Review of Rowan Atkinson's festive comedy

At last, a Christmas comedy for those traumatised by the gritty, cynical realism of Love, Actually.

Rowan Atkinson’s Man Vs Baby is festive entertainment by algorithm, from picture-perfect English village, cute children, nativity scenes, low-risk philanthropy, lavish Christmas meals and the snow-flecked streets of London’s swankiest neighbourhoods. 

We first met Atkinson’s latest alter-ego, Trevor Bingley, in 2022’s Man Vs Bee, when he was very much a Mr Bean type, driven to distraction by the titular insect, getting involved in increasingly desperate scrapes to try to despatch it, and barely speaking as he did so.

The intervening three years – and the jail time he was given over the serious crimes he committed in pursuit of that bee – have very much mellowed him. He is now the sweetest man, if forlorn, living in an isolated house he can’t afford to heat, missing his daughter now she’s living with his ex-wife, and just about to lose his job as a primary school caretaker.

It’s in this role that he gets lumbered with a baby – unclaimed after being used in the school nativity – just as he lands a very well-paid job housesitting a billionaire’s palatial flat over Christmas. Getting to this point takes the full first episode of four, the plot being in little rush to advance.

Based on past form, you probably know what to expect. Incompetent Trevor struggling to look after the little ’un amid all manner of threats the sprawling penthouse contains. Here, though, is where the show deviates from expectations as Trevor is doting and generally adequate in being a carer, even if his illogical solutions to problems do bring on more dilemmas. Yet he’s just as likely to get out of those too. There is precious little of the manic, farcical physical comedy that made Bean such a worldwide phenomenon, and absolutely none of the snideness that made Blackadder such a compelling anti-hero.

The baby – treated as a package Trevor just has to drop off with social services rather than a worrying protection issue –  isn’t even always central to the story. Our unlucky housesitter also has a run-in with a dog who develops a taste for his shoe, and spawns more drama when he is tasked with decorating the flat and making a slap-up Christmas meal when told the owners are making an unexpected visit. 

There’s a festive-cheer side story about Trevor being kind to a homeless couple squatting in the basement (Ellie White and Angus Imrie as the most gentle, middle-class homeless people you could ever expect to meet).  Though this plot feels as if it’s trying too hard, and the messaging is confused given the show portrays the ideal Christmas as being defined by exquisitely prepared high-end food, vintage champagne and perfect decorations in the most ludicrously unaffordable of homes. 

Made pretty much as a film – the episode breaks seem almost arbitrary – Man Vs Baby is unfailingly sweet (the right side of cloying, just about) and enlivened with a few scattered moments of laugh-out-loud comedy. Though tellingly one of the funniest moments *is* when it leans towards type and has the baby fall down a laundry chute.

It’s family friendly, easy-viewing entertainment, undemandingly heartwarming if you just let it wash over you, which might be just what you need amid the stresses of Christmas prep. But ultimately it feels too lightweight to become a perennial seasonal favourite, even by the already slight standards of that genre. 

• Man Vs Baby is on Netflix now

Review date: 12 Dec 2025
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett