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BBC Ghosts Season 2 : Life references

After months of putting it off, Season 2 is finally finished!

Episode 1 - The Grey Lady

Captain’s “For King and Country” is in reference to George VI

Thomas references Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

Julian plays ping pong and says it takes him back to the David Lloyd in Chelsea

Julian spoils the World Cup quarterfinals for Pat, implying he watched it when alive

Mary was mostly illiterate

A 14th century grindstone is found in the cellar

Captain unsurprisingly mentions the war again

Julian thinks he can do an impression of Nelson Mandela

Thomas does an impression of an earl, but I couldn’t find anything on them so please excuse my lack of British know how

Fanny appears in photos

Julian didn’t believe in ghosts when he was alive

Pat lists his skills in life: knot-tying, tent-pitching, archery

Julian references Newsnight

Fanny has been to a sideshow

I’m assuming Pat and Julian are referencing Bruce Forsyth, which Julian has before

Not a life thing, but I find it interesting that both Robin and Captain have said ghosts can’t feel the cold, only for Captain to question it

Side note: Thomas’ cheese commercial made me hungry

Fanny’s dress is made of silk

I like to think Captain talking to Dante’s taxidermy means he likes dogs

Pat likes pop quizzes

Captain likes running, a no brainer

Captain remarks that he’s in his prime and that’s he’s still got it, implying that he at least believed he was in good health when alive

Episode 2 - About Last Night

Mick the plague ghost comes back the village they’ll eventually die in

Mick claims to have had an orange, have seen a bear kill a man, and met the king and went fishing

He brought salt and clothes for the other plague ghosts, which led to their deaths

Side note: Mick coughing up the blood was so scary to me, dying from a sickness

Thomas may be able to cook, since he says he wished he could make Alison breakfast - lamb’s kidney and onion- before being cut off. I wonder if Thomas learned or liked to cook

Thomas acknowledges he wasn’t formally invited to the party, a custom he’s used to

None of the surrounding villages were struck with plague

Captain asks to watch a war documentary while Pat wants to watch football

Julian believed that you should drink more alcohol when hung over

Mary offers a remedy: mushrooms soaked in goats milk and vinegar till it’s warm

Pat says that cola is good for a hang over

Side note again: Thomas is really sweet when he informs Alison of Dante’s disappearance, or the multiple times he’s wished to help her with things like cooking and cleaning. We love a helpful king

Fanny loved Dante like her own child according to Thomas, and she once told Julian she loved Dante more anything else in the world. If she did have kids, I wonder if the relationship was strained. Also, it’s such a notable fact that everyone knows it, including ghosts that weren’t around for Fanny’s life

I know he’s easily coerced into not doing it, but the fact that Captain wanted to tell Fanny immediately that Dante was missing is very sweet

Julian has extensive experience in public inquiries, specifically being the one getting asked the questions

Julian describes how it make an alcoholic drink to Alison

Kitty’s heard white wine helps with stains

Fanny is not fond of mice

Mary thinks Veronica, Clive and Annie are nice names. I won’t include Daniel because it was her having a close call with Daniel

Dante used to like sitting by the fire

Episode 3 - Redding Weddy

Captain’s soldiers at Button House were apparently prone to giggling and horseplay

Introduction of Captain’s Lieutenant, Havers

We see Captain being informed that France has surrendered, which occurred in June 1940

Captain requested a service revolver

Lieutenant Havers had an emergency lockdown initiated shortly after

Havers informs Captain he wants to be involved in fighting, and has put in a transfer for the North Africa front

Pat is, unsurprisingly, well versed in activity badges, and everyone else can recite them

Robin knows how to skin a mammoth

Julian, my dear, you are way off. It took Mary more than 300 years to talk about the witch trial if she did indeed die in the 1610s

Pat likes Top Gun

Julian references Chariots of Fire from 1981, Mississippi Burning from 1988 and The Towering Inferno from 1974

Little reference to the next episode when Thomas says he would show Julian his glove if he had one. Also, the wedding guy says the backyard looks like a bomb site, when it literally is one. Stuff like that make the show so much cooler

Julian used to do boxing for Cambridge

Pat says s'il vous plaît

Fanny and Kitty read Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D. H. Lawrence

Julian references the Suez crisis

Thomas references Jack and the Beanstalk

Pat calls the laptop the computer that folds

Pat was with Carol at her parents’ house when the moon landing happened, eating fish and chips and trying a jumbo battered sausage for the first time

Julian was a student at Cambridge when the moon landing happened and having his first threesome

Captain claims that his dog Barry is buried where the bomb is, which is obviously untrue, but he also says that where they buried their pets, plural. I like to think Cap’s soldiers had a few dogs about

Captain has a letter with William written on it, which he tucks into his clothes. Captain says he was just thinking about Havers, which would later link to how they both knew about operation William

