Chris McCausland & Lee Mack to star in Sky festive special Bad Tidings
- One-off comedy drama Bad Tidings - coming to Sky this Christmas - will star Chris McCausland and Lee Mack as feuding neighbours
- The duo must come together to save their neighbourhood from a local crime family
- Written by Ghosts stars Laurence Rickard and Martha Howe-Douglas with McCausland, Bad Tidings also features actors including Rebekah Staton, Sarah Alexander and Ben Crompton
Chris McCausland and Lee Mack will star as feuding neighbours in a one-off Christmas comedy drama for Sky Max, entitled Bad Tidings.
Sky describes it as "a mischievous festive special about two perpetually feuding neighbours in Stockport who become unlikely heroes, saving their street from notorious burglars with wacky booby traps and Great British banter".
Written by Ghosts stars Laurence Rickard and Martha Howe-Douglas with Chris McCausland, production begins this month at Sky Studios Elstree with the special set to air in a 90 minute slot on Sky and NOW this Christmas.
Joining the cast alongside McCausland and Mack will be Rebekah Staton, Sarah Alexander, Ben Crompton, Emily Coates, Josiah Eloi, Millie Kiss, Tupele Dorgu, Sunil Patel, Susan Kyd and Donna Preston.
Producers explain: "This year's Sky Original Christmas special revolves around grumpy home-security expert Neil (Mack) and his neighbour Scott (McCausland), who insists on keeping his Christmas lights illuminated all-year-round. And mixing up their bins, criticising Neil's 'project' car and generally winding him up. Basically, Scott's a git. He's also blind and all the other neighbours think he's great.
"When Scott is appointed head of the Neighbourhood Watch, Neil is the only one to question his suitability for the role. Their tit-for-tat argument culminates in Neil triggering a power-cut across the entire street. On Christmas Eve.
"Everyone is forced to evacuate, and Neil and Scott are left alone and on guard. But the local crime family decide to rob every house on the street in a single night, and the pair must set aside their differences to defeat them. They've got no lights, no cameras, no alarms and one of them is blind. Which might just be an advantage..."
McCausland and Mack worked together on an episode of the latter's hit sitcom Not Going Out last year, in which McCausland played a passenger travelling in the same carriage as Lee's family. They previously co-presented an award at the BAFTAS in 2022, with the YouTube clip of their funny speech clocking up nearly two million views.
Chris McCausland says: "Talk about a back of an envelope idea that has got out of hand, we are now making a Christmas comedy film and it's going to be awesome. I can't wait to get up to some hilarious mayhem with Lee and bring some festive spirit into people's living rooms this Christmas!"
Lee Mack adds: "I love Chris McCausland, I love the script and I Iove Christmas. Where do I sign?"