What do you get when you put Lucy Punch, Dame Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders in the same room? A rollicking good time!
The Amandaland Christmas special was one of the most anticipated episodes of the night – and boy did it deliver.
The hit Motherland spin-off wowed fans as the BBC’s biggest comedy launch in years when the first season dropped at the start of the year.
So, to already have our motley crew back on screens for more comedic chaos was a veritable treat.
The cherry on top? The special featured an AbFab reunion with Joanna and Jennifer playing chalk and cheese sisters – Felicity and Joan.
When the motley crew rock up at Joan’s house for Christmas with Amanda’s neighbour, Mal (Samuel Anderson), and the long-suffering Anne (Phillipa Sunne) in tow, the shennigans are only just beginning.
As Amanda attempts to recreate the perfect childhood Christmas day (with the photos to prove it), everything descends into chaos.
Felicity spends the day in a strop with her sister; Mal and Amanda continue their ‘will-they-won’t-they’ dynamic; Anne gets progressively drunker on real French champagne.
Oh, and Sir Mick Jagger might be Amanda’s secret dad?
For fans, seeing Edina and Patsy back on screens again was an absolute delight, only fuelled by Amandaland once more proving why it is so popular as we look towards a second season.
‘Joanna Lumley & Jennifer Saunders back together on screen was just pure Christmas magic! Cheers sweetie,’ Andrew McBride shared.
The iconic onscreen duo were hardly short of praise by fans, with Laura agreeing they have the ‘perfect chemistry’ and World of Film and TV saying that the pair ‘absolutely smashing it for laughs and drama on Amandaland has made my Christmas.’
What did Metro think of the Amandaland Christmas special?
Metro’s Senior TV Reporter, Asyia Iftikhar, shares her thoughts…
I went into Christmas Day feeling quite despondent at the festive line-up. Luckily, I had one saviour – the Amandaland special.
I thoroughly enjoyed the first season and, as someone who loves a low-stakes festive special, this delivered everything I wanted for a cosy night in.
Jennifer and Joanna were utterly perfect, and their grumpy-sunshine sister dynamic shone on screen – proving exactly why they are both British acting icons.
Meanwhile, after almost a decade playing the snobby but strangely lovable Amanda, Lucy once more smashed the brief. Every time, she wonderfully marries her character’s obnoxiousness with an endearing quality you can’t help but like.
What do I think? May we have Amandaland Christmas specials for many years to come!
‘Thank baby Jesus for Amandaland this Christmas. Brilliant TV. Jennifer Saunders needs to return. That last 10secs was genius,’ Chris A Wykes heartily agreed.
David M called it the ‘funniest thing I’ve ever seen’ while Anthony praised it for being ‘sweet with so much heart’.
Over the years, lead star Lucy, 47, has truly made her hoity-toity character her own, making the leap from Motherland to her very own spin-off more than well deserved.
This episode didn’t just mark a reunion for Joanna and Jennifer, however. Lucy had also worked with Jennifer before in her 20s on the sitcom Let Them Eat Cake.
Speaking to Metro about what it was like to work with the screenstar again after all these years, she said: ‘Even better.
‘Because when I worked with her the first time, I was about 22 and [couldn’t speak] because I was so excited and so impressed. I sort of got it together this time round, fractionally more, at least.’
Amandaland is now streaming on BBC iPlayer.
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