A little girl’s festive season is set to be the best-ever when she looks out the window and spots Santa Claus on the roof. But it soon becomes a nightmare before Christmas for the residents of the Whitfield Estate, who wake to discover a man dressed as Santa has plummeted from the roof – and that a spate of robberies has taken place, with all the video and eyewitness evidence implicating the big man himself!

As Humphrey investigates the wildly different details of each burglary, all the evidence points to a Santa who is decidedly more naughty than nice. But when the man in red wakes up in hospital, can Humphrey get the answers he needs before Christmas arrives?

Meanwhile, finding herself at the end of several unrecognised phone calls and sensing she’s being followed, Martha confronts a mysterious stranger. Discovering the culprit’s true identity and reason for coming to Shipton Abbott, Martha faces a difficult conversation.

Elsewhere, Esther puts Archie to the test when she insists that a couple’s first Christmas together can make or break them, leaving Archie under pressure to pull out all the stops for his present. And Kelby finds himself caught between two warring neighbours, each accusing the other of sabotage in their fierce competition to have the most extravagant Christmas lights display.

We enjoyed last year’s special, so fingers crossed for more of the same. As for cast, Kris Marshall (DI Humphrey Goodman), Sally Bretton (Martha Lloyd), Zahra Ahmadi (DS Esther Williams), Dylan Llewellyn (PC Kelby Hartford), Barbara Flynn (Anne Lloyd), Felicity Montagu (Margo Martins) and Jamie Bamber (Archie Hughes) all return to untangle both their Christmas decorations and a puzzling festive case.

As you’ll see from the image above, this year’s guests in Shipton Abbott include Johnny Vegas (Ideal, Benidorm), Paul Chowdhry (Devils), Martin Trenaman (The Inbetweeners), Syreeta Kumar (Apple Tree Yard) and Sam Hunter (One Battle After Another).