When Does "Ghosts" Season One (2019) Take Place?
"Ghosts" season one is a fantasy comedy television series showrun by Mathew Baynton with Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard, and Ben Willbond that premiered April 15th, 2019. So when is "Ghosts" season 1 set?
It takes place in the year:
We know this because in season 1 episode 2 "Gorilla War" Julian Fawcett says "Right, and uhh... where are they based?" right after Alison Cooper says, "It's the Internet." so it’s clear he’s been dead enough time for the Internet to become a new phenomenon in England. During the same episode, a Google search shows his exact death day for just a second and it reads "Julian Fawcett MP Died: 18th March 1993". So it must be quite some time after March of 1993 AD.
2019 AD
We know this because in season 1 episode 2 "Gorilla War" Julian Fawcett says "Right, and uhh... where are they based?" right after Alison Cooper says, "It's the Internet." so it’s clear he’s been dead enough time for the Internet to become a new phenomenon in England. During the same episode, a Google search shows his exact death day for just a second and it reads "Julian Fawcett MP Died: 18th March 1993". So it must be quite some time after March of 1993 AD.
Furthermore, Mike Cooper and Alison are both seen using candybar-style smartphones, possibly either of them an iPhone smartphone, which first became available for purchase on June 29th, 2007 AD so it must be during or after mid-2007 AD.
In season 1 episode 5 "Moonah Ston", Mary says, "I hasn't eaten in 400 years." and in season 4 episode 4 "Gone Gone" a drawing of Mary includes the handmade guess at her lifespan "Mary 15?? - 1610 ish" so that puts the start of the series very roughly around 2010 AD.
1610 + 400 = 2010.
More specifically, in season 3 episode 5 "Something to Share?" Julian says, "My name is Julian Fawcett and I've been sober now for 27 years, 3 months, and 11 days." to which Alison Cooper replies, "Uhh no, that's not what we-- Hold on. Isn't that just how long you've been dead?" Julian is vague but admits, "Nahh, it's a technicality." Thanks to the on-screen Google search results in season 1 episode 2 "Gorilla War", we know Julian "Died: 18th March 1993". So it must be June of 2020 AD at that point and there is just one Christmas (season 2 episode 7 "The Ghost of Christmas") celebrated at around December of 2019 AD between the beginning of the show and that season 3 episode, making it no more than one year earlier than season 3 episode 5 (and some months earlier than season 2 episode 7) at the start.
3.1993 + 3.27 = 6.2020
and
2020 - 1 = 2019.
Additionally, season 1 episode 3 "Happy Death Day" begins with a prologue depicting the death of Patrick ‘Pat’ Butcher. The third shot includes a time-setting title card that reads "1984". Though this doesn’t seem to be confirmable by context, presumably it is indeed 1984 AD.
It was remade in 2021, in 2025, and again in 2025.
