Two worlds collide. London and New York. Pop music and extreme metal.
The story starts with Meg, a music manager in her mid-thirties, who travels from New York to London to escape the embarrassment of a US pop star having recorded an album of songs about her. In London, she is given the task of managing a boy band, 5 Together, and finding them a Christmas number one to bolster their flagging career. She finds a song on the internet posted by an ailing thirteen-year-old girl, Nina. Nina is ill and may not make it through to Christmas. Meg tries to obtain permission to have the song re-recorded by 5 Together, but she discovers she has competition from the songwriter, Nina’s uncle Blake, bass guitarist in thrash metal band, Skurve. Despite their instincts telling them to run in the opposite direction, Meg and Blake find themselves falling for each other. What follows is a romantic comedy about two worlds colliding – with a young woman at the centre who desperately wants her uncle to find love and for his song to hit the number one spot by Christmas day.
Starring Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire, Hillbilly Elegy) and Iwan Rheon (Game of Thrones, Misfits), with Helena Zengel (News of the World), Debi Mazar (Goodfellas, Entourage), Alfie Boe (Les Miserables, Mr Selfridge) and Richard Fleeshman (Coronation Street, Call the Midwife), A Christmas Number One is a Sky Original directed by Chris Cottam (The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan, The Lives of the Saints) and produced by Camilla Deakin and Ruth Fielding for Lupus Films, Debbie Gray for Genesius Pictures, and Robert Chandler for Space Age Films.
Story by: Robert Chandler
Written by: Keiron Self, Giles New and Robert Chandler
The film is developed with the support of Creative Europe MEDIA.
Released on Sky Cinema and streaming service NOW in December 2021.