Havers gets a new service revolver

Captain has poster in his office about men wanted in the army, and also a wall full of books

Captain and his soldiers played cricket

Julian references 9 1/2 weeks, a 1986 erotic movie

Thomas always chooses pistol

Julian sold 50 crates of AK-47 assault rifles to the Libyans in 1983 to pay for his orangery

Julian uses a grenade and a flamethrower on Thomas, I don’t know if his “I’m melting” line is meant to reference the Wizard of Oz or not

The statue outside, Florence, was one of Kitty’s best friends

Kitty’s sister would pretend to not be able to find her when playing hide and seek

Kitty once hid for a whole day and night, and got so hungry she had to eat a bit of her purse

I mean it’s just meant to look funny and be a reference but Julian can canonically spin a ball on one finger

Nobody has ever found Kitty during hide and seek

Nice canon Cap in a coat, love a bit of that

He also smokes, or at least fiddles the occasional pipe

Oh and he threw that envelope into the hole with the bomb

Captain buried a prototype limpet mine, which was so secret only he and Havers knew about it, along with the blueprints

Captain talks bomb mechanics with Robin, the cutest thing I’ve ever seen

Pat knows about 2001: A Space Odyssey

Robin thinks the earth is flat

There’s a bit of speculation here: I can’t actually say with absolute certainty that Captain really saw Havers go. Maybe it’s wishful thinking that Havers would turn back and salute one last time, maybe it did happen, maybe it didn’t

Episode 4 - The Thomas Thorne Affair

Robin would wear a space suit, Mary a seashell dress, Tom double denim with aviators, Julian misses pants, Pat’s wearing his lovely gist, Kitty wears the same as Alison, and Captain would wear his uniform

Julian is unsurprisingly well versed in political tactics like the spin

Captain identifies a musket ball

It’s the one that made Thomas very dead

This is another thing I’m uncertain about: whether Thomas feels pain or just does it for dramatic affect

Quick side note before sad Thomas lore, I think I forgot to mention last time that Julian mentioned Great Expectations

Thomas died October 10th, 1824

Thomas came to Button House when it was owned by the Highams’, Thomas and Francis were invited

They can both ride horses

Thomas had stated the house was pleasant to look at, but he wouldn’t want to live there (rippppp)

Thomas was in love with Isabelle Higham

Thomas wrote a poem called Hermione and Roger and recited in front of everyone ( turns out he always sucked, but his poetry didn’t really sound that bad to me in this episode )

Isabelle played the harpsichord

I always wonder during this episode how Thomas remembers his death so wrongly, whether he’s lying about it or simply so horrified he forgot I don’t know

Even so, I think Thomas genuinely was in love and didn’t misinterpret as much before Isabelle

Thomas challenged some guy to a duel, we love a gun brandishing king

Francis is a bitch- anyway back to Thomas

Thomas went twenty paces instead of ten, should’ve listened to ten duel commandments Thomas

The first animation with the spinning paper thing was shown

Monster munch, no words

Julian with his bloody playboy magazine, I’m not surprised

First mention of Annie, Mary’s bestie

Humphrey is such a lovely soul, learning to admire the little things like shoes

Okay wait, Alison says “you’ve literally got forever” which parallels Captain’s “we’ve got forever”

HOLD UP THAT DUEL GUY WAS INSULTING MARY SHELLEY

HOW DARE HE

Thomas shot a bird and apologised before he died

Isabelle never came to see Thomas before he passed, he was left alone to die

Julian cried at Thomas’ death

Francis rigged the whole thing to trick Thomas and Isabelle in order to get Higham House

Francis and Isabelle’s son was George’s grandfather

Everyone is related through Robin and his sister

Poor Tom, you stay how you die and that letter isn’t going anywhere

Episode 5 - Bump in the Night

Cap likes to count with Humphrey’s hands

Captain tells Alison of life from the knees “Trust me, you don’t want a hernia” either he had one or knew someone who did

Humphrey knows that hedgehogs will leave flees in the rug

Also Captain and Humphrey’s exchange “Pick me up at six. Literally” “Very good” is so cute

Fanny references oyster forks

She assumes they’re eating oysters at the wedding

Julian sings “I’ll make love to you” by Boyz II Men

Humphrey on guard is cute

Captain does his own little vocalisation of what I’m assuming is a long way to Tipperary

Kitty assumes the intruders are there for a masked ball

Julian references the Bramptons and assumes it’s insurance fraud

Captain knows it’s a burglary

Pat tries to put them under a citizens arrest, so cute

Pat references Borstal

Alison taught Kitty acronyms - Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain

Captain calls the police the constabulary

“Burglary in process”

