Take a heartwarming road trip and find out ‘What We Did On Our Holiday’

Pack your bags and hold on tight because, when family is involved, it can be a bumpy ride!

David Tennant and Rosamund Pike in What We Did On Our Holiday

Source: Origin Pictures

It sounds idyllic (especially after the year we’ve all had): pack the family into the car ready for a carefree few weeks of summer holiday fun. For the family in British comedy What We Did On Our Holiday, led by David Tennant (Deadwater Fell
, Broadchurch
), Rosamund Pike (A United Kingdom, Gone Girl) and Billy Connolly (Quartet), however, things are a little more complicated.

You see, taking a road trip with your children can be a challenge at the best of times, but when you’re also trying to hide a huge secret that will alter the entire fabric of your family, it’s got the potential to be an unmitigated disaster. Luckily, with a line-up of top-notch British talent at the helm, there are also plenty of laughs along the way.

For Doug and Abi McLeod (Tennant and Pike) taking a road trip with their three children Lottie (Emilia Jones), Mickey (Bobby Smalldridge) and Jess (Harriet Turnbull) should be an enjoyable experience. Grandfather Gordie’s (Connolly) 75th birthday is the perfect excuse to head for the Scottish Highlands and enjoy a healthy dose of sunshine, fresh air and quality time with one another. The only trouble is, Doug and Abi would rather avoid spending quality time with each other, or any time together at all, really.

What We Did On Our Holiday, David Tennant, Rosamund Pike

Abi and Doug (Rosamund Pike and David Tennant) in ‘What We Did On Our Holiday’. Source: Getty Images

Divorce is very much the end game here and almost everyone knows it. Even the kids have their suspicions. Grandfather Gordie, however, appears to be none the wiser. And he has cancer. So, when your father has cancer and it’s his birthday, Doug is left with no choice but to ensure the family does what any loving, considerate and self-sacrificing people would do: lie.

The most important part of that process is to brief the kids. When they’re used to seeing Mum and Dad fight and bicker endlessly, watching them put their happy faces on and suddenly appear to be loved up has the potential to be seriously confusing at best.

Luckily, Lottie has her list of lies on hand in case their story starts to unravel, which proves especially useful when they realise that there will be no reprieve from the charade; Uncle Gavin (Ben Miller) and Aunt Margaret (Amelia Bullmore) will also be living in the house with their son Kenneth (Lewis Davie) and they have their own flawed family dynamic to bring to the table. And Uncle Gavin likes sticking his oblivious, self-centred and all round unlikeable nose in other people’s business. Great.

Thankfully, Gordie is just happy to see his grandkids and spends as much time as possible away from the tension of the house, taking them to play at the beach and sharing life lessons in that worldly way only a grandparent could. “The truth is, every human being on this planet is ridiculous in their own way,” he tells the ever curious Lottie. “We shouldn’t judge and we shouldn’t fight because, in the end, none of it matters.”

What We Did on our Holiday, Billy Connolly, Emilia Jones

Gordie (Billy Connolly) and Lottie (Emilia Jones) in ‘What We Did On Our Holiday’. Source: Origin Pictures

Connolly is fantastic as the slightly mad, ever loveable Gordie, and his connection with the children and his ability to blend the sobering realities of life with the equally hilarious is what makes the film so heartwarming. Perhaps he does have some idea of what is going on with his family, after all, but being terminally ill has a way of putting things in perspective.

Along with stacks of laugh-out-loud moments, and there are plenty, the film is, at its core, a celebration of love, family, and the freedom that comes with accepting our own mortality, dressed up in the breeziness of a summer getaway.

British duo Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin, who co-wrote and co-directed, have no trouble bringing the quick wit and spot-on comedic timing of their hit series Outnumbered to the big screen. In the same style as the sitcom, the children’s lines are largely unscripted throughout the film, yet the three young actors are impressive at every stage, bringing an endearing eccentricity to their characters that is reminiscent of their small screen counterparts. Tennant, Pike and Connolly, along with the rest of the cast, are ready for whatever unexpected retort comes their way, and the result is a fictional family that feels very much real.

If there’s one thing the film leaves us with as we set out on the road this summer, it’s that the perfect family road trip isn’t about an argument-free, disaster-free holiday. The best trips are those that stay with us long after they are over, not only because of the adventures we’ve been on, and the stories we have to tell, but because of the people that share it all with us.