Come all ye rural!

Stars Bradley Walsh and Joanna Scanlan on a country Christmas with the Larkins

- IAN MACEWAN

THE LARKINS

NEW CHRISTMAS DAY / ITV / 9PM / COMEDY DRAMA

There’s always lashings of food, drink and good cheer on the Larkins’ farm at this time of year.

But Ma and Pop (played by Joanna Scanlan and Bradley Walsh) are about to get the best Christmas present they could have hoped for as we return to 1950s Kent for a seasonal feature-length special of ITV’s feel-good comedy drama The Larkins.

The couple are delighted when eldest daughter Mariette (Sabrina Bartlett) and her love interest, Charley (Tok Stephen), who we last saw leaving for France, come home for the festivities.

And with Charley’s posh parents being invited for Christmas dinner, Mariette will find out just how her prospective in-laws might get along with her big-hearted but somewhat eccentric clan.

Meanwhile, in the village, it’s not quite a case of good will to all, as there are ructions over the staging of the nativity play, and a power cut leads to a spate of burglaries.

With Pop primed to break out the eggnog and Ma ready to serve up a lavish feast, we caught up with stars Bradley, 61, and Joanna, 60, to find out what makes a Larkin Yuletide...