In an era in which it is now an annual tradition for the US streaming giants to put out bland paint-by-algorithm holiday movies, there is something rather satisfying about the oddball British Christmas stand-alone special. The ingredients tend to be as follows: appearances by the year’s favourite comic actors; niche cultural references, with or without cameos; a wittily biting but heartwarming script that preferably leaves the viewer weeping into their Baileys.
In many ways, Finding Father Christmas hits all those notes, if never quite fulfilling its potential. It follows 16-year-old Chris (Bafta-winner and total delight Lenny Rush), who still believes in Santa despite being in the middle of his GCSEs. Three years after the death of his mother and with Chris still writing letters to the north pole, his concerned dad and depressed postman Nicholas (The Inbetweeners’ James Buckley) decides it’s finally time to have “the talk”.
