‘If everyone else thinks Scott’s a nice, normal, easy-to-get-on-with bloke except you – what does that tell you?” says Neil’s exasperated wife, Laura. “That he’s winning,” snarls Neil. Such is the setup for this year’s Sky Christmas film, Bad Tidings.
Scott, a blind man (played by the comedian Chris McCausland, who is also blind), is a recent arrival on the close who has quickly made friends with all the neighbours. Except Neil, who sees through his congenial act and just knows that the festive lights still up on Scott’s house (we open in March and move swiftly on to August with no change in domestic illuminations), despite Neil’s repeated requests to take them down as they shine into his bedroom, is an act of war. He knows Scott is laughing at him just as surely as he knows Scott keeps nicking his recycling bin. Neil is played by Lee Mack, giving great value as a kid’n’Christmas-appropriate version of his character “Lee” from Not Going Out.
