That christmas
That Christmas is a 2024 animated film on Netflix, written by Richard Curtis and Peter Souter and directed by Simon Otto, from Curtis’s children’s Christmas stories. It is a film title, not a date on the civil calendar.
How it works
That Christmas follows linked stories in a seaside town, Wellington-on-Sea, across one disrupted Christmas: a blizzard, a Santa who is not running a normal night, and several households whose plans go sideways. It is based on the book That Christmas and Other Stories by Richard Curtis, illustrated by Rebecca Cobb. Locksmith Animation produced it. It premiered at the BFI London Film Festival on 19 October 2024 and arrived on Netflix on 4 December 2024.
People search the title because they want the film, not because “that Christmas” is a named public holiday. The phrase in ordinary English still means “the Christmas we are thinking of” — usually 25 December of a particular year. The movie does not move that date. If you needed a countdown, count to 25 December. If you needed the cartoon, open the title on the service that carries it.
Who is in it
The voice cast is British-led. Brian Cox voices Santa Claus. Fiona Shaw voices Ms Trapper. Jodie Whittaker voices Mrs Williams. Bill Nighy voices Lighthouse Bill. Further voices include Lolly Adefope, Guz Khan as the reindeer Dasher, and a large set of child and adult roles in the town. A streaming page that lists only four names is showing the headliners.
Brian Cox — Santa Claus Fiona Shaw — Ms Trapper Jodie Whittaker — Mrs Williams Bill Nighy — Lighthouse Bill Guz Khan — Dasher Simon Otto directed. Richard Curtis and Peter Souter wrote the screenplay. That split matters if you came in thinking Curtis directed it because his name is on the books and on other Christmas films. He did not direct this one. Otto did. The stories still read as Curtis: overlapping households, a town, a holiday that is supposed to be simple and is not.
Watching it as a film, not as a calendar
Put it on when the room wants an animated Christmas story, not when someone asked what day Christmas is. It will not tell you how many days remain until 25 December 2026 (from 3 September 2026 that count is 113, and the 25th is a Friday). It will not decorate the house. It is one more title in the December pile, with a specific town and a specific Santa.
If you have to ask whether “that Christmas” is a bank holiday, you wanted 25 December. The film will still be there after lunch. Availability is a Netflix question after the 4 December 2024 release. Catalogues change; if the title is missing, that is a licensing screen, not a riddle about the plot. Age suitability is your household’s call. The source books are children’s stories. The film is a family animation. If a smaller child is frightened by storms or a lost-Santa plot, sit with them or pick a quieter title. The calendar date of Christmas does not change either way.
Questions and answers
- Is That Christmas a holiday?
- No. It is a 2024 animated film. The civil date you are counting toward is 25 December.
- Who directed That Christmas?
- Simon Otto. Richard Curtis co-wrote it with Peter Souter, from Curtis’s books with Rebecca Cobb.
- When did it come out?
- It played at the BFI London Film Festival on 19 October 2024 and was released on Netflix on 4 December 2024.
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