Alison and Mike are hosting Christmas at Button House, with his family joining them. Mike has taken control and is determined everything run as smoothly as possible. However, with a house full of ghosts and interfering parents, it’s not long before “the incredible sulk” has one of his annual meltdowns. As for the ghosts, they’re not big fans of Christmas.
It turns out the festive season isn’t much fun if you’re dead, Julian says “it’s just not the same when you’re dead. Can’t drink booze, can’t flirt with the filly’s at the Christmas Party if you can’t do that. What’s the point?”.
It’s Julian that takes most the focus of the special when a new arrival forces him to confront his old behaviour. Throughout the episode, he has a series of revelations that help all the ghosts rediscover the joy of Christmas.
The other ghosts mostly take a supporting role, with The Captain (Ben Willbond) taking offence to the Queen’s speech being televised “an officer and a gentleman should not be privy to the colour and thickness of the Queen’s curtain’s”. Robin (Laurence Rickard) believes Christmas is “just a fad”.
The special is full of everything you’d expect from this show. As always, the cast is uniformly great, Charlotte Ritchie and Kiell Smith-Bynoe feel like an authentic couple. Mike’s family feel like a real family, his sisters irritate him in the way only siblings can. The jokes vary from clever to crude, with strong performances all round.
The Ghosts Christmas special is the perfect way to tide us over until series 3.
The Ghost of Christmas airs on BBC One, at 20:30 on December 23rd.
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