The dead refuse to stay buried in this eight-part Netflix adaptation of Jonathan Stroud's YA novels, where psychic teens hunt murderous spirits across a haunted London. Ruby Stokes plays Lucy Carlyle, the new arrival whose psychic gift for hearing ghosts lands her a job at the city's smallest ghost-hunting agency. Cameron Chapman's Anthony Lockwood runs the operation from his dilapidated house, joined only by Ali Hadji-Heshmati's George Karim and their talking skull in a jar, creating a setup that feels more like a dysfunctional flatshare than a supernatural business.
The series commits to the grim logic of its world where ghost-touch kills instantly, so every spectral encounter carries genuine threat. Lockwood's crew battles rival agencies, corrupt officials and a conspiracy involving the source of London's hauntings while maintaining the books' sardonic humour about teenage poverty and bureaucratic incompetence. The cancellation after one season leaves the central mystery of Lockwood's locked bedroom and the true nature of the 'Problem' unresolved, though the standalone case-of-the-week structure means most plot threads reach satisfying conclusions within the eight episodes.
Director Joe Cornish brings the same grounded approach to supernatural material that characterised his films Attack the Block and The Kid Who Would Be King, grounding the ghost-hunting in practical details about equipment maintenance and the economics of the ghost-hunting business. The production design creates a convincing alternate London where Victorian buildings sit alongside modern technology, and the ghosts themselves appear as decaying figures rather than CGI spectres, making their appearances genuinely unsettling rather than spectacular.
Production Details
Netflix / 1 Season / 8 Episodes / 2023 - Present
Created by: Joe Cornish
Showrunner(s): Rachael Prior, Joe Cornish, Nira Park
Writer(s): Ed Hime, Joy Wilkinson, Joe Cornish
Main Cast
Ruby Stokes as Lucy Carlyle
Cameron Chapman as Anthony Lockwood
Ali Hadji-Heshmati as George Karim
Ivanno Jeremiah as Inspector Barnes
Jack Bandeira as Quill Kipps
Rhianna Dorris as Kat Godwin
Paddy Holland as Bobby Vernon
Bronwyn James as Sergeant Wade
Louise Brealey as Pamela Joplin
Michael Clarke as Skull
Rico Vina as Ned Shaw
Morven Christie as Penelope Fittes
