The Ghosts of Motley Hall

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "The Ghosts of Motley Hall" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The Ghosts of Motley Hall is a British children's television series written by Richard Carpenter.^[1] It was produced and directed by Quentin Lawrence for Granada Television, and broadcast between 1976 and 1978 on the ITV network. The series relates the adventures of five ghosts who haunt the crumbling, abandoned Motley Hall.

Each ghost is from a different era, and all except one (Matt) are unable to leave the confines of the building—and even Matt is unable to travel outside the grounds of the Hall.

The only regular character who is not a ghost is Mr. Gudgin, a real estate agent and the de facto caretaker of Motley Hall. Though Gudgin is tasked with selling the hall and its property, the ghosts are anxious that it be sold to someone who will respect it and restore it to its former glory; consequently, they often work to thwart a potential sale to an unsuitable candidate. Gudgin himself is not an enemy of the ghosts, as he too is respectful of the hall and its history.

The ghosts are generally unable to be seen by the living, although there are exceptions the White Lady can make herself visible to Mr. Gudgin ... although actually communicating with him is difficult, as her appearances instantly terrify him.

Carpenter wrote a companion novel for the series for Puffin Books in 1977.

A 3 DVD set containing the complete series was released by Network in 2005 and the show recently inspired a successful BBC series Ghosts.^[2]