If you like your stockings hung from the chimney with plenty of sweet confections, then the sugary sweet, bursting with Christmas cheer new special from Apple TV+ should be right up your, er, chimney.

 

Filmed at the historic London Coliseum, Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas is a classy, classic, bubblegum pop holiday special in the spirit of Bing Crosby and Mariah Carey. It's full of glitzy, glamorous costumes, top-shelf choreography, and Billboard ready vocals and music. Think White Christmas featuring the cast of a certain, super popular show about English football. 

 

Speaking of which, there’s an impressive list of guest stars, including Leslie Odom Jr., Luke Evans, and ... some guy from Eurovision. The special also knows what many viewers are tuning in for and features virtually all of the cast of Ted Lasso, the show that helped elevate Waddingham from celebrated West End and Broadway performer to household name. Nick Mohammed gets a recurring gag that hangs around just long enough to be funny, Brett Goldstein and Juno Temple each feature in cutaway skits, and Phil Dunster gets to show off his pipes on the main stage. 

 

But the real star of the show is Waddingham and her absurdly good pipes. Lasso fans only got a brief taste of what she can do as a singer, and it's a real treat to hear her fully belt out 45 minutes of Christmas classics in a showcase that ought to put her up there with some of the very best singers on the planet. 

 

The only real complaint here, and it's slight, is that Home for Christmas plays it so very straight. It's super cheery, impossibly joyful, impeccably costumed and choreographed and performed, but it could have used just a touch more of the weirdness that made recent holiday one-shots like A Very Murray Christmas and last year's The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special stand out as singularly great and utterly unique.

 

Still, Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas belongs on the top shelf of modern holiday specials and should delight Lasso fans and anyone looking for a fun, funny, traditional Christmas full of absolute bangers.