Being Eileen

Sue Johnston stars as Eileen, the widowed matriarch of a riotous Birkenhead family in Michael Wynne's new six-part comedy drama. We first encountered the Lewises in Lapland, a 75-minute Christmas special which was screened in 2011, when the newly fatherless clan travelled to the Arctic Circle and Eileen learned to live life to the full. But back home, things aren't so rosy and now Eileen has vanished and her daughter, Paula (Elizabeth Berrington), fearing the worst, organises a family search party.

Sue Johnston interview

Sue Johnston is back as Eileen Lewis, a role she first played in a 2011 Christmas comedy called Lapland.

In Lapland - chillingly described as "heartwarming" in the Radio Times - it was the Northern Lights that provided the cure-all for family dysfunction, uniting a bickering Birkenhead family in innocent wonder at the end of a trip to visit Santa. Michael Wynne's drama had been so sour and bad-tempered up to this point, though, that the sudden swerve into bonhomie felt deeply unconvincing. One rapprochement - between a beleaguered husband and his endlessly whining wife - came about because he finally lost his patience and snapped, "Will you shut your fat gob for once!" a remark that I'm sure spoke for many viewers but seemed implausible as a catalyst for festive peace. There were some good lines, but I still came out thinking Mandy's early grumble had been a hazardous hostage to fortune: "Christmas," she said winningly, "is all about sitting on a sofa watching shite and eating crap."

The traditional redemptive sugar substitute is provided by the "heart-warming" (your critical alarm bells should now be ringing) tale of a Birkenhead family holidaying in Lapland. Sue Johnston and Julie Graham star, and Zawe Ashton - so wonderful as Vod in Channel 4's student comedy drama Fresh Meat - plays the tour rep known as "Jingle Jill".

Lapland, BBC One, preview

Why do the Brits love Lapland? A new BBC comedy drama tries to get to the bottom of it...

Olivier Award-winning playwright Michael Wynne turns his hand to TV comedy tonight, with this one-off special about a close-knit Birkenhead family who decide to pull out the stops and go to Lapland for Christmas. It stars the excellent Sue Johnston - best known as Barbara Royle from The Royle Family - as the family's benevolent matriarch, Eileen; with support from a strong ensemble cast, including Elizabeth Berrington (Waterloo Road) as her overstressed daughter Paula and Stephen Graham (This Is England) as her long-suffering son Pete. Being a British comedy, it doesn't take long for the infighting to start, and the film contains a handful of smartly observed scenes that will be familiar to many viewers - from the grandmother being used as a permanently on-call nanny by her own children, to the simmering family grievances vented after a few glasses of sherry, to the difficulty of keeping older siblings from spoiling the magic of Father Christmas for their younger brothers and sisters. At points, this takes the programme more into the realm of edgy, Shameless-style drama than gentle festive comedy; but Wynne manages to sugar the pill with a good deal of warm Northern humour.

Filming Lapland: The comedy and tragedy of Christmas

Lapland covers quite touching issues that are affecting the Lewis family - like the loss of their family patriarch - and then my character, the holiday rep Jingle Jill interrupts with quite hilarious material. It's very much a comedy drama.

Interview: Stephen Graham from BBC comedy Lapland

An interview with actor Stephen Graham.

Sue Johnston interview

Sue Johnston tells TV Choice more about Lapland, and also reveals how she likes to celebrate the festive season.