James Buckley

The Red Top preview

It's 75-minutes of pure entertainment and pure escape, and if nothing else, watching Maxine Peake, Russell Tovey, Eleanor Matsuura, Johnny Vegas, Alexei Sayle, Harry Enfield, James Buckley, John Sessions, Stephen Mangan and Peter Richardson share the screen is a real joy.

Radio Times review

It would be tempting to think that the focus of this story is its creator, David Walliams, who was no stranger to rocking a frock in Little Britain and Come Fly with Me. But the comic actor turned children's writer has a serious point to make in this uplifting version of his debut novel.

Our hero is 12-year-old Dennis (Billy Kennedy), who lives with his couch-potato dad and unreconstructed brother. Dennis is missing his mother, who has left home to live with a roofer, but he soon finds an escape.

A gifted footballer, Dennis also discovers through his new friend Lisa (the school's coolest girl), that wearing dresses makes him happy. How will he reconcile his interests, or sneak past his fashion-police teachers?

Walliams's knack of championing the outsider and celebrating difference shines out of a story he says isn't autobiographical, but is "very personal". It's no wonder such a quality cast signed up, including Jennifer Saunders, Tim McInnerny, Steve Speirs and James Buckley, who has some of the best lines as a supremely negative PE teacher. Even supermodel Kate Moss gets to shake a tailfeather, and Walliams allows himself a cameo as a camp referee.

It's a refreshingly unusual Christmas treat with a punch-the-air final act, and a great use of Queen - have a guess which song they use.

David Walliams' children's story is one of the bolder festive family offerings this year - and not just because it isn't set in a soft-focused past. If you've read the novel, you'll know it's about a 12-year-old cross-dresser who comes into his own after a chance encounter with a fashion mag. Walliams stars alongside Jennifer Saunders, James Buckley, Meera Syal and Kate Moss.

A young lad spots Kate Moss in a Vogue fashion spread and falls in love - with frocks. Twelve-year-old Dennis is fed up with everything after his parents split; could dressing up as "Denise" cheer him up? Yes, it turns out, in this sweet-natured adaptation of David Walliams's children's book (following previous Crimbo versions of his Gangsta Granny and Mr Stink).

OK, so Moss's cameo doesn't display any hidden thespian talents and everything is resolved extremely conveniently, but it aims to celebrate difference and individuality, which can't be too bad, given how our commercially-driven youth culture too often tells kids that there's a "right" way to look. And with Jennifer Saunders, James Buckley, Tim McInnerny and Walliams himself popping up among the grown-ups, there's enough here to keep kids and hungover adults amused.

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