BBC CHRISTMAS COMEDY HIGHLIGHTS, FIRST LOOK AT AMANDALAND, HERE WE GO, TWO DOORS DOWN AND MANDY SPECIALS

The BBC have revealed a first look and additional details for some of its comedy highlights airing over the festive season.

Amandaland

Alongside the returning cast, the Christmas special welcomes the absolutely fabulous Jennifer Saunders who will play Aunt Joan, Felicity’s (Joanna Lumley) sister.  Aunt Joan is a ball of country-living, enthusiastic upper-class bluster – very, very different from Felicity. This very special episode will be the first scripted on-screen reunion for Jennifer and Joanna since Absolutely Fabulous.

Amandaland series one averaged 5.7 million viewers to date, with episode 1 attracting 7.4 million, making it the BBC’s second biggest new comedy launch in recent years, behind Ludwig Ep 1 (11.4M) according to the latest data.

Here We Go

Created by and starring Tom Basden (After Life), series four will once again feature the all-star cast Jim Howick (Ghosts), Katherine Parkinson (The IT Crowd), Alison Steadman (Gavin & Stacey), Freya Parks (This Town), Jude Morgan-Collie (A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder), Tori Allen-Martin (Unforgotten), Mica Ricketts (Best Interests), Ed Kear (The Batman), and Jon Furlong (The Last Kingdom).

The special festive episode sees Rachel keen to throw a massive New Year’s Eve party. Paul, less so: he’d much prefer a nice quiet holiday cottage with a sauna so he can sweat out the massive boil that’s recently appeared on his cheek; two quite different visions for seeing in the new year. So begins a typically chaotic Jessop Family holiday, featuring a road trip, a missing dummy, and a large crate of unlicensed fireworks Paul picked up from a police auction.

Two Doors Down

Two Doors Down started as a one-off special in 2013. Created and written by Simon Carlyle and Gregor Sharp, there have been seven series and three previous Christmas specials. The residents of Latimer Crescent will congregate at Beth (Arabella Weir) and Eric’s (Alex Norton) house to celebrate Christmas.

The neighbours are all back:  Christine (Elaine C Smith), Cathy (Doon Mackichan) and Colin (Jonathan Watson), Alan (Graeme Stevely) and Michelle (Joy McAvoy), plus Beth and Eric’s son Ian (Jamie Quinn) and his fiancé Gordon (Kieran Hodgson).

Mandy

Diane Morgan's hit BBC Two comedy series Mandy returns for a Christmas special this December. In The Mandy Who Knew Too Much we join Mandy as she has what can only be described as one of the worst Christmases ever.

 Other Highlights

Elsewhere, In Mammoth, it’s Tony Mammoth’s first Christmas since coming back from the dead and he’s determined to make it a special one with his family. Other highlights include brand new comedy Shedites, by Paddy Houlihan and two specials from Mrs Brown’s Boys.

Stuffed is a modern-day Christmas caper for the whole family to enjoy which see’s Arslan Farooqi (Guz Khan) and his multi-faith family set off on the trip of a lifetime as they swap Coventry for the magic of Lapland.

Transmission details will be announced in due course.