A MINI masterpiece

Created by Anomaly and directed by Ed Morris through Riff-Raff, this engaging film depicts a variety of festive trips and is full of refreshingly naturalistic touches, such as the reality of car journeys with grumpy kids and the jolly in-car frolics that escaping for the holidays can bring. 

The film also has a cool story behind it.  

Christmas 1978 and the career of Rea isn’t exactly flourishing. His manager is leaving him, his contract’s almost up and he’s stood outside Abbey Road Studios wondering how, with no money and the record company declining to buy him a rail ticket, he can get back to his home in Middlesbrough.  

That’s when his wife Joan comes to the rescue, making the 400km+ drive down to London in their Austin Mini, to bring hubbie back home. Stuck in snow and traffic in their cosy car, Rea started writing the song that, years later, would become a festive favourite.  

As Rea never intended to write a Christmas hit it was never released as a single, and there was no music video produced for it. Until now. 

For more on the story of Joan and Chris Rea's remarkable 1978 Christmas and the evolution of the timeless song, see the MINI Insider site here.