Sporting a snappy white suit and a mullet hairdo, spoof psychic Shirley Ghostman (the alter ego of comedian Marc Wootton) performs psychic healings and readings in front of an unsuspecting audience gathered inside an old church, who all believe they’re watching a bona fide medium. Shirley’s psychic sidekick is Sheba, a dead Alsatian whose image is projected on to the wall of the church.

In addition to Sheba, Shirley’s team of psychic experts include three ‘paranormalists’. Special paranormal investigator Ian Jackson is on a mission to uncover the mysteries of the dark arts and in his first outing he tries to get to the bottom of Rumpology, quite literally, with Sandra Amos, a lady who can predict the future just by looking at your butt. There’s also Alf Sczcurek a former pest controller in Poland who has thrown aside his rat catching tools in favor of a homemade ghost-catching backpack, and Colin Reynolds, a paranormalist who can psychically change himself into any animal simply by calling upon the power of spirit.

And if that weren’t enough, and by gosh don’t you think it ought to be…each week Shirley’s Spirit Academy goes out in search of the UK’s next psychic superstar where thousands of gifted hopefuls apply for just eight places. The winners will receive top-notch psychic training under the guidance of Shirley “herself.”

Marc Wootton is a master of comedy character creation and a rising star of British comedy. He’s both a writer and performer and was recently awarded a coveted Silver Rose at the Montreux television festival and a British Comedy Award for his wonderfully inspired characters on My New Best Friend. Marc has appeared in Nighty Night, French and Saunders and has co-starred with Martin Freeman (The Office, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy) and Alison Steadman in the movie Confetti.

Part of The Underground, High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman premieres on BBC America March 17th at 9pm ET/10pm PT.