Ghosts thrives on juxtaposing the ordinary lives of its living characters with the idiosyncrasies of its dead housemates. By the third episode of the third series, the audience has become acquainted with a stable of distinct personalities: the Victorian gentleman Sir Humphrey, the 1970s hippie Alison, the Roman centurion, the WWI nurse Kitty, and several others. Episode 3 thrusts the ensemble into a plot centred on the infamous “Great Train Robbery”—a historical event that, while rooted in fact, has been romanticised to the point of myth. The episode’s title therefore signals a dual investigation: one into the literal theft of a train, the other into the ways societies appropriate and distort the past for entertainment.
Kitty’s compassionate yet overly clinical approach to the robbery’s “victims” offers a humane counterpoint to the other ghosts’ self‑absorbed machinations. Her attempts to catalogue injuries and provide first‑aid, even to a fictional “stolen painting,” remind viewers of the human cost behind any sensational story. Her role grounds the episode’s comedy in empathy.
The episode’s humor largely springs from the dissonance between what the ghosts remember and what actually transpired. Kitty, the WWI nurse, attempts to triage the “victims” of a robbery as if they were battlefield casualties, illustrating how personal experience reshapes recollection. This dissonance underscores a broader philosophical point: memory is an active process, constantly edited by the present self. The show invites viewers to question whether any historical account can ever be wholly objective.
: Eric's ruse collapses when he tries to fake a greeting for Flower, unaware that everyone believes Flower was "sucked off" (ascended) in the season premiere.
The house itself operates as a visual metaphor for a museum of memory. Each room houses a distinct era, and the hidden ledger acts as the “archival file” that ties disparate periods together. The final scene—where a news crew films the stalled train—uses a “camera within a camera” technique to comment on media’s role in perpetuating myths.
: Check if "Ghosts" is available on popular streaming platforms like Hulu, Peacock, or Amazon Prime Video. Sometimes, episodes are available to stream for free or with a subscription.
: This tag indicates a corrected version released by a different group than the one that put out the initial, flawed version. The "proper" version is meant to fix issues like missing audio, poor video quality, or syncing errors found in the first release.