# Rentaghost (1976)

> A dead dreamer and two spirit associates run a ghostly business from a London house, taking on hauntings for hire.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/18970

## Facts

- Seasons: 9
- Episodes: 58
- Episode runtime: 25 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: comedy, family, fantasy
- Created by: Bob Block
- Network: BBC One
- Cast: Michael Staniforth, Edward Brayshaw, Ann Emery, William Perrie, John Asquith, Jeffrey Segal, Hal Dyer, Sue Nicholls
- TMDB rating: 6.9/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074045/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: none
- Tone: whimsical, gentle, cozy, playful, comforting

## Synopsis

Rentaghost (1976-1984) is a British family fantasy comedy broadcast on BBC One, created by Bob Block. Fred Mumford (Anthony Jackson), a dead man who never found the success he chased in life, returns to Earth as a spirit and recruits a Victorian gent and a medieval jester to set up a supernatural service for wanted hauntings. Timothy Claypole (Michael Staniforth) and the ghostly pair Harold Meaker (Edward Brayshaw) and Ethel Meaker (Ann Emery) are the principal faces of the business, and their attempts to take on jobs for the living generate the show's gentle chaos. Each episode is a self-contained caper built around a new client, a new haunting and the trouble that follows when the spirits clumsily try to solve it. Running for nine seasons and fifty-eight episodes, it moves at a brisk, playful pace with a warm, cozy tone and a strong sense of cheerful mischief. Its fantasy is goofy rather than frightening, with witches, a pantomime horse and a wry sense of old British television humour. Viewers who enjoy Bewitched, Worzel Gummidge and gentle children's ghost comedy will find its warmth familiar, and its light supernatural whimsy suits family viewing.

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