'That Christmas' Gets Ed Sheeran Song & Release Date

If it's September, then that can only mean one thing: Christmas is coming. You know it's true, Spooky Season People. Despite your love of Halloween and all things that go bump in the night, retailers are already one foot out the door on pumpkins and well into the red and green in most major stores. Television (especially TV movies) is arguably worse, with the production of Christmas films being a year-round event. Though that was once relegated to Lifetime and Hallmark in the years of cable dominance, the streaming revolution broke the genre wide open. Now, every high-profile streamer has weeks and weeks of debuts dedicated to the Christian holiday people forget everyone doesn't celebrate.  

We here at Telly Visions do our best to keep Christmas contained, but since the list of December-focused films announced over the last three months is starting to get a little unwieldy, we, too, have to start talking about them the moment sweater weather threatens to make an appearance. The biggest Holiday film heading to streaming services from the U.K. for 2024 is That Christmas, which will debut on Netflix here in the U.S. Written by Richard Curtis, whose last foray into Christmas films is the cult classic Love Actually, not only is it packed to the gills with British talent, but it's even getting its own Ed Sheeran song.

Sheeran wrote and recorded "Under the Tree," an original song he created after being given a rough version of That Christmas by Curtis. The song is a family affair, according to Sheeran, who said in the press release, "I got to work with my older brother [Matthew Sheeran, an award-winning music producer in his own right] on this, which is such a rarity and a gift to work so closely with my only sibling. It felt so good to create something my children would watch with their uncle based in the country they live in. This will become a holiday staple, at least in our household."

Here's the film's synopsis:

Based on the trilogy of children’s books of the same name, That Christmas tells a series of animated holiday stories, all of which turn out to be entwined tales about family and friends, love and loneliness, Santa Claus making a big mistake — and it also features an enormous number of turkeys! 

Since there are several stories under the That Christmas umbrella, Netflix has packed on the British star power for this animated film. It stars (*deep breath everybody!*) Brian Cox (Succession), Fiona Shaw (Killing Eve), Jodie Whittaker (Doctor Who), Lolly Adefope