Review of the Sky Christmas film with Chris McCausland and Lee Mack

Chris McCausland’s runaway success on Strictly is tipped to lead to all sorts of telly offers. And, hopefully, they’ll make more of an impact than this enjoyable but surprisingly forgettable, festive fare.

In Bad Tidings, McCausland revives the relationship with Lee Mack that began with a guest appearance on Not Going Out – of which this feels like an extended episode – and was cemented with their memorable appearance together at the 2022 Baftas.

Here, they play neighbours in a suburban Stockport street, initially at loggerheads because of McCausland’s character, Scott, insisting on having his Christmas lights up year-round. Yes, even though he’s blind.

In an act of petty oneupmanship, Mack’s Neil, a home security expert having a mid-life crisis, responds by lighting his house up like an airport, blowing out the electricity for the whole road… and on Christmas Eve as well. So everyone decamps, leaving the street empty. Wouldn’t you know it, but the Brennan crime family, headed by fresh-out-of-nick matriarch Stacey (Rebekah Staton), get wind of the situation and spot the opportunity for some easy burglary pickings.

They hadn’t counted on Neil and Scott – both members of the Neighbourhood Watch, as established in one rather-too-long scene – staying behind to guard the gifts. So, of course, it’s not too long before the crooks find themselves Home Aloned into submission.

That’s no spoiler, given precisely how this film has been put together by rote, from the stubborn bickering men at the start to the snow settling on the happy scene at the end. 

The few things that do set it apart seem to have McCausland’s fingerprints on them, especially some nice bits of comic business about his lack of sight in which it’s always the other party – usually Mack – who comes across looking the idiot. And Scott’s mini-speech, saying he respects Neil for hating him for the prick he has been, rather than being patronising and ingratiating because of his blindness like the other neighbours, is on-point.

McCausland wrote the script with Ghosts co-creators and co-stars     Laurence Rickard and Martha Howe-Douglas and it hits a similar family-friendly-with-a-bit-of-grit vibe, although the characters are more broadly drawn than the spectres who haunt Button Hall.

But one major drawback is that most of the action takes place at night in homes with no electricity – giving Scott an advantage over the ne’er-do-wells but giving the whole film a dim, murky look that’s far from festive.

Primarily, though, Bad Tidings feels like a sitcom special that’s got too big for its Santa boots. The endearing comedy chemistry between Mack and McCausland overcomes much of this, but not all.

• Bad Tidings is on at 7:30pm tonight on Sky Max and streaming on Now.

Review date: 22 Dec 2024
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett