Our take
A gentle, warm-hearted festive special that turns a will-they-won't-they into one of the show's best-loved moments. It is less about Christmas than about courage and kisses, but the Boxing Day slot suits its mood. Hugo finally standing up to David is the emotional payoff, and Owen's proposal gives Dawn French plenty to play with. It is also the episode that sets up the wedding storyline the rest of the series follows.
What happens
Geraldine is putting together the parish newsletter and struggling for a front-page story, with little more on offer than an odd sock and a half-eaten jigsaw Owen is trying to sell. Alice has bigger worries. Her mother wants the carpets clean in case Jesus comes back, and, more pressingly, Hugo has still not kissed her, so she fears she is unattractive. Geraldine sets up a meeting and tells each of them, separately, to make the first move. Neither does, until Geraldine loses patience and shouts at them to get on with it, and their first kiss then goes on for nearly five hours. In the romantic fallout, Owen admits he has hardly ever touched a woman; Geraldine takes pity and lets him kiss her, and he promptly proposes. When Hugo tells his father about Alice, David threatens to disinherit him, but with Geraldine's backing Hugo stands up to him for the first time and says he will marry her anyway, which hands Geraldine her front page.
Can the kids watch it?
Rated PG on DVD, so fine for most families with children from about eight, with some mild innuendo.
Cast and crew
Starring
- Dawn French as Geraldine Grainger
- Emma Chambers as Alice Tinker
- Gary Waldhorn as David Horton
- James Fleet as Hugo Horton
- John Bluthal as Frank Pickle
- Trevor Peacock as Jim Trott
- Roger Lloyd-Pack as Owen Newitt
Writers
- Richard Curtis
- Paul Mayhew-Archer
Director
- Dewi Humphreys