Lolly Adefope confirms if she’d return to Ghosts after BBC series’ tear-jerking end

Lolly Adefope has opened up about whether she’d ever consider returning to Ghosts after the show came to an emotional end last year.

Five years ago when the actress made her debut on the BBC series, viewers were immediately drawn to her character Kitty, the ghost of a kind-hearted Georgian noblewoman.

Now, she stars in a new Sky comedy series called The Franchise, providing a satirical, behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings of a film crew attempting to make a blockbuster superhero movie, complete with narcissistic actors and all-round chaos.

recently had the chance to speak to Lolly, where we found out more about her latest role as third assistant director Dag, how she feels comedy has evolved in the years since she started stand-up, and whether she thinks the finale of Ghosts was definitely the end.

As we near the festive period, we’re also getting closer to the one-year anniversary of Ghosts’s final episode, which aired on Christmas Day.

Looking back fondly on her time in Ghosts and the impact the show had on viewers, Lolly said that it has been ‘so special’.

‘It’s one thing doing something that you’re really proud of and you love doing, and that brings you so much joy, and then another thing having that reciprocated by the audience,’ she told us.

‘I think when it ended, I was obviously very sad, but it is nice that it does endure. I do still get people talking to me about it, so it kind of feels like it hasn’t really gone away, in a sense.

‘But it’s also nice to finish something and feel, you know, devastated, and then go into another ensemble and feel like, okay, I’m not just cast out into the world by myself.’

Referencing her new show The Franchise, she continued: ‘I’ve been welcomed by this new ensemble, which is quite nice.’

The final episode of Ghosts left fans in buckets of tears, and there surely would be demand from fans if ever the creators decided to revive the series and bring characters back who the audience adore, such as Kitty.

So if Lolly could reprise the role, would she ever consider it?

‘The ending was quite final in a satisfying way. I think it’s harder to cope with if it’s really open-ended, it’s nice to have that finality,’ she responded.

‘But if there was another opportunity, definitely. It was so much fun.’

In Lolly’s latest role, she takes on the character of the sharp-witted third assistant director Dag in The Franchise, who has no qualms with telling her colleagues exactly what she thinks whenever mayhem ensues.

Discussing the inspiration behind her portrayal of Dag, Lolly detailed how she created a ‘mishmash’ of personal assistants who she’s met on set, ‘who all have this kind of never-ending positivity, or enthusiasm or energy’.

She then turned those personality traits on their head, ‘because Dag is kind of just saying what she thinks all the time and completely expressing if she’s tired’.

Her preparation for the role also involved speaking to a third AD to find out what their day-to-day tasks would entail, including ‘having to absorb all of the frustration and rage from every other department while keeping everything spinning, keeping the plate spinning, and making sure that we get the day’.

‘They don’t really get to vent their frustrations as much as other people do. So it’s quite fun to play Dag, who just vents her frustrations all the time and just knows exactly what she’s feeling at any given moment,’ she added.

Prior to her work on The Franchise, Lolly thought that she knew ‘all of the ins and outs of how a crew works’ – before everyone on the show realised ‘that there’s even more to it than we thought’.

‘I think I have a newfound respect for what’s probably going on in their minds when they’re not actually saying out loud,’ she said.

Before her critically-acclaimed performances on TV shows including Ghosts and Shrill, and roles in films such as Saltburn, Lolly began her career in stand-up comedy, performing in locations including the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The actress stressed that while she feels that the comedy scene is ‘evolving in a very progressive, cool way’ since her early career, there are also still big struggles that comedians have to face nowadays.

‘There are less opportunities for arts funding, and loads of things are kind of worse than they were when I started. Like, Edinburgh’s very expensive, and the rent is kind of impossible,’ she stated.

‘But at the same time, there are lots of queer nights and nights with people of colour. I don’t know if there were as many of them at least when I first started. And also social media makes it a lot easier for people to get into comedy.’

With that in mind, she believes that the comedy scene is ‘going in the right direction’, adding that she’s hopeful that Edinburgh will ‘become more of a feasible option’ for other budding comedians, because she found it was a ‘great way in’ for her career.

From stand-up comedy to comedic roles in television, what could be next on the horizon for Lolly?

‘I’d like to be in a rom-com. That would be fun,’ she responded, when asked what aspirations she has for the future.

‘I’m open to doing drama, I’m kind of open to everything to be honest. A horror movie would be cool. But I think a rom-com is number one.’ And we would love to see it!