Ghosts star Martha Howe-Douglas reveals she almost played Alison

Ghosts happens to be winding down on the exact date (Friday 10th November) that the creative team's previous show, Yonderland, reaches its 10th anniversary, so we asked Howe-Douglas about transitioning between the two very distinct projects.

She revealed that she almost slipped into the Alison role on Ghosts – the comedic woman ultimately played by Charlotte Ritchie – as she had become used to performing a similar character on Yonderland.

"For me, personally, the transition from Yonderland to Ghosts was that I got back into playing 'character' because, obviously, in Yonderland I was the sort of Alison character," began Howe-Douglas.

"And, because we did three years of that, that kind of felt like my natural... that's where I felt most at home at that point, which is crazy because we started on Horrible Histories, where we were playing all these mad characters."

She continued: "So when we were doing Ghosts and we were writing it, I was thinking, 'Should I just be the Alison character?' And the guys were like, 'No, you have to be a character, you have to come back and play with us'.

"Because when I was the Alison character [in Yonderland], Debbie, I sort of lost that sense... they were all playing the mad characters. Although I played Imperatrix, she wasn't particularly zany."

For context, Yonderland followed Debbie, a stay-at-home mother from Birmingham, who is shocked to learn she is the saviour of the titular fantasy-inspired realm, which is inhabited by all manner of larger-than-life characters.

Her arch-nemesis soon became Imperatrix, a powerful and sinister figure tied to Debbie's own origins – hence why Howe-Douglas played both roles.

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The comic concluded: "I think I was feeling a bit like, 'can I even do that again?' Because I'd been out of that for so long, just playing a sort of straight woman – and then I played Fanny, and we all know how that ended up!

"Ridiculously extreme, but so much fun. I'm so glad that they said that to me because maybe I'd lost a bit of confidence about doing a 'character' again."

Ghosts seasons 1-5 are available to stream on BBC iPlayer. Check out more of our Comedy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.

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