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An empty paper train carriage glows under warm lights, with festive paper chains, a blank card in a seat pocket and blurred town lights beyond a frosted window.

Essential Christmas · 2022

This Is Christmas

Name: This Is Christmas
Released: 2022
Duration: 111 min
Cast: Alfred Enoch, Kaya Scodelario, Timothy Spall, Joanna Scanlan, Nadia Parkes

33/100Festive FactorWhy it scores 33 ↓

UK certificate 12A111 min
Comedy · Romance

A gentle British ensemble piece with a premise anyone who commutes will recognise: a carriage of regulars…

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Explore this film 10 sections

The CineClaus Christmas score

Festive Factor

A different kind of Christmas.

Two paper elves inspect a cutaway train model with teal seats, warm lights and festive chains on a red workbench scattered with paper and scissors. — A little magic in the making.

Five ingredients make the Festive Factor.
Open an ingredient to find out more.

Christmas in the storyChristmas is the deadline.15/30

What we ask: Take Christmas out. Does the plot survive? Worth up to 30 of the 100 points.

A world dressed for ChristmasVisibly Christmas for the final act.5/20

What we ask: How much of the running time is visibly Christmas? Worth up to 20 of the 100 points.

The little seasonal details0 of the 10 kinds of Christmas icon we count turn up on screen.0/15

What we ask: How many kinds of Christmas icon turn up on screen: trees, lights, snow, carols and the rest? Worth up to 15 of the 100 points.

A Christmas heartHow far the ending rests on goodwill, family and belief: partly.10/20

What we ask: Does the ending depend on what Christmas means: goodwill, family, redemption, belief? Worth up to 20 of the 100 points.

A returning traditionNiche at Christmas (under 25,000).3/15

What we ask: Is it actually watched at Christmas in the UK? Worth up to 15 of the 100 points.

67/100

Cosiness Rating Rating

Warm in tone. Mild threat. A content ending.

How we score →

What do these scores mean?

Festive Factor measures how Christmassy a film is. Five ingredients add up to 100: story (30), setting (20), seasonal details (15), emotional heart (20) and returning tradition (15).

Cosiness is a separate score for warmth of tone, sense of safety, visual comfort, a reassuring ending and how easily you can settle into it.

How the Festive Factor works →

Your next film night

Where to watch

United KingdomChecked 24 Oct 2026

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This Is Christmas · Rental and purchase cost extra, separately from membership.

Streaming changes constantly and we cannot promise it is still right - check the service before you settle in. Streaming availability information provided by Streaming Availability API by Movie of the Night (opens in a new tab). Sky and Rakuten TV data by JustWatch.

The story

About This Is Christmas

Tired of riding the same morning train into London in silence, a commuter stands up in his carriage and invites every regular passenger to a Christmas party. The idea gets a lukewarm reception, but one fellow passenger takes him up on it, and over the weeks before Christmas a carriage of strangers slowly becomes a community.

The CineClaus verdict

A gentle British ensemble piece with a premise anyone who commutes will recognise: a carriage of regulars into London who have never spoken, until one of them proposes a Christmas party. Alfred Enoch and Kaya Scodelario make the romance easy to root for, even if you guess the ending early.

Timothy Spall and Joanna Scanlan do quietly good work at the edges, and a strand about grief gives it more weight than the setup promises. Christmas is the deadline more than the decoration. Perfect for any commuter who has nodded at the same stranger on the platform for years.

The family desk

Can the kids watch?

12A

Our take: infrequent strong language, some mild innuendo and a thread about bereavement make this a better fit for teenagers than for young children.

Content advice & accessibility

Our age guidance: Editorial, separate from the official 12A certificate, and never looser than it.

The people behind the film

Cast and crew

The faces in front of the camera, and the people who brought the story to life.

Main cast

In billing order

Head and shoulders photograph of a smiling man with closely cropped hair and a short beard, in a dark navy jumper against a pale pink wall.

Alfred Enochas Adam

Portrait of a woman with long wavy dark brown hair and blue eyes, wearing a pink jacket and a curved gold necklace.

Kaya Scodelarioas Emma

Portrait photograph of the actor Timothy Spall at the 2014 Cannes film festival.

Timothy Spallas Ray

A woman with straight brown hair and black-framed glasses speaking while holding a green book, in a dark room.

Joanna Scanlan

Nadia Parkesas Suzy

Robert Emmsas Paul

Behind the camera

Directed by

Chris Foggin

Original score

Christian Henson

Photo credits

Portraits via Wikimedia Commons, each under its own licence, approved for this page by a person. Sources and full photographer credits:

Alfred Enoch · Raph_PH · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY 2.0 (opens in a new tab).

Kaya Scodelario · Desmond Herzfelder · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY 4.0 (opens in a new tab).

Timothy Spall · Georges Biard · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (opens in a new tab).

Joanna Scanlan · Marcus Liversedge · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY 3.0 (opens in a new tab).

Step into the story

Filming locations

The real places behind This Is Christmas. Choose one to explore.

Find it on the mapLiverpool Street station

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Passengers crossing the main concourse of a London railway terminus, under a high brick hall with arched windows and an iron roof.

Location photograph
Tagishsimon (Wikimedia Commons, opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (opens in a new tab)

Filming location

Liverpool Street station

The main concourse and the upper levels of the London terminus stand in for the commuters' daily meeting place.

Open in OpenStreetMap ↗ (opens in a new tab)Scene source ↗ (Find That Location, opens in a new tab)

Choose your next scene

Photographs of the real places

There’s more behind the film.
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Photo credits & location sources

These are photographs of the places, not film stills. Dates vary; photographs do not show current conditions or guarantee access.

Liverpool Street station · Tagishsimon · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (opens in a new tab) · Find That Location (opens in a new tab)

Ongar railway station, Epping Ongar Railway · Sunil060902 · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (opens in a new tab) · Find That Location (opens in a new tab)

Tobacco Dock · Derek Harper · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 2.0 (opens in a new tab) · Find That Location (opens in a new tab)

Hemel Hempstead · Nigel Cox · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 2.0 (opens in a new tab) · Find That Location (opens in a new tab)

Map pins mark the place, not a camera position or a route. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), including any pin positions read from OpenStreetMap.

A little more This Is Christmas

Film facts &
behind the scenes

For the fans who stay after the credits.

Music & sound

A full orchestra scored a commuter comedy

Christian Henson's score was recorded and mixed at Air-Edel Studios in London, orchestrated by Gareth Murphy and Harry Brokensha, with Brokensha conducting.

Read the story

On your next watchNotice how the music lifts in the scenes where strangers first start talking.

Source: air-edel.co.uk ↗ (opens in a new tab)

On set