Ghosts: The Possession of Button House

Maybe there are circumstances where being a politician inside a boy is okay; nobody tell Julian about the price of Freddo's, or he might get sucked off. Going for a cheeky Nando's now; no idea why. Might even follow it up with half a dozen scotch eggs just for a laugh. I'll take ten more of these, please.

A bunch of kids sneak into an old country pile that is earmarked for redevelopment and have them selves a ouija-board session. Of course they are sceptical, but when they get a little more than they bargained for they swiftly skedaddle. That leaves us still in the room with a selection of the ertswhile residents of this house who are stuck in limbo. By and large they are a benign group of folks who miss the company of "Alison" (Charlotte Ritchie) who could actually see them without the aid of any spookery when she lived there, but who has recently moved away to have a bairn. Anyway, undeterred the kids come back for a follow-up and this time "Jack" (Scott Ellis Watson) volunteers to be the conduit - and that's where the adventures all start to heat up. Instead of him returning to his own corporeal form they are interrupted and he finds himself not only exchanged with the semi-clad former MP "Julian" (Simon Farnaby) - a man twice his age, but also embroiled in a dastardly plot that is going to require an unique level of cooperation between their respective worlds - and against the clock too, if the equilibrium is to be restored and the constabulary placated. It's a little slow to get started this, but once the scene is set it's really quite an entertaining family drama with some solid performances from the adults who have inhabited the place for generations. Jim Howick looks like he's enjoying his role as the former scout master turned amateur psychologist; we've a sagely head (think Sir Walter Raleigh) that appears to be remarkably nifty, some protesters trying to save the trees and all the while Ellis Watson (anyone else think he looks like Richard Armitage?) leads the children in the best spirit of Enid Blyton meets Agatha Christie. This film is very remisicent of the quality dramas the BBC used to produce for a Sunday evening with a few familiar faces, decent production values and best of all - a story that keeps us interested, and with a bare minimum of special effects and a fairly unique police car chase, this is really quite good fun.