Arguably the biggest signing made by Ted Lasso the series wasn’t a player. It was West End four-octave chantress Hannah Waddingham.
And there’s a whole lotta Hannah in Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas (Apple TV+), a one-off extravaganza, recorded at the Coliseum, London, in which Waddingham, who hits the stage looking curiously like a shiny mermaid, displays her considerable lung power.
Backed by singing and dancing stars aplenty, Waddingham unleashes a happy torrent of familiar festive schmaltz; which is what Christmas is all about, right?
Incidentally, Ted Lasso fans should already have this on their TV watch/wish list.
Spoiler alert: just like Santa, the Christmas TV special is a myth. But it remains a robust one, despite disingenuous midyear filming, thanks to the stars’ persuasive Yuletide cheer.
Chef Jamie Oliver owns reservoirs of the stuff; he must, such is his puncture-proof joyfulness in Jamie’s Christmas Shortcuts (BBC Lifestyle), a two-part primer on “the easiest way to maximum flavour” when preparing a festive feast.
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No need to be in a flap with your potentially tricky turkey thanks to Oliver’s main-course marvel, which also comes with the best gravy in the world, apparently.
For the more enlightened diner (the vegetarian) he prepares a cheesy stuffed squash, in an edible bowl, with a “silky, creamy leek sauce”. Even without the TV pictures his enthusiasm would be enough to provoke hunger pangs.
And after Christmas? Oliver has that covered too, with leftover creations good for the week up to the new year (er, “Betwixmas”) that also give the budget-conscious reason for festive cheer.
Salad, sauces, dessert, even a cranberry daiquiri are all put together from offcuts destined for the bin. If everything could just somehow turn out looking like he makes it in the studio …
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If you’re of the, “Let there be light – and far too much of it,” squad when it comes to Christmas decorations, Candy Cane Lane (Amazon Prime) is the seasonal movie for you.
Taking its cue from a real street in El Segundo, south of Los Angeles, on which the houses are ostentatiously garlanded annually, the film stars Eddie Murphy as a resident desperate to win the neighbourhood best-decked-out award. So he recruits an elf to help. As you do.
Candy Cane Lane might sound impossibly sugary, but hold on, Scrooge: Brian Grazer is a co-producer, meaning this is not your regular stocking stuffer, post-Christmas lunch film to fall asleep to.
Nor is Spirited (Apple TV+), which can’t help but break into song every five minutes, because “the afterlife is a musical” (something even the dead aren’t entirely happy about).
Will Ferrell brings all his confused, good-hearted naivety to his job as a redeemer of souls not yet quite lost, but which could use a shove in the direction of spreading kindness ripples and improving mankind.
Antagonist Ryan Reynolds brings his best, most ambiguous half-smirk to the role of evil media consultant and egotist, manipulator and global influencer (vaguely remind you of anyone?) and in so doing proves the toughest job yet for Ferrell and his team of ghosts, who once a year haunt a chosen “victim” into compassion.
Spirited proves again that Charles Dickens himself is the festive gift that keeps on giving … because how many times can A Christmas Carol be reinvented?
By this stage, if your sentimentality-calorie count is still low, allow Netflix to be your saviour: movies I Believe in Santa, A Merry Christmas Wish, Catering Christmas and many more make for a surfeit of seasonal gooeyness that should keep you happy. Until this time next year.