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Guest stars
Lysette Anthony, Gina Bellman, Jim Bowen and Stuart Milligan.
Directed by Richard Holthouse
First transmitted 18th December 1999
Ratings 10.47 million
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The Puzzle:
Jonathan and Maddy are invited by Mimi Tranter, an old colleague of Maddy's, to visit Ghosts Forge - the scene of an unsolved murder 18 months before. Her new boyfriend, a married man called Robin, has been muttering about the place in his sleep.
The reclusive owner of the house, Ezra Carr, was found stabbed. A burglary was suspected, but nothing had been stolen.
What is the significance of the house's nameplate, a disappearing trick by Maddy, and a packet of books hidden in the attic? [Solution]
Quiz
Five quick questions to test your knowledge of the episode.
Alan Davies
"[Due to Caroline's pregnancy] there were a lot of astutely placed handbags - Maddy's handbag got bigger and bigger as it went on. We had a double for long shots, and it's odd having two people wandering around the set. I can remember Caroline taking offence that people kept mistaking her for the double and vice versa. 'She doesn't look anything like me,' she'd say. We'd say, 'I'm sorry Caroline, she does.'
"[The double] was a really nice girl that got bored. She had to sit around reading a paper, saying, 'I can't wait to be really brought in when the bump is really showing'."
David Renwick
"Caroline's pregnancy in series three obviously did present huge restrictions on how we could shoots stuff, because we literally couldn't shoot her in profile or without a very large bag covering her.
"I think it did affect the way the directors shot it. There was a scene where the wife who thinks her husband is having an affair with Maddy comes to her door and sprays her with red paint.
"When she opened the door she was pregnant, but when she closed the door it was about a month after she'd given birth. Whether you can tell I don't know, but that's one to look out for."
Jonathan (not) Geek:
Not only does Jonathan show a passing interest in evil eye candy from hell Mimi, but he does so to make Maddy jealous. A new, more confident Jonathan is emerging.
Coupling:
In Black Canary we saw Kate Isitt, and now Gina Bellman is a guest star in Ghosts Forge. All we need now is for Sarah Alexander to appear in a future episode and we'll have guest appearances from all three female stars of the hit sitcom Coupling.
Coffee time:
The Jonathan Creek casting team seem to have a fixation with a certain brand of instant coffee. Not only did they cast Nescafe advertising campaign legend Tony Head as the original Adam Klaus in The Wrestler's Tomb; here they cast his replacement, Mark Aiken, who teamed up with Louise Hunt for a second run of will they, wont they mini soaps to promote the freeze-dried beverage.
The Solution: (point your mouse over the space below)
Something was stolen from the house - Ezra Carr himself. It turns out that Robin was actually the amnesiac Carr, convinced by the woman who is now his wife that they were a couple.
The woman, Shirley, had attempted to break into Ghosts Forge with her abusive uncle Bill, but when Ezra discovered the ruse he was attacked by Bill and suffered a head injury that wiped his memory. Shirley seized the opportunity to kill Bill and persuade the stunned Ezra that he was in fact somebody else.
Jonathan figured out the solution when he realised Carr was a ghost writer for a former MP Gerald Eastland. Ghosts Forge is a joke - Ghosts (ghost writes) For G.E. (Gerald Eastland). A short story Robin had written displayed a similar style to Carr's.
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Trivia
Writer David Renwick also created classic comedies One Foot in the Grave and Whoops, Apocalypse.
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