The failed Regency era poet fell head over heels for Alison from the moment he saw her and \u2013 considering himself an expert in courting and romance \u2013 has deemed it an inevitability that they would one day be together.<\/p>\n
Of course, Alison is happily married to Mike (Kiell Smith-Bynoe<\/a>) and has no interest in dating a soppy apparition, which has led to moments of exasperation as she\u2019s dealt with his various gestures.<\/p>\n In Ghosts season 5 episode 1, which is set on April Fools\u2019 Day, an opportunity arises to turn the tables.<\/p>\n Alison writes Thomas a letter beckoning him to a secret meeting place, where she has seemingly prepared a romantic dinner and professes her love for him. He completely buys into the ruse.<\/p> However, when Alison unbuttons her shirt to reveal a T-shirt underneath reading April Fools\u2019, he is rendered hysterical by the elaborate prank.<\/p>\n In an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com<\/a>, Ghosts co-creator and star Baynton acknowledged viewers may have \u201csympathy for the devil\u201d in this scene, which was rewritten multiple times during production.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were a couple of different versions,\u201d he began. \u201cThere were versions where he was more pompous and more cocksure going into it and that felt sort of wrong, although it meant that it was less harsh of her and less bruising in a way. You\u2019d have felt very happy for him to get that takedown.\u201d<\/p>\n Baynton continued: \u201cWith Ghosts, often the right thing in the end is the thing that is a little bit more nuanced or a little bit more human, which is that you can see both sides. Yes, he\u2019s a d**khead, but he\u2019s also quite sincere in his love or his infatuation, I suppose.<\/p>\n \u201cSo yes, it\u2019s cruel what she does, but also it\u2019s deserved. And you feel a bit sorry for him, but it\u2019s a conflicted thing, you know? So yeah, there were versions where she felt too cruel, there were versions where he felt like too much of an a***hole \u2013 and we tried to find the thing in the middle that\u2019s just, hopefully, deliciously uncomfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n On the other hand, co-star Ritchie fully backed Alison\u2019s decision to put Thomas in his place, telling RadioTimes.com<\/strong> that it was a long time coming.<\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m purely seeing it from Alison\u2019s point of view, which is that she said, \u2018please can you stop talking to me like that\u2019 for five years or five series,\u201d she explained. \u201cAnd so finally, she\u2019s like, \u2018Well, guess what? There\u2019s only one thing I can do to really make you think about this\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Although his incessant pestering of Alison has been a frustration for the character, Ritchie goes on to explain how the writers have avoided Thomas seeming like a creepy or malicious harasser over the years.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the thing about Thomas and the thing that makes him excusable and allows it to be a long-running joke is that he\u2019s totally unthreatening,\u201d she continued. \u201cI think if it comes to the crunch \u2013 which you see in that moment [in] the April Fools\u2019 [episode] \u2013 he wouldn\u2019t be ready for anything with Alison.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s stuck in arrested development as a sort of very, very childlike, boyish, adult man, who was just wrapped up in the sort of toxic perspective on romance and women throughout history. He\u2019s a symptom of that.\u201d<\/p>\n Ritchie added: \u201cI\u2019m sympathetic only to a point as Charlotte, watching the show, loving Mat, loving the character, and being really empathetic. But to be honest, I\u2019m fully on Alison\u2019s side and I think it\u2019s really funny. He deserves everything he\u2019s got coming for him.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, Alison\u2019s cunning pranks weren\u2019t the only noteworthy moment in the Ghosts season 5 premiere, which aired on BBC One last night, with the character also making a bombshell announcement<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ghosts seasons 1-5 are available to stream on BBC iPlayer. Check out more of our Comedy<\/a> coverage or visit our TV Guide<\/a> and Streaming Guide<\/a> to find out what\u2019s on.<\/strong><\/p>\n Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only \u00a310, PLUS a \u00a310 John Lewis and Partners voucher delivered to your home \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>. <\/b>For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to\u00a0The Radio Times Podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n “He deserves everything he’s got coming for him,” said Charlotte Ritchie. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":37635,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/10\/ghosts-stars-discuss-alisons-shocking-april-fools-prank-on-thomas-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/10\/ghosts-stars-discuss-alisons-shocking-april-fools-prank-on-thomas-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/10\/ghosts-stars-discuss-alisons-shocking-april-fools-prank-on-thomas-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/10\/ghosts-stars-discuss-alisons-shocking-april-fools-prank-on-thomas-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/10\/ghosts-stars-discuss-alisons-shocking-april-fools-prank-on-thomas-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/10\/ghosts-stars-discuss-alisons-shocking-april-fools-prank-on-thomas-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/10\/ghosts-stars-discuss-alisons-shocking-april-fools-prank-on-thomas-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"\"He deserves everything he's got coming for him,\" said Charlotte Ritchie.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/37634"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Mathew](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/10\/mathew-baynton-ghosts-8c44f85.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413\" "\\"mathew-baynton-ghosts\\"\/")
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