Welcome to British Isles Friday! British Isles Friday is a weekly event for sharing all things British and Irish — reviews, photos, opinions, trip reports, guides, links, resources, personal stories, interviews, and research posts. Join us each Friday to link your British and Irish themed content and to see what others have to share. The link list is at the bottom of this post. Pour a cup of tea or lift a pint and join our link party!

Last week, I wrote about Mary Berry shows that I watched on PBS in the last month or so. Tina reviewed Maureen by Rachel Joyce, third in the trilogy that began with The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.

---

The story begins with a twist like the end of O. Henry’s The Gift of the Magi. A young couple spontaneously decides to surprise one another, only to end up in each other’s hometowns.

James Hughes (played by Asa Butterfield, who is hard not to think of as Otis from Sex Education) ends up in a boisterous household overflowing with squabbles and Christmas cheer.

Meanwhile, his girlfriend, Hayley, finds herself at the grand country estate of Lord Humphrey Hughes, Earl of Gloucester (played by Alex Jennings, who I alternately think of as the Duke of Windsor from The Crown or King Leopold from Victoria). According to His Lordship, “We tend not to make a fuss of Christmas in this house.”

High jinks ensue as James attempts to keep up with fast-moving traditions that are all new to him and Hayley tries to bring a bit of Christmas into the gracious wood-paneled spaces of Hughes Hall.

I actually preferred the more tender parts of the story and there were plenty of those among unmet expectations, griefs, and secrets.

Your Christmas or Mine? was released on Amazon Prime this year.

Have you seen this? What did you think? The Wikipedia article quoted two reviews — one very negative and one very positive. That always amuses me. My experience was definitely on the positive side, but it takes very little to please me with a Christmas romantic comedy, this time of year.