The highly-emotional Ghosts BBC Christmas Special 2020 had GEMMA JOHNSON’s eyes welling up – watch it and you’ll be in tears too
Review of Ghosts BBC Christmas Special 2020
There is always that one episode, even in a comedy series, there is that one episode that I avoid watching because it is too close to home, too difficult to watch.
Even with iconic The Royle Family, the Queen of Sheba episode is one that I still cannot watch – damn you BBC! This Ghosts Christmas episode was one I have point blank refused to watch again, so when Spooky Isles asked me to review the Christmas specials of Ghosts I took a deep breath, grabbed a box of tissues, and made sure my emotional support dog (aka Poppy the Labrador) was nearby. Here we go…
Christmas is full of emotions; we gather together to celebrate and in doing so we become more aware of those that are no longer with us. For those of us who have lost someone significant, Christmas can be difficult. This episode of Ghosts taps into those raw emotions, for me this was a particularly gut-wrenching episode due to a very unlikely source – Julian.
Mike’s family are descending upon Button House for the festivities, and this includes Mike and Alison’s baby niece who is not sleeping through the night so is incredibly grumpy and difficult to settle. Much to Julian’s dismay the baby is to be his roommate over the Christmas period. The bravado that is Julian softens and we see a glimpse of his insecurities, the regrets of his life and what could have been.
Here is where it gets hard… Julian manages to settle the baby and in doing so he recalls his own daughter who, like me, lost her father at a very young age. He recalls the events he missed and the worries that he has about her future. What did she become? Is she happy?
In a touching moment, Pat encourages Julian to search for her on the computer where he sees that she is a politician just like him. Wouldn’t it be lovely if our own loved ones could search for us like that.
There is lots of sentiment within this episode as all of the ghosts reflect upon the meaning of Christmas – for Fanny it is having a real tree, Pat it is hiding in a shed drinking and Captain it is listening to the King’s speech.
Mike is becoming more unravelled that his perfect Christmas isn’t going to plan, but then we see an incredibly touching moment between him and his own father – Christmas doesn’t have to be perfect, parents want to take on the load of Christmas because they realise that one day they might not be able to.
It isn’t about perfection, it’s the imperfections that make Christmas what it is – a pearl of wisdom courtesy of Julian.
One of my favourite moments in this episode was the ghosts gathering around the piano to sing a carol with Alison, a really beautiful moment and a poignant one – sometimes the people that become our family aren’t connected to us through biology or marriage.
Another highlight for me here was Mary, my goodness I have missed her since she was (in her words) ‘sucked off’. Much to the delight of my family, my impressions of Mary – and her many catch phrases – will now be returning to our household.
But before I can resume my ‘Mary-isms’ I need to go and compose myself, send my Mum a goodnight text, cuddle my dog and open that box of Christmas chocolates sitting on the kitchen worktop.
After that I should have recovered, but before you ask – yes, I will still continue to skip this episode but that doesn’t mean that you should.
Read about other episodes of Ghosts BBC on Spooky Isles
You can watch Ghosts on BBC iPlayer
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