Ghosts is returning for a fifth series British Comedy Guide can exclusively reveal.

Ahead of a third Christmas special airing next month, the creators are currently polishing the scripts for further episodes BCG understands, with a desire to make more if the BBC wants them.

Rumours of the fifth series order emerged as early as a year ago and BCG has now confirmed the recommission. A BBC spooksperson declined to comment on the return of the hit sitcom, which is made by Monumental Pictures.

Simon Hynd will once again direct the new episodes and creators Laurence Rickard, Ben Willbond, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Simon Farnaby and Mathew Baynton will return to star alongside Charlotte Ritchie, Kiell Smith-Bynoe and Lolly Adefope.

They will not be joined by Katy Wix however, who requested her character, Mary, be killed off - or rather, "sucked off" - ahead of the fourth series shooting earlier this year.

"Season four was a really tough season going into" Willbond told interviewer Hannah Dunleavy on Sarah Millican's Standard Issue podcast on Sunday. "We talked with Katy and she decided this is it for me ... So then we had the challenge of how do we do it? ... It was a really sad thing to do but we had to come up with a way of it fitting it into the show, making sure that Katy was comfortable with it. A whole balance of things but it was incredibly sad."

Nevertheless, "there was something quite satisfying about them all being ghosts and yet somehow still alive, suddenly coming face-to-face with grief and having to tackle that in half an hour" he said. "It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to write."

Howick explained: "I think with Mary, we always knew we weren't going to be able to do her death [in which she was burned as a witch]. It would be too violent, too macabre. We had to serve her with a flashback ... the idea that we've given birth to Mary as we know her, two episodes before the show that we take her away, was a nice little circle to the series.

"The idea that she's conceived in Episode 2 and then we take her away in Episode 4 makes it doubly satisfying that we know that, in death, she's had a reasonably happy time and she's got what she wanted - being 'sucked off'".

He also speculated that more characters could follow Mary. "Who knows?" Howick said. "It's a totally open door for someone else, the possibility of someone else being sucked off. Or all of them going."

"Or all of them going at once maybe!" Willbond added. "I'm just going to leave that hanging in the air ..."

Focusing on a festive trip down memory lane for Howick's character, Pat, that prompts him to question his very identity, the upcoming festive episode, set to air in Christmas week, also features the Ghosts coming up with a surprise present for Alison (Ritchie) after her family lunch does not go to plan.

Meanwhile, the first series of the US adaptation of Ghosts has come to BBC Three and iPlayer.

And We Are Not Alone, the feature-length, sci-fi comedy pilot written by Willbond and Rickard for Dave, starring Declan Baxter, Joe Thomas, Vicki Pepperdine, Amanda Abbington, Georgia May Foote and Mike Wozniak, airs on Monday.

16th December update: Series 5 officially confirmed

The BBC has now officially confirmed Series 5.

The creators say: "We are delighted to confirm that Ghosts will be returning to BBC One and BBC iPlayer for a fifth series in 2023. We've had much fun in the writers room and are hugely excited by the new stories we have to tell and further secrets we get to reveal. We've been getting back into practice walking through walls and can't wait to start shooting again in the new year."

Alison Carpenter from Monumental Television adds: "We can't wait to return to Button House with our absurdly talented writers, cast and crew. It is a privilege to make Ghosts, and wonderful to receive such an enthusiastic response from the audience. We hope they will enjoy what we have in store in the fifth series."

Jon Petrie, Director of Comedy at the BBC, adds: "We are thrilled to announce a fifth series of this modern British Comedy masterpiece. Ghosts continues to go from strength to strength and the BBC couldn't be more grateful for the amount of laughter and love that the creators, and Monumental, pour into this unique show."