Cinderella THE SEQUEL

41 CINDERELLA AFTER EVER AFTER Christmas EVE, 8pm, sky ONE

The best fairy tales end with the poor girl meeting her prince, getting married and living happily ever after. But what happens if the happily isn’t ever after? That’s the seam David Walliams has mined with his latest Christmas treat, in which he plays a far from typical Prince Charming, while Car Share’s Sian Gibson is his even less traditional Cinderella.

In the hour-long show, which also stars Tom Courtenay as Charming’s befuddled father the king and Celia Imrie as Cinderella’s evil stepmother (both pictured below), Cinderella starts to wonder whether she’s married the right man almost as soon as the wedding is over. Perhaps trying on a glass slipper wasn’t the best way to choose a life partner. ‘You just think life’s not like that,’ says David. ‘So I’ve tried to make Prince Charming arrogant and dislikeable. They’ve only just met and all she knows about him is that he’s handsome.’

Sian Gibson’s Cinderella is far removed from the put-upon scullery maid saved from a life of hardship. ‘She’s not a typical Cinderella,’ says Sian. ‘She’s in love with Prince Charming because he’s the sort of equivalent of Take That, but in Fairyland where they live. He’s a bit of a pin-up, but Cinderella is too savvy to fall for all the fawning. She’s got a bit more about her. This Cinderella is much more in keeping with how we want our daughters to be.’

David’s now hoping to look at what happened next in other classic fairy tales. ‘Some characters who haven’t done anything wrong have been unfairly treated,’ he says. ‘It could be interesting.’