I was a little bit dubious about watching this.
The original series was hilariously excellent (and that was my opinion before I had endured the unreasonableness of my own children!) but the later episodes felt a bit too contrived.
I shouldn’t have worried. This was spectacularly funny. The ‘children’ were back on form and they seemed to enjoy themselves. In the original series, some of the dialogue was unscripted but I’m not sure if this was possible with this Christmas special. Hugh Dennis was particularly good as the dad with the dry sense of humour who always says the wrong thing at the wrong time. Mark Benton was a welcome star guest in this episode. Of the children, Daniel Roche as Ben was the biggest change in terms of physical appearance (and very deep voice!).
The episode was in memory of David Ryall who played Grandad and I think he would have approved of the storyline which involved the death of his character as well.
I really loved this Christmas special and the whole team were really on form so well done to everyone involved!