Based on the best-selling novels by Jonathan Stroud, Lockwood & Co and its tales of a trio of teenage ghostbusters has an obvious appeal for filmmakers and streamers especially and for Joe Cornish who helms. Writing and directing with aplomb he’s ideally suited to this type of material with his previous films Attack the Block and The Kid who would be King both with teenage heroes in fantastical adventures. Here he casts Cameron Chapman as Lockwood, Ali Hadji-Heshmati as his geeky brainbox sidekick George and are joined by Ruby Stokes as Lucy the outsider with a gift for gothic ghostbusting.
Lucy’s gift was honed at a Northern town where an exercise in exorcism goes awry and she flees to London where she becomes part of the Co of Lockwood & Co and the adventures in ghost hunting begins. It is as part of this that the three become involved in the mystery of a murdered actress which spans the series which is built for binge watching with stories that neatly carrying the audience along.
There’s a charm to the series that wilfully and refreshingly ignores modern technology with not a mobile phone in sight despite the series being set in modern day London but the ghosts themselves are a throwback to Victoriana and spirit photography and that’s no bad thing giving the series an innate and typically British charm that at times is ominously sinister and should be a draw for its key demographic that should ensure the series is a deserved success.
Top Ten mistakes in Ghostbusters (1984)
The central trio are excellent and Ruby Stokes gets ever better and film stardom surely beckons (we chatted to her HERE) and director Joe Cornish has an eye for emerging talent as he proved with his casting of John Boyega in Attack the Block. Lockwood & Co conjures up a world where adults are a nuisance and where they should just leave matters to the kids to sort out – the appeal to teens is obvious and Lockwood & Co strike a good balance between story and scares. With this first series using the first two novels there’s plenty more to follow in future series.
Joe Cornish talks about the making of the series……
