Hannah Waddingham is ringing in the holiday season with her Christmas special. Photo: Handout
It's indeed the most wonderful time of the year as British actress Hannah Waddingham rings in the holiday season with her enchanting Hannah Waddingham: Home For Christmas.
After making her breakthrough as Rebecca Welton, the uptight owner of a football club on the Emmy-winning comedy Ted Lasso, Waddingham is revisiting her musical theatre roots in the new Apple TV+ special.
Home For Christmas opens with the Emmy winner singing What Christmas Means To Me and goes on to entertain with classics like Run Rudolph Run, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, Winter Wonderland and more.
The 45-minute show was filmed live before an audience at the London Coliseum – a venue special to Waddingham as it’s where she spent her childhood watching her mother, Melodie Kelly, perform as an opera singer in the English National Opera Chorus.
Although Apple allowed her the luxury of choosing from a plethora of locations, Waddingham knew she had to tape her Christmas special there.
Speaking to StarLifestyle in a virtual roundtable interview, the 49-year-old shared: “There was nowhere else I wanted to be. My heart is in that building. I’ve been there since I was eight years old until my mum retired when I was 38.
Waddingham was insistent on taping her Christmas special at the London Coliseum. Photo: Handout
“I’ve run around the corridors, talked to the loo attendants, canteen staff and front of house staff. They all knew me since I was a little girl.”
The three-time Olivier Award nominee added: “When the English National Opera Chorus got wind of me filming the holiday special there, they reached out and said they’d like to come and sing with their girl. It was incredible.”
Home For Christmas seems to be a homecoming of some sort for Waddingham, who not only reunited with her pals from the English National Opera but also with her Ted Lasso buddies.
American actor Jason Sudeikis, who leads Ted Lasso, makes a cameo alongside Brett Goldstein and Juno Temple in the musical extravaganza.
Other colleagues from Ted Lasso who also make an appearance include Brendan Hunt, James Lance, Nick Mohammed, Kola Bokinni, Billy Harris and Phil Dunster as they join the actress onstage for some Christmas tunes.
Waddingham is reunited with her Ted Lasso buddies in her new Christmas special. Photo: Handout
According to Waddingham, convincing the lads of Ted Lasso to hop on board her show was the “easiest part of the special” as almost everyone was enthusiastic about the idea.
“The only person who said, ‘Hannah, would you mind if I wasn’t actually on stage and just watched?’ was my beloved Jeremy Swift (who plays her personal assistant on the show).
“Toheeb Jimoh (who portrays football player Sam Obisanya) was also busy with the Romeo And Juliet play at the time, so he had a very good reason (not to go onstage), but he was there (to watch me).
“To have everybody get involved was just incredible. Watching them onstage, they all for sure wanted to be there.
“It really made my heart swell going into the rehearsal room and seeing them all learning their five, six, seven, eights. It’s just brilliant,” she said.
Power of love
Love takes the centre stage in Home For Christmas.
During our group interview, Waddingham shared that the heart of the show lies near the 20 minute mark, where she dedicates the song O Holy Night to her mother and nine-year-old daughter, Kitty, who she shares with her Italian ex-boyfriend, hotel manager Gianluca Cugnetto.
Waddingham plans to spend more time with her daughter this Christmas. Photo: Hannah Waddingham/InstagramIn an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Waddingham said it was important for her holiday special to have that personal touch, to have that moment of quiet and focus where she can just let her guard down and sing for them.
Taping for the Christmas special began in May.
It was as if the stars aligned when Waddingham’s daughter, who was eight at the time, sat in the exact same spot, at the exact same age Waddingham was when she watched her mother perform.
The kismet moment itself, according to her, was nothing short of magical.
Speaking to the Associated Press, Waddingham said: “My mother is heavily afflicted with Parkinson’s disease and is in a wheelchair.
“The fact that she was even able to be there, my father sitting next to her... and to have my little girl, who by some quirk of the universe was eight years old when we were shooting it, is unbelievable.”
A time for loved ones
Waddingham describes herself as someone who’s “obsessed” with Christmas and goes “hard” for the holidays.
Thankfully, the actress – who has also appeared in Game Of Thrones and Sex Education, will be able to fully indulge in this year’s festivities as opposed to last year, where she was occupied with a movie shoot in Sydney, Australia.
“Even though they had all their decoration stuff and everything, it’s hot, and I’m sorry, it’s wrong. This (will be) the first Christmas back in the cold again,” she told Travel + Leisure magazine.
Home For Christmas caps off a busy year for Waddingham, who hosted the Olivier Awards in April and co-hosted the Eurovision Song Contest the following month.
Earlier in November, the actress hosted the Earthshot Prize in Singapore alongside Britain’s Prince William and American actor Sterling K. Brown.
Waddingham co-hosted the Earthshot Prize Awards in Singapore alongside Britain's Prince William (centre) and US actor Brown. Photo: Reuters
The same month also saw the actress attending the Thundergong! 2023 charity concert, where she, along with Sudeikis, made headlines after delivering an impressive duet of Shallow – originally performed by Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga in the 2018 film, A Star Is Born.
During the roundtable session, Waddingham admitted that she didn’t have time to really reflect on 2023. However, she did discover something about herself.
“I’ve realised during the pandemic and SAG-AFTRA strike that I’m a workaholic. To actually be doing all that I do on the big or small screen or on stage, I would 100% do it without being paid.
“It’s because I love (what I’m doing) it doesn’t feel like work to me for a second. I don’t need to rest. My 70-year-old self would say, ‘Get on with it, woman!’” she said with a laugh.
Although Waddingham considers herself a workaholic, she makes sure to spare time for those she cares about.
When asked by StarLifestyle how she plans to celebrate Christmas this year, the actress said it will be a low-key celebration among loved ones – more specifically, her daughter.
“Christmas for me this year began in February, when we started picking out the songs (for the holiday special). I’ve also done two Christmas commercial campaigns.
“So by the time I actually get to Christmas day, I think I’m going to be with my daughter in a little room by ourselves having Christmas dinner. Just hunkering down with my little girl... I can’t think of anything better,” she shared.
Hannah Waddingham: Home For Christmas is available on Apple TV+.
