Stacey Solomon's Crafty Christmas, review: cheerfully muscling in on Kirstie Allsopp's patch
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Television natural, X Factor survivor and truth-teller on the otherwise wretched Loose Women, Stacey Solomon has found a fruitful outlet for her public-spirited effervescence in BBC One’s Sort Your Life Out.
Stacey Solomon’s Crafty Christmas (BBC One) – back after last year’s successful one-off – confirmed that she’s just as comfortable making stuff as chucking it out, offering a more achievable version of the sort of festive gewgaws Kirstie Allsopp rustles up on Channel 4’s Handmade Christmas.
There were imaginative decorations and gift ideas: a swimming noodle was transformed into a Christmas pudding wreath with a bit of ribbon and a couple of baubles, and she essayed an ingenious technique for imprinting photos onto a wooden keepsake box.
It was also a family affair: helpers included her sister, nonagenarian grandmother, her five-strong brood and Sort Your Life Out sidekick Dilly Carter, along with husband Joe Swash. Solomon, who has publicly discussed her struggles with anxiety, also credited the mindful aspects of crafting – not that this was ever relaxing, exactly: the Solomon homestead is too hectic for that, with Swash the willing fall guy. She assessed his decision to add hands to the side of his nutcracker soldier with barely concealed glee: “That’s a good idea, so it’s like he’s being held at gunpoint.”
Indeed, Solomon’s delight at almost everything was matched only by Swash’s at the garish bespoke tracksuit she created for him, festooned with lights, baubles and antlers. But all this frivolity was aimed at a particular goal: making gifts and throwing a party for volunteers at a local food bank.
Once a teenage single mother on benefits, Solomon knows whereof she speaks when it comes to making ends meet, and there was a sobering visit to a central London soup kitchen where resources are ever more stretched and the number of attendees rocketing.
Not for Solomon, though, the stunts and deadly self-congratulation of DIY SOS and Nick Knowles; the climax was a singalong Jingle Bells full of shambolic good cheer. We could all do with a little of that Christmas spirit.
