The first-ever Christmas special for the hit BBC comedy Amandaland has arrived, bringing with it a sublime guest appearance from television legend Jennifer Saunders alongside her iconic Absolutely Fabulous co-star Joanna Lumley. Airing on BBC One and now available on iPlayer, this festive instalment of the Motherland spin-off delivers a beautifully crafted tale of family dysfunction and forced merriment.
A Journey to Aunt Joan's Dilapidated Manor
Determined to recreate the 'simpler' Christmases of her youth, the self-styled 'Queen of SoHa' Amanda, played by Lucy Punch, drags her reluctant clan to the countryside. The party, packed into neighbour Mal's (Samuel Anderson) van after a no-show taxi, includes Amanda's eye-rolling children Georgie (Miley Locke) and Manus (Alexander Shaw), her frosty mother Felicity (Joanna Lumley), and her despairing best friend Anne (Philippa Dunne), whose flight to Dublin was cancelled.
Their destination is the vast, crumbling mansion of Aunt Joan, portrayed with scene-stealing eccentricity by Jennifer Saunders. Joan greets them in a bloodied apron, mid-giblet preparation, her novelty bauble earrings swinging wildly as she manically distributes canapés and port. The tone is set: a potent mix of desperate cheer and profound unease.
The Pavlova as a Metaphor for Fractured Family
At the heart of Amanda's festive mission is an enormous pavlova, a gift for Aunt Joan that must be kept upright to prevent 'the compote breach[ing] the meringue'. This dessert becomes a central symbol, a fragile centrepiece around which the family's tensions orbit. Amanda is desperate to recreate a cherished childhood photograph of herself squeezed between her aunt and mother, all smiling over a similar festive cake.
Yet, her efforts are constantly undermined. The dog runs off with the trout pâté, Felicity snipes about Joan's frantic positivity, and Mal discovers a secret stash of compromising photographs. The pavlova, which nobody else seems to care about, transforms into a beautifully baked metaphor for Amanda's unfillable void and her lifelong craving for her mother's approval.
A Triumph of Character Over Plot
While the plot mechanics feel occasionally thrown together and the climactic moment is somewhat underpowered, the special's strength lies in its characters. Lucy Punch masterfully balances Amanda's vanity with palpable sadness, while the dynamic between Saunders's chaotically positive Joan and Lumley's elegantly disdainful Felicity is comedy gold.
The writing team of Sharon Horgan, Helen Serafinowicz, Barunka O'Shaughnessy, Laurence Rickard, and Holly Walsh have crafted what feels less like a sitcom and more like a great 21st-century domestic tragedy, dressed in tinsel and novelty earrings. The vanity is always served with a side of deep-seated sorrow.
Despite some frenetic flute-heavy soundtrack choices, the special succeeds as a warm, witty, and ultimately moving festive offering. It culminates in Amanda finally getting her photograph, with a pavlova that stands for something far greater than dessert: a tentative step towards family forgiveness. For fans of character-driven comedy and the long-awaited screen reunion of two British comedy icons, this Amandaland special is a Christmas gift well worth unwrapping.
