Katy Wix, who played Mary on Ghosts, is believed to have left due to her growing work commitments on other productions as her appearances diminished in season four.
Ghosts is the BBC hit comedy show that premiered in 2019. The comedy is a clever take on death as it is premised on a group of restless spirits that continually squabble in Button House, an abandoned house, which was inherited by a young couple that is looking to renovate it into a luxury hotel.
One of the beloved characters was Mary, portrayed by Katy Wix, a witch trial victim who was burned at the stake after she was accused of being responsible for the bad crop of the season.
Wix left her role surprisingly during season four, as it is believed that her growing work commitments were the reason for her departure.
Why was Mary’s departure so poignant on Ghosts?
Ghosts is a family-friendly comedy about death. As such, with Mary leaving the sitcom, it was important that the sitcom struck a careful balance between emotion and comedy, which many viewers believed it did through the use of each character expressing a different manner of mourning.
This includes Scoutmaster Pat comforting naïve nobleman Kitty, trouser-less Tory, MP Julian’s spouts of anger, the Captain, who kept busy to avoid dealing with his emotions, romantic poet Thomas making it all about himself, and Lady Fanny, usually stiff lipped, finally breaking her own composure.
Why did Mary leave Ghosts?
Season four, episode four titled “Gone, Gone” was aptly named as it marked the departure of Mary.
The episode did not waste time “sucking off” Mary from Button House as at the top of the episode she was covered in a golden light before she subsequently ascended to the afterlife. Her last words were a subtle and breathy “Ooh”.
The rest of the episode focused on how the rest of the ghosts dealt with the sudden departure of the ensemble cast of ghosts.
The writer of the sitcom, Mathew “Mat” Baynton, decided to not drag out the exit of the beloved character.
Co-creator, Ben Willbond, explained to Inside… Ghosts podcast that the thought process behind the logic was , “We thought, we’ve got to tackle the whole theme of death. Therefore, it made sense just to “do it straight away and then we deal with the fall-out”.
While the exit of the writer, comedian, producer, and actress was touching and mostly unexpected for viewers, Wix has had a growing and continually demanding work schedule in recent years, which is believed to have been the reason for her exit.
Neither Wix nor the sitcom have shared official word about the reason for her departure.
However, considering how highly the cast and crew have spoken about Wix and her character, it seems that her exit was not caused by bad blood between the two parties.
How did Ghosts announce that Mary was leaving?
Even before Mary’s exit in season four, episode four, there were already signs that Wix was set to leave the series. This is as if you carefully watch the recent season, Wix was not part of the ensemble scenes and most of her scenes were shot alone.
This is a sign that the actress could not fulfil her shooting commitments due to other commitments on different productions.
Ben Willbond asserted that Mary’s ascension scene was not the last scene they shot with the actress, hence, it was not as emotional as it would have been if this was the case.
Will Mary return to Ghosts?
Given that neither Katy Wix nor BBC have given word about the reason for her departure from the show, with many speculating that it has to do with her growing career demands in terms of television projects, whether Wix will return to reprise her role in the future or not has been left open-ended.
Moreover, given that the sitcom is premised on ghosts who are stuck in the in between, who knows whether the sitcom might decide to bring Wix back to the in between space.
However, it does seem unlikely, considering that Wix has already been touted to be working on a new project.
What is Katy Wix doing after leaving Ghosts?
Even before her exit from Ghosts was confirmed, Katy Wix had taken to Instagram to announce her next television project. Wix will not only lead in this show, but she is credited as the writer and co-executive producer of Fat Camp.
The premise of the upcoming series is heavily implied by the title as it is premised on a diet camp for kids in the UK.
Further details have yet to be shared about the project, but we do know that the production company, Baby Cow, won the bidding war for the rights to shoot the show. Wix is also set to star in the upcoming Channel 4 comedy, Big Boys.