Hannah Waddingham’s New Christmas Special Is Basically A Festive Ted Lasso Reunion

Fans of Ted Lasso, and more particularly, our darling Rebecca Welton, have another reason to rejoice this holiday season. Hannah Waddingham is not just gifting us with her incredible voice in her new holiday variety show, Home for Christmas, she has also invited some of her Ted Lasso castmates to give her a hand. And somehow this Christmas special manages to hit that unique Ted Lasso tone of being silly, sincere, and campy all at the same time. Here’s everything you need to know about the holiday special, streaming now.

Hannah Waddingham pays homage to her mom and her daughter in Home for Christmas.

Hannah Waddingham got her start in musical theater long before she became internationally famous as owner of AFC Richmond Rebecca Welton on Ted Lasso. In fact, when she enters the London Coliseum to sing “That’s What Christmas Means to Me” at the beginning of her Home for Christmas special, it’s a bit of a homecoming for her whole family. Because her mother, Melodie Kelly, was an opera singer who performed in that very theater for 30 years.

“I wanted it to be a love letter to my mum, and to that world of privilege that I grew up in,” Waddingham told The Hollywood Reporter. “It was so amazing that when the English National Opera Chorus — some of whom are still there from my mom’s time — got wind of me doing it, they weren’t even asked, they offered to come and join me onstage and sing with me.”

It was a real full-circle moment not just for Waddingham and her mom, but also her 8-year-old daughter, Kitty, who was in the audience watching her mom. “The centerpiece is me very simply on a stand mic singing to my mum and my daughter, and my daughter sitting in the same box that I used to do when I was 8.”

Home for Christmas was also a Ted Lasso reunion.

Now that Ted Lasso has finished its final season on Apple TV+, it’s especially moving to see pretty much the entire gang get together for this holiday special. Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster), Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt), Keeley Jones (Juno Temple), Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein), Nathan Shelley (Nick Mohammed), and even Ted Lasso himself (Jason Sudeikis) all took part in this old-fashioned holiday variety show at different points. And they were quite clearly having the best time together, which makes it so much more fun to watch.

How can you watch Hannah Waddingham’s Home for Christmas?

You can watch Hannah Waddingham’s Home for Christmas special on Apple TV+, and the good news is, it’s already streaming. Might I suggest watching the Ted Lasso animated holiday short as a double feature? Possibly beforehand so that you’re primed and ready to get emotional about seeing the cast together again.