Our take
The first special to land on Christmas Day itself has nothing festive in it at all, and is better for it: a stolen car found in Finland, two child pranksters and a house guest who will not leave. Brian Murphy is wonderfully dreary as the holiday bore, and the climax on the roof, timed to Patrick's big business meeting, is the show's farce at full stretch.
What happens
Victor is reading the erotic classified adverts in the local paper with a mix of disbelief and hilarity, and for once he has every reason to be cheerful: the Meldrews' rusty old car has been stolen, which means a handsome insurance payout. Then comes the news that, three months on, it has suddenly been found, in Finland. His mood is soured further by a pair of local children who keep playing pranks on him, their latest favourite being to leave false limbs outside the house, to the horror of neighbours who assume the worst. Next door, Patrick is in an unusually good mood as he prepares to pitch a winning business plan to the bosses of a profitable company, until he realises he has put on a pair of Victor's underpants by mistake. After a sleepless night thanks to a loud party across the road, the Meldrews are looking forward to a Sunday lie-in when the phone rings: it is Mr Foskett, a holiday acquaintance from some seventeen years earlier, standing outside the house with his two boys. They are fed and treated to an endless stream of tedious stories, and when Foskett learns his wife has left him, the Meldrews have to put him up. A long soak in the bath turns out to be a suicide attempt, leaving him dangling naked from the roof just as Patrick brings his potential business partners home.
Can the kids watch it?
Rated 12 by the BBFC in 2006 for moderate violence and sex references (rated with other episodes); a suicide attempt is played for dark laughs, so 12 and over.
Cast and crew
Starring
- Richard Wilson as Victor Meldrew
- Annette Crosbie as Margaret Meldrew
- Angus Deayton as Patrick Trench
- Janine Duvitski as Pippa Trench
Guest stars
- Brian Murphy as Mr. Foskett
Writer
- David Renwick
Director
- Susan Belbin