Moonah Ston

The dinner party

**Moonah Ston** is the fifth episode of Series 1 of *Ghosts* and the 5th episode overall. It premiered on 13 May 2019.

## Summary

Alison and Mike’s posh neighbours, who apparently have a claim to part of the land the house is built on, invite themselves to dinner, just as Robin prepares to celebrate a lunar eclipse.

## Plot

Alison and Mike finish sealing the doors and windows, but as they open champagne to celebrate, the cork breaks the door, and the pigeon flies back in. Right then, a horde of dogs come rushing through the open door. The owner of the dogs, Barclay Beg-Chetwynde, their new neighbour, arrives at the house to discuss the access to their house.

> "Bitches! Bitches! Bitches!"
>
>

> -Barclay calling after the dogs
>
>

He apologises to Allison and Mike, then remarks on how the house is supposed to be haunted, with Fanny correcting him. Julian explains to Allison who her neighbour is, adding that he 'loves to hear the sound of his own voice'. He and the other ghosts then depart.

Barclay explains to them about how a piece of land near their house belongs to him, and he offers to make an arrangement. Allison hurriedly invites him to dinner, later telling Mike it was to get close to the 'poshos', and Barclay accepts. He and they dogs depart, except for one, who is being patted by Pat.

Robin remembers that it is the day of a lunar eclipse, and the ghosts plan the Moonah Ston ritual. The Captain makes himself the the one to recite the words, and Thomas protests- everyone ignores the latter.

Meanwhile, Allison and Mike decide what to cook for their dinner party. As there is nothing in the fridge but frozen lasagna and some peas, they hunt for pheasant, guided by the Captain. Back at home, Mary watches as Allison preps the pheasant. She tells her to remove the gizzards, too late. Allison leaves Mary to supervise the pheasant and settles on wearing a black fancy dress, while Mike is dressed in a plain shirt. Mike agrees to dress up as long as Allison removes the pearls she is wearing.

Barclay and his wife Bunny arrive at the house. Allison invites them in for a tour of the house. Unfortunately, when Barclay hands her an expensive wine as a gift, Allison mistakenly drops it on the floor, thinking a ghost would catch it. Mike quickly tells the couple that Allison sometimes got confused because of a past head injury. They begin their dinner party, which starts off rather well, except for Lady Button chastising Allison on her manners.

The smoke alarm goes off, which prompts Allison to leave for the kitchen. Mary explains that she didn't smell any burning, and Allison adds a tin of soup to the burned pheasant, in the hope of making 'pheasant stew'. She returns to the dinner party. The ghosts start the noisy moon ritual, which involves chanting and dancing around the library. Allison takes them all out and banishes them to another room, and puts an episode of 'Friends' on the TV, while Mike takes the Beg-Chetwyndes to the cellar to look at the fusebox. While there, Mike accidentally agrees to pay Barclay £20,000 for the access rights. Mary tells Alison that the stew has "reduced", but it is completely incinerated, so she has to make frozen lasagne instead.

Allison challenges Barclay to a game of poker, telling him 'double or nothing'; if she won, they would get the land signed over for free, and if they lost, they would pay double the agreed-upon price. Allison struggles to get a ghost to help her cheat, as they are all too addicted to Friends. Mary ends up helping her, and Allison tells her to look at Barclay's cards and tell her what they are. However, Mary can't actually read or play cards, and during the game Allison realises she has lost.

The Beg-Chetwyndes prepare to leave, with Bunny heavily intoxicated and drunk. Julian and Pat pester Allison as they are at the door, wanting another Friends episode. Julian gives a throw-away remark about Barclay's 'bank account in Fiji', and a crafty Allison uses this information to get the land for free.

The ghosts complain about not being about to see another episode of Friends. Pat goes over to Robin, who had been staring out of the window at the moon the whole time, and asks him why it was so important. Robin tells him that the moon had always been there, and that it was the only thing that was older than himself.

Once the neighbours have left, Alison and Mike take the sofa outside for Robin to appreciate the moon, as the ritual was cut short. Inspired by Friends, Thomas asks Alison "how you doin'?"

## Trivia

* This is the only appearance in Series 1 of Barclay and Bunny.
* It is revealed in this episode that there used to be a sacred site on the site of the house, which Stonehenge copied.
* The last scene of the episode is a reference to the end of the Friends theme tune, where the six friends are sat on the sofa in front of the fountain, and Monica turns the light off. In this episode, Robin uses his powers to turn the light off.
* The ghosts do the ritual every time there is a lunar eclipse, and Thomas always does the reading.
* The Coopers do eventually take full ownership of their driveway, but it takes a while to finalise: it's properly, legally completed in the Season 3 episode I Love Lucy.