Hannah Waddingham must be knackered. The West End legend slash one-woman beacon of joy started off 2023 by saying goodbye to Ted Lasso, the big-hearted Apple TV+ football comedy that earned her legions of fans on both sides of the Atlantic. She returned to theatreland to preside over this year’s Olivier Awards, then earned national treasure status in the UK during her stint co-hosting the Eurovision Song Contest. It was a perfectly pitched performance in more ways than one: a classically trained singer, Waddingham hit all the high notes in musical segments and leaned into the competition’s inherent camp. And – move over Mariah – she’s just put in a double shift as the new Queen of Christmas, lending her megawatt grin to festive ad spots for M&S and Baileys.
Her last hurrah before clocking off for the festive season? Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas – an all-singing, all-dancing extravaganza for Apple, filmed at the London Coliseum. It’s reminiscent of those Audience With… specials that used to crop up on ITV’s Sunday night schedule – look closely and you’ll spot that channel’s poster boy Dermot O’Leary in the audience – but with some additional big-budget gloss (Waddingham and her guests are bathed in a glorious golden glow throughout). The perks of working with a megabucks tech giant, presumably – although Waddingham is definitely giving Apple its money’s worth. From the moment her cab pulls up outside the Coliseum, she’s belting out a festive ditty, charisma turned up to 11.
Once inside, she’s greeted by a receiving line of adoring Ted Lasso co-stars as she makes her way through the corridors; the effect is a bit like a very glamorous remake of Peter Kay’s “(Is This the Way to) Amarillo?” video. There’s just enough time for a sweet pep talk from her young daughter Kitty before Waddingham sweeps onto the stage, resplendent in a sequinned gown straight out of Dreamgirls (her dress code, she quips later, is “Christmas business casual”).
What follows is essentially an old-fashioned variety show. The musical numbers are interspersed with a smattering of physical comedy (spare a thought for poor Nick Mohammed, aka Ted Lasso’s Coach Nate, who spends much of the run time suspended from the rafters after being “hoist by his own petard”, as Waddingham puts it) and a few sketches that double up as Richmond AFC reunions. Her Lasso co-stars put in a game performance, mugging for the cameras like court jesters while dancing on stage in tailcoats and brandishing candy canes, although some of their skits seem to be more of an excuse to trade compliments and “love you’s” rather than punchlines.
There’s also the obligatory appearance from 2022 Eurovision runner-up Sam Ryder, plus duets with Hamilton’s Lesley Odom Jr, matching Waddingham’s sartorial splendour in a quilted silver suit, and with Beauty and the Beast’s Luke Evans (the pair share a friendship going back two decades). Phil Dunster, who plays Ted Lasso’s Grealish-like Jamie Tartt, also gets the chance to soft-launch a potential side hustle as a Bublé-esque crooner when he gatecrashes a rendition of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”.
Waddingham is full of effusive praise for her guests (“I love you to bits and bits and bits!” she exclaims to Dunster and singing duo The Fabulous Lounge Swingers, after their song) – of course it’s a little luvvy-ish (what did you expect, darling?) but the overall effect is one of winning sincerity. The Coliseum is a venue weighted with emotional significance for the star. Her mother, the aptly named Melodie Kelly, was a mezzo-soprano in the English National Opera, she tells us, and the young Hannah would spend hours watching her perform there. No wonder she gets a bit weepy when she dedicates “O Holy Night” to her parents and her own daughter.
It’s a proper full circle moment, and a well-earned one, too. Home for Christmas sees a consummate pro get the stage she deserves. Up next? World domination, presumably, but I hope she gets a chance to have a little nap first.
