Arslan and Hannah are about to celebrate Christmas - well, sort of. Arslan is Muslim and doesn't believe in it, but his festive resistance softens somewhat when he receives an unexpected £8,000 from work. The family then head off to Lapland.
New original content is in short supply this Christmas, and I really wanted to enjoy this. Unfortunately, there's very little here to recommend it. I'd go as far as to say it's dreadful.
The script is atrocious. It's badly written, the so-called jokes barely register, and the whole thing looks cheaply made. It constantly opts to shout rather than observe, with all the subtlety of a reindeer with a flashing red nose and a megaphone.
Things briefly improve when Sue Johnston appears - the single chink of light in an otherwise joyless affair. Her performance is on an entirely different level to everyone else's. Guz Khan, sadly, is excruciatingly bad. Credit to the two children, though; they were genuinely good and showed far more natural ability than most of the adults.
I did wonder whether this might have worked with a different cast and a lighter touch, but the answer is almost certainly no. The writing simply isn't strong enough.
The dancing couple genuinely made my skin crawl.
I'm almost awaiting awards recognition for Sue Johnston out of sympathy alone, although her agent really should be protecting her from material this weak. She's vastly superior to this.
2/10.
