Wham! Last Christmas Unwrapped review – special TV to give your heart to

This winter warmer is so much more than just a deep dive into one of the greatest festive tunes – it’s an astonishing tribute to the genius of George Michael

What a big-hearted winter warmer Wham: Last Christmas Unwrapped turns out to be. This hour-long special promises an in-depth look at one of the most successful Christmas songs of all time, though curiously, it wasn’t until 39 years after its initial release, in 1984, that it finally became Britain’s festive number one. Much like the podcast Song Exploder, this documentary pulls the song and the video apart, discussing how they were written and made, before analysing their cultural impact. All fascinating, particularly to fans, but even fans might be surprised at how intimate and lovely the conversations about George Michael are here.

You can tell this is going to be joyful from the off. While Last Christmas is the angel on top of the tree, this acts as a potted history of Wham! too, beginning in 1984, the year everything went right for them. Michael tells his side of the story, his contributions taken from old archive interviews, while Andrew Ridgeley, Shirlie Kemp and Pepsie Demacque-Crockett talk through everything from meeting as kids, to filming that famous snowy video, to the devastation caused by the death of the man they all call Yog at Christmas, at the age of 53.

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