood, we eventually see that his most remarkable aspects are hidden in his head. In some ways, we could argue that the real hero did not exist on the battlefield but instead enclosed in the walls of his own home.

However, as the show progresses, the initial flair for fun and family-friendly entertainment has joined the undead, with the aged-up cast failing to represent our heroes’ true ages as well. Although still strong, I started to wonder if shortening it to two long movies might have been better, since some of the actual effects, including the swashbuckling sword fights (though nowhere near the standard of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and an incredibly 'show-off-esque' sequence involving vibrant colours and indoor running water (think John Wick 3’s poster) are worthy of the big screen. Despite this, however, the final ghost belongs in the box named “Cheap, Primitive and Overall Worst SFX Onscreen in the 1900s” in the pile marked “As if Clash of the Titans Happened in London"

The sounds the ghosts make are at times a little laughable, but probably work for the early teens age group that the show is meant for The strangest thing of all is that the show seems to give up the ghost as the episodes roll on, metaphorically and literally.

Considering it’s a show about ghosts, it doesn’t seem like there are quite enough towards the end of the show Also, why does the captive Type 3 ghost need to talk?

It is not necessary, but more importantly, why does he talk like he’s in an amateur pantomime, and where is the ghost gag? I understand the need for a posh and naturalistic-sounding voice, but the ghost’s strongest lines are (though rather funny) their wordless wails, not their wasteful words

Lockwood & Co. is mostly loyal to the original books that it’s based on, and the screen-based eight-part series retells the stories of the first two books ('The Screaming Staircase' and 'The Whispering Skull') Small differences in the series include the change of George’s surname, the omission of a rescue by the Kipps’ Crew (the rivals of Lockwood & Co) and changing the gender of John Fairfax’s associate to a woman Nevertheless, the loyalty is very strong, and the down-toearth setting and violence that, unlike Avengers movies, does not occur every five minutes, make its textual origins much easier to see, and although this makes the show rather slow-paced for a TV audience, it increases its realism and allows us to see them as Stroud intended us to.

The main problem with the series, and I guess the books, that we need to discuss is whether the concept is too similar to Ghostbusters to be called original. Stroud’s inclusion of the pandemic and harder-hitting moments makes them certainly different enough to be considered different ideas, but the fact that both agencies are laughing stock at first and both have eccentric owners suggests a potential comparison that could lead the audience to believe that they’ve seen this all before However, we should remember that Star Trek had the warp drive before Star Wars’ hyperdrive, and the Dune franchise featured hyperspace travel before both of them, but they are not so much rip-offs as they are different takes on the same thing, so all in all, it would be too neurotic to call this a rip-off.

It may not turn out to be the glorious gold dust of fame that it clearly hoped to be, but nevertheless, Lockwood & Co is a funfilled, moving and engaging addition to Netflix’s line-up this year, and although its ghosts sometimes seem too comical to be taken seriously, it certainly doesn’t fail to get the spine chilling