The mischievous Christmas comedy special stars Lee Mack and Chris McCausland.

Written by two of the Ghosts team, Laurence Rickard and Martha Howe-Douglas, Bad Tidings sounds like it could be a lot of fun – like a grown up take on Home Alone.

Doubtless it won’t hurt that McCausland is riding high thanks to his impressive performances in this year’s series of Strictly Come Dancing.

Here’s the rundown on Bad Tidings:

It’s the week before Christmas and Stockport home security expert, Neil (Lee Mack) has a problem with his neighbour. Scott (Chris McCausland) swaps their bins, complains about Neil’s ‘project’ car on his drive and has had his Christmas lights up all year, shining into Neil’s home office. Basically, he’s a git. He’s also blind, and the rest of the street think he’s great.

When they try to make Scott the new head of Neighbourhood Watch, Neil can stand it no more. He questions Scott’s suitability for the role (“It’s Neighbourhood Watch!”) and, in the tit for tat row which ensues, Neil ends up blowing the power. For the whole street. On Christmas Eve.

Everyone, including Neil’s wife and teenage daughter, is forced to take their Christmas plans elsewhere, leaving Neil and Scott alone and on guard. When infamous local crime family “The Brennans” decide to rob the entire street in one night (“It’s like Santa in reverse”), the odd couple must team up to stop them. They’ve got no lights, no cameras, no alarms, but one of them is blind, which might be an advantage… 

The film also stars Sarah Alexander, Ben Crompton, Emily Coates, Josiah Eloi, Millie Kiss, Tupele Dorgu, Rich Keeble, Sunil Patel and Donna Preston.

Bad Tidings doesn’t have a release date yet – we’ll keep you posted.