Captain - “why is no one ever alive when you need them?” Very telling, Cap

Julian gets worried Margaret Thatcher is dead. Too late Julian

Fanny admires the brushwork of her portrait

Cap and Pat watched Star Wars

Julian worries about getting RSI

Pat, Cap and Julian know Morse code

Julian lobbied against an animal welfare bill

Robin always gets excited by fire

Captain says he could have Robin shot off desertion, scaring Thomas

Alison meets a ghost who died hitchhiking. I find that to be an interesting concept, as the ghost is more based on the archetype. Makes me think about if Robin’s ability or character was created first

Robin howls for the dogs

Uh, Pat talks about drugs going in unsavoury places

Fanny would make a good criminal

Captain says he fought in an actual battle, it’s difficult to hear but it’s there

Julian loves a good sauna

Episode 6 - Perfect Day

Mary believes that bad weather means bad tidings for the wedding

Fanny believes marriages should be at churches

Pat’s wedding day was the best day of his life, Carol wore velvet and he wore a brown three piece

Julian was drunk on his wedding day

Fanny’s wedding day was at Winchester Cathedral and she was given away by the Marquis of Granby

Robin had at least thirty children

Kitty can throw up, and had food in her stomach when she died

Robin says that’s never happened before

Captain is very good at decorating, no surprise

Pat recognises the kid who killed him

Mary and her wedding superstitious

Both Pat and Julian talk about Dennis Waterman

Robin and Julian talk about Mick Hucknall

Kitty’s dress is burgundy

Captain has great fashion sense

Thomas references Whitechapel

You know, Thomas’ explanation of how Clare looked was pretty accurate, he’s quite aware of emotions

Fanny stops in front of George’s portrait, just an interesting detail

Fanny had high expectations placed on her since she was a child

Alison and Mike got married young

Alison had second thoughts on their wedding day

Mary had a husband, who was crushed underneath a plough three years after their marriage

The man Pat recognises is Keith Darren Dean

First time hearing about Humphrey’s marriage: it was arranged, they were both from noble families, he was fourteen she was twelve

They didn’t love each other, and Humphrey believed she didn’t like him, they couldn’t understand each other because she was French

Course later we find out she thought highly of him

Keith has guilt that has lasted decades, that sounds so painful

Fanny and Thomas exchange a look when she finally comes around to the wedding, it’s just so sweet I had to mention it

Keith remembers the knot tying Pat taught him

Episode 7 - The Ghost of Christmas

Julian is giving a speech for a bill at the start of the episode, referencing saying goodbye to Margot the day before

He refers to her as ‘this woman from my wedding’ and implies he’s about to sleep with another woman by the end of the scene

Nickname count: Dearest, darling and dear

The baby, Rachel, is heard crying on the phone

Margot asks when Julian is coming home, so he lies to her and says he won’t be back for days

Pat loves Christmas cooking, such a dear

Captain wishes he had a whiteboard

Julian points out the humbugs, and says he hates Christmas

Captain misses hearing the King’s speech on Christmas

Pat liked playing games with his nephew and his son, Daley

Games like Buckaroo, Boggle, Yahtzee and KerPlunk

Thomas misses the mistletoe, implying he’s been kissed before

Kitty used to open presents in the morning and then after lunch Eleanor would pick the ones she wanted

Mary says that some babies can see ghosts until they start walking

Julian is in the warmest room in the house due to his legs

Julian was in Brussels once at a strip club, but he tells Margot he’s at a restaurant eating moules-frites and drinking a Sancerre

Margot seems at least skeptical of him

This is one of the Christmases he misses, the last four of his life that involve Rachel

Julian references the European Union

Fanny convinced Alison to follow the tradition of chopping a tree down and bringing it on for Christmas

Fanny planted at least fifty saplings in her time

It’s kind of funny that Julian is horrified by Mary getting naked

Thomas’ Christmas recital thing wasn’t that bad

From inference, it’s implied that Julian believes Margot wanted the baby, and that he had it thrust upon him

And if “I know, darling, I know” represents Margot, and Julian thinks that’s a reaction she would have, damn is that sad

She’s practically taking the blame for his misery

Julian would go for a drive if the baby got too irritating to him

It appears that out of the four Christmases away from Rachel, one was to do oil deals, one was to be in Brussels, one at Colonel Gaddafi’s palace, and possibly another in Brussels

Pat loves Twister

Thomas and Cap have physical discipline

Pat would go to the shed to drink a Watney’s

Julian being considerate of Angela sleeping is either a new development, or something he was never pushed to do in life

The PC brigade may have interrogated Julian

Fanny seems to hold her Christmases in a high regard, despite George. Maybe it wasn’t always bad

Julian has kissed the wrong people under the mistletoe

Alison plays In the Bleak Midwinter on the piano

Rachel Fawcett is an MP for the Green Party, she’s a Major Leader of it

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