7 Ghosts

A contemporary ghost story that uses the supernatural to explore human relationships and connections, with a love story and historic injustice at its heart.

The drama explores the way the past shapes the present, and how someone’s present happiness might literally be built on someone else’s despair. The haunting of one London townhouse becomes a powerful metaphor for the varied legacies of slavery.

The seven ghosts in the drama are all different kinds, from different eras. Some are funny, some are sad. Some intervene in the world of the living. Some are unable to make contact and simply watch. Some we hear as they become a ghost. We even hear a ghost telling ghost stories.

The drama starts with a man going to bed on his own. Suddenly a woman is there. It’s his wife, but how did she get in? It’s impossible. It’s scary and emotional - they haven’t seen each other since the terrible car accident and the funeral. He can’t believe he can see her again. He wept for months because he missed her so much. He tries to touch her but of course his hand passes through her. As the drama unfolds, we delve into the complexities and unexpected twists of the ghost world and how it connects with the living.

The writer, Dan Rebellato, is a leading dramatist and professor of contemporary theatre at Royal Holloway University. He has written over 20 dramas for BBC Radio 4, and has been shortlisted multiple times for Sony, BBC Audio and WGGB Awards. His drama You & Me won Silver at the ARIAS 2022 and Restless Dreams won a Speakies Award in 2025 for Best Original Drama. He has had stage commissions for Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Plymouth Drum, Suspect Culture and Graeae, Soho Theatre and National Theatre.

Cast:
David ..... Kobna Holdbrook Smith
Sarah ..... Ani Nelson
Sir William ..... David Annen
Lord Havers and Ejikeme ..... Don Gilet
Charlotte and Caroline Tobin ..... Sarah Berger
Robert and Elliot ..... Max Runham
Florence and Isabelle ..... Fanta Barrie

Producer: Polly Thomas
Trainee Producer: Jelena Budimir
Sound Designer: Eloise Whitmore
Original music: Jeremy Walmsley
Illustration: Tessie Orange-Turner
Production Manager: Darren Spruce
Executive Producer: Eloise Whitmore

Written by Dan Rebellato

A Naked production for BBC Radio 4