Everyday feels like Christmas in the Larkins household \u2013 overindulgent feasts, the roar of six children crowded around a table and the constant flow of alcoholic drinks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always the more the merrier at the Larkins,\u201d says Bradley Walsh who has reprised the role of Pop, which was made famous by David Jason in the \u201990s original The Darling Buds of May. \u201cMa revels in it. It\u2019s a proper old fashioned 50s farmhouse. Pop gets everyone a drink and Ma cooks everything \u2013 then, they sit around the telly, falling asleep and having more cocktails.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a chaotic household, but one defined by joy and unwavering hospitality.<\/p>\n

\u201cMa and Pop know each other inside out,\u201d he adds. \u201cThere\u2019s no walking on eggshells. I don\u2019t imagine they\u2019d ever argue or have a cross word with each other. They teach us about unity and community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joanna Scanlan, who plays Ma, concurs: \u201cThey teach us about loyalty and caring about one another. Putting one another first. Thinking about the whole family rather than themselves as individuals. They teach us that to be with one person for your whole life requires a bit of give and take.\u201d<\/p>

The Christmas episode, which was filmed in October, is as idyllic and wholesome as the rest of the series \u2013 so of course, there\u2019s a smattering of snow, which Joanna Scanlan is hoping for here, in the real world.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be lovely to have a white Christmas \u2013 that sense of quietness that comes when the snow dampens the sound everywhere, children playing on toboggans, throwing snowballs or building snowmen,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Walsh was equally as enchanted by the snow machines: \u201cThe set felt so Christmassy \u2013 with Christmas trees, bunting, snow and tinsel \u2013 it was fantastic. I might start celebrating Christmas in October from now on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much like Ma, Scanlan is the head chef of her own family\u2019s Christmas lunch \u2013 and is a stickler for festive traditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be in Wales this year,\u201d says the actor, who grew up in the market town of Ruthin. \u201cI always listen to Nine Lessons and Carols from Kings on Christmas Eve. I like going to church and I love to do Christmas stockings, even when people are well beyond the age of having one. Like the Larkins, my family often eat goose, but this year, we\u2019re having chicken \u2013 which is from Romshed farm [where The Larkins is filmed] and weighs 3.2 kilos! They have very special animal welfare. I like to cook at least ten side dishes \u2013 my speciality being stuffing from an Elizabeth David recipe.\u201d<\/p>\n