The Ghosts of Motley Hall was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 children's television series written by Richard Carpenter, produced and directed by Quentin Lawrence, and shown in 1976 by Granada Television

Granada Television

Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....

.
The series relates the adventures of 5 ghosts who haunt Motley Hall. Each ghost is from a different era and all with the exception of Matt are unable to leave the confines of the building and Matt himself is unable to travel outside the grounds of the Hall. The only regular character who is not a ghost is Mr Gudgin the caretaker of Motley Hall.

Carpenter wrote a companion novel for the series for Puffin Books

Puffin Books

Puffin Books is the children's imprint of British publishers Penguin Books. Since the 1960s it has been the largest publisher of children's books in the UK and much of the English-speaking world.-Early history:...

 in 1977.

A 3 DVD set containing the complete series was released by Network in 2005.

Main characters

• Bodkin (Arthur English
  Arthur English
  Arthur Leslie Norman English was an English actor and comedian from the music hall tradition.English was born in Aldershot, Hampshire. After serving in the army in World War II, reaching the rank of sergeant, English worked as a painter and decorator in his native town...
  
  ) In life he worked as a fool at Motley Hall and died as a result of a cold he contracted from constantly being thrown in the duck pond for the amusement of his employer.
• Sir George Uproar (Freddie Jones
  Freddie Jones
  Frederick Charles "Freddie" Jones is an English character actor.Jones was born in the town of Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, the son of Ida Elizabeth and Charles Edward Jones. He became an actor after ten years of working as a laboratory assistant with a firm making ceramic products,...
  
  ) In life a General in the British army and now leader of the ghosts in Motley Hall. He died falling down the stairs after a long career in the army.
• Sir Francis 'Fanny' Uproar (Nicholas Le Prevost
  Nicholas Le Prevost
  Nicholas Le Prevost is an English actor. He was educated at Shaftesbury Grammar School, Shaftesbury, Dorset from 1957 to 1961 and at Kingswood School, Bath from 1961 to 1964...
  
  ) Died during his twelfth duel due to being drunk. He is a stupid but likeable character.
• Matt (Sean Flanagan) In life he was a stable lad.
• The White Lady (Sheila Steafel
  Sheila Steafel
  Sheila Steafel is a South African-born actress who has lived all her adult life in the United Kingdom.Steafel, who was born in Johannesburg, appeared in many classic television series, including: The Frost Report, Z-Cars, Sykes, The Kenny Everett Television Show, Minder, The Ghosts of Motley Hall,...
  
  ) She has no memory of who she was in life and how she came to be haunting Motley Hall.
• Mr Gudgin (Peter Sallis
  Peter Sallis
  Peter Sallis, OBE is an English actor and entertainer, well-known for his work on British television. Although he was born and brought up in London, his two most notable roles require him to adopt the accents and mannerisms of a Northerner.Sallis is best known for his role as the main character...
  
  ) Caretaker of Motley Hall. In the past members of the Gudgin family had worked as servants to the Uproar family.

Episode list

Series One (1976)

1. "The Last Uproar" (25 April 1976)
2. "Old Gory" (2 May 1976)
3. "Box of Tricks" (9 May 1976)
4. "Bad Lord William and the British Banana Company" (16 May 1976)
5. "Perfida Blackart Rides Again" (23 May 1976)
6. "Double Trouble" (30 May 1976)
7. "The Pogmore Experiment" (6 June 1976)

Series Two (1976–1977)

1. "The Christmas Spirit" (24 December 1976)
2. "Sir Peveril's Hoard" (2 January 1977)
3. "Where Are You, White Feather?" (9 January 1977)
4. "Godfrey of Basingstoke" (16 January 1977)
5. "Ghost of a Chance" (23 January 1977)
6. "Horoscope" (30 January 1977)

Christmas Special (1977)

1. "Phantomime" (26 December 1977)

Series Three (1978)

1. "Family Tree" (29 January 1978)
2. "Ghost Writer" (5 February 1978)
3. "Skeleton in the Cupboard - Part 1" (12 February 1978)
4. "Skeleton in the Cupboard - Part 2" (19 February 1978)
5. "Party Piece" (26 February 1978)
6. "Narcissus Bullock's Bell" (5 March 1978)