Our take
A one-off that turns the show into a festive siege comedy, with a heavily pregnant heroine, a robber in a Santa mask and a grotto to hide in. It is broad and busy, but the department-store setting gives it scale and a proper Christmas Eve feel. It also marks a turning point: the next time we see the couple, the show has jumped forward seven years and they have three children.
What happens
A year after their wedding, it is Christmas Eve and newlyweds Lee and Lucy are doing some last-minute shopping at the local department store. Lucy is heavily pregnant and three days overdue with their first baby. With them are Lee's dad Frank, dressed as one of Santa's elves, their scatty friend Daisy, and their neighbours Toby and Anna. Then an unexpected stranger turns their Christmas upside down: they are mistakenly caught up in a robbery, locked in the store with a dangerous robber wearing a Father Christmas latex mask. With plenty of screaming and hiding in Santa's grotto, the group need an escape plan before things take a turn for the worse, and Lee's usual ill-thought-out ideas threaten to get them into even more trouble.
Can the kids watch it?
No BBFC rating was found; it went out at 10.45pm with the show's usual innuendo and a threatening robber, so it suits teenagers and adults.
Cast and crew
Starring
- Lee Mack as Lee
- Sally Bretton as Lucy
- Hugh Dennis as Toby
- Abigail Cruttenden as Anna
- Bobby Ball as Frank
- Katy Wix as Daisy
Writer
- Lee Mack
Director
- Nick Wood