RadioTimes.com<\/a>, Butterfield revealed what he thinks makes this one stand out.<\/p>\n\u201cIt was never on my sort of my radar of things I really wanted to do,\u201d he said of starring in a Christmas movie. \u201cI\u2019ve never watched that many Christmas films, [but] I love Christmas, I love the festive time of year. And it wasn\u2019t until I read the script that I was like \u2018Oh my god.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s hard to make an original Christmas movie,\u201d he added. \u201cBut I read the script and I immediately thought this is new, and this feels very alive and funny and real and relatable. And actually, I could just kind of see it \u2013 just reading the script, I could see it kind of come to life. And I think that\u2019s the sign of a really great story, so it kind of went from there for me.\u201d<\/p>
Co-star Daniel Mays agreed that being in a Christmas film had \u201cnot necessarily [been] on my bucket list\u201d, but he too was immediately drawn to Tom Parry\u2019s script when he first got his hands on it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess there was an element after I\u2019d finished the script of thinking, \u2018Well you actually haven\u2019t done a Christmas movie, Danny. So why not give it a whirl?’\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I was completely sold by that premise of the switch at the train station. She goes down to the lavish mansion in the countryside where the heart of that family has been ripped out, and they\u2019re dealing with bereavement. And then you have a great contrast with this mad, working-class family, with all their Christmas traditions up in Macclesfield \u2013 I was completely sold on that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He continued: \u201cIt was just the quality of Tom\u2019s writing. All the characters are so well drawn. I found it so funny as a script, and it has great elements of drama to it as well. Particularly with the Macclesfield family that I was involved in, it was grounded in truth, it was grounded in social realism.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I think hopefully we\u2019ve produced a real standout Christmas film. With a Christmas film, you just want to let it wash over you for a couple of hours, and I think it does that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Core Kirk, who is starring in one of her first feature film roles, added: \u201cI love Christmas films, but I\u2019d never ever dreamed of being in one. Like, I\u2019ve never thought about it. And then when [the script] came through, I was like, \u2018I\u2019m a seasonal queen, of course I should be in a bloody Christmas film!’\u201d<\/p>\n