‘Ghosts’ Creators Ben Willbond & Larry Rickard Developing New Animated Comedy

Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond, part of the Theme There comedy theater collective who created the trans-Atlantic hit Ghosts, are reportedly in development on their first animated series project, titled In Case of Emergency. The logline and other details for In Case of Emergency are yet to be revealed, but the show is an animated comedy set in a British hospital, with Family Guy cited as an inspiration.

The writing duo are collaborating with Big Talk Studios and Netflix, creating a six-minute animatic pilot voiced by U.K. comedy talent, and are in talks with multi-BAFTA-winning British studio Blue Zoo Animation (Pip & Posy, The Smeds and the Smoos, The Adventures of Paddington).

Ghosts originated on BBC One in 2019, created by and starring Rickard, Willbond, Matthew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas and Jim Howick (Theme There) as the titular haunts from many eras making life miserable for extra-perceptive new home owner Charlotte Ritchie and her husband, Kiell Smith-Bynoe. The show was reworked for U.S. audiences by Joe Port and Joe Wiseman, debuting on CBS in 2021.

In addition to Ghosts, as part of Theme There, Rickard and Willbond were in the troupe of kids’ educational comedy Horrible Histories, which incorporated animated elements amid its live-action sketches; fantasy-adventure spoof Yonderland; and feature film Bill, an irreverent take on the life of young William Shakespeare written by Willbond and Rickard. The pair also created apocalyptic alien comedy We Are Not Alone for Big Talk/UKTV.

[Source: Deadline]