Mat Baynton: Ghosts axed plague extras ahead of pandemic

Mat Baynton has revealed \'Ghosts\' extras were dropped from playing plague victims during the coronavirus pandemic.

The 39-year-old actor - who plays ghost Thomas Thorne - explained how the BBC sitcom finished wrapping the latest series before the country went into lockdown, but the team had to axe the extras as the coronavirus had limited the number of people on set.

He told Metro.co.uk: "The irony was we were filming a storyline about how the plague came to the village when there was a village on the side of the house.

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"And so on that last couple of days, we had to stand down our cast of supporting artists, about 15, 20 people who were meant to come and play pandemic victims.

"We had to call and say, \'Don\'t come and play a pandemic victim because there\'s a pandemic.\' "

Co-star Simon Farnaby - who plays Julian - joked how \'Ghosts\' will become the last "multi-character comedy" made as other shows have resumed production with a limited number of cast members on set at a time.

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He said: "We\'re gonna be the last multi-character comedy ever made. The Christmas special has a lot of people. We have a cast of about 20 or 30. It was almost as if we knew it was coming."

Mat added: "It was also as if it had hit headlines months before there was any official reaction."

The first series of the show - which aired last year - starred Charlotte Ritchie (Alison) and Kiell Smith-Bynoe (Mike) as a couple who inherit a crumbling mansion called Button Hall.

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After being thrown out of a window from the property by a ghost that haunts the house, Alison returns to find that her bump on the head means she can see and speak to all the spirits that inhabit the home.