The World’s Best Christmas Lights: From Liverpool to Bethlehem
CHANNEL 4, 8.00PM
It is amazing what you can build a successful, multi-millionpound, internationally renowned business from. Liverpool-based company The Christmas Decorators specialise in the commercial design and installation of large-scale Christmas lights and decorations – the kind you see in every shop, street and town square. This entertaining film, one of the more offbeat of the season, follows a rather surprising commission: to install the lights and decorations at what many might consider the birthplace of Christmas – Manger Square in Bethlehem. In fact, they’ve been doing it every year since 2012, bringing every single bulb and bauble with them from their warehouse in the UK. It’s a huge logistical effort, and also possibly a tricky one, if customs or security in, say, Istanbul take exception to the Bethlehem-bound consignment as it passes through. Director of operations GED Comerford leads the four-person installation team on the trek from Liverpool. It’s fraught with hitches and glitches – even a homebaked Christmas cake is regarded with suspicion by local security – but all the more entertaining for that. Gerard O’donovan returns to New York in search of his family. GO