In recent years, drama and reality shows have dominated TV viewing, but comedy is having the last laugh with a resurgence following last year’s festive finale of Gavin & Stacey.
This year’s BBC Christmas Day highlight is a special of the Motherland spin-off Amandaland, while next year a second series of both Amazon’s hit Last One Laughing and Channel 4’s Mitchell & Webb Are Not Helping will feature. Sky is also launching a UK version of the long-running US satirical sketch show Saturday Night Live.
Last year’s final episode of Gavin & Stacey topped the Christmas ratings with 12.3 million viewers on the day, rising to a record-breaking audience of 19.3 million after catch-up figures were added. This year, the BBC has high hopes for its “Cotswoldian Noel” version of Amandaland.
The comedy about a fallen-from-grace snob stars Lucy Punch as the eponymous, smug mum and Joanna Lumley as her mother, Felicity. It was a hit when it debuted in February and was watched by more than 7 million people – a big number for a new comedy.
The festive special guest stars Jennifer Saunders as Felicity’s aristocratic sister Joan and marks the first time Lumley and Saunders have worked together on a sitcom since Absolutely Fabulous.
An advance screening of the episode took place on the day Donald Trump filed a lawsuit against the BBC. Asked afterwards whether comedy was required more than ever in tough times, Saunders said: “We definitely need it.”
Amandaland co-writer and Ghosts star Laurence Rickard said: “There’s a genuine value in making people laugh when there are some things in the world which feel particularly bleak … We’re very proud to be doing something for the BBC at a time like this when it’s being attacked.”
Co-writer Holly Walsh said: “We were desperate to make a British, warm Christmas special.” She said the writers wanted to “lean into every trope and cliche going” to remind viewers of Christmases past and make them feel part of a family.
Both writers said they were “brought up watching all the Christmas specials”, with Walsh adding that they were “a huge deal in my house”.
She said they wanted to create something for all the family – “not too shocking, but that most people would have a really good laugh to [like] all the shows we were brought up on”.
Walsh concluded: “It’s that ‘Christmas special’ thing of just being part of the day, whether with your family or on your own – you’re part of something that the BBC are doing an amazing job at.”
Kate Phillips, the BBC’s chief content officer, said the Amandaland special had “got it all”, with the right yuletide ingredients. “It’s funny, it’s slapstick, it’s moving. You’ll identify with so many things that happen on Christmas Day in terms of your own family,” she said.
Saunders added: “Christmas specials are the hardest thing to write, because you’ve got to fulfil that expectation.” She said it was “an absolute gift” to be reunited with Lumley, who said she had emailed her when the guest role was mooted to say: “Do it or I’ll have to kill you!”
Saunders also said that she hoped more young comedians – who increasingly focus on live work or social media content – would try their hand at TV as part of the genre’s resurgence.
