Gold commissions Marley’s Ghosts for a second series

UKTV, the multi-award-winning media company, has commissioned a second series of Marley’s Ghosts(6 x 40') for its comedy channel Gold, continuing its investment in UKTV Original content.

Marley’s Ghosts was the second highest rated show on Gold in 2015, with the premiere episode achieving an average audience of 432k, up 337% on slot. Following this success, UKTV has commissioned a further six episodes, including a Christmas special, of the popular show. John Hannah (A Touch of Cloth, Atlantis, Spartacus), Sarah Alexander (Jonathan Creek, Me & Mrs. Jones, Undercover), Jo Joyner (Ordinary Lies, No Angels, Trying Again) and Nicholas Burns (The World's End, Benidorm) return to lead the cast of this scripted comedy, which averaged 351k across the series.

In the first series we discovered Marley’s (Sarah Alexander) rare ability that she can talk to the dead, which sadly includes her husband Adam (John Hannah), her lover Michael (Nicholas Burns) and the local Vicar (Jo Joyner). So began a bizarre ménage-a-quatre, with Adam, Michael and the Vicar all moving in, albeit in ghostly form, to Marley's home.

The second series sees magistrate Marley trying to live her life while sharing her house with three ghosts. Marley is put through the minefield of moody teenagers, jealous neighbours, and new romances, while her resident ghosts continue to inflict havoc along the way.

Ordered by Steve North, General Manager for Gold, and Richard Watsham, UKTV’s Director of Commissioning, the series is commissioned by UKTV’s Senior Commissioning Editor, Simon Lupton, and co-produced by Objective Fiction, part of Objective Media Group, and John Stanley Productions. The series is written by Daniel Peacock with James Dean series producing and Jonathan Gershfield directing. The Executive Producers are Simon Lupton for UKTV, Objective Fiction’s Ben Farrell and Objective Media Group’s Layla Smith.

Simon Lupton said, “The pilot run of Marley’s Ghosts received an overwhelmingly positive response from our viewers. Launching scripted comedies can be a challenge so we are incredibly proud of this series and its performance and couldn’t wait to give Danny Peacock the go ahead to take us back into that world. We are happy to announce that the fantastic cast of Sarah Alexander, John Hannah, Nicholas Burns and Jo Joyner are returning to the series and will be bringing Marley, Adam, Michael and the Vicar back to life (so to speak) for us.”

Steve North, General Manager for Gold said, “Marley’s Ghosts connected brilliantly with the Gold audience and we are delighted to welcome it back for a full series. We are all in high spirits to see the superb cast return to our screens later this year.”

Layla Smith, Executive Producer said, “We love Marley’s Ghosts – a great concept, terrific writing and a wonderful cast. We were just delighted that Gold viewers liked the show too and now we get to make some more.”

Matt Lucas, CEO of John Stanley Productions added, 'I'm thrilled that this series is returning. The writing is consistently inventive and original and the cast bring it to life brilliantly.’

The pilot run of Marley’s Ghosts was hugely successful with a series average of 351k, which was 243% up on the slot and a high ABC1 profile of 54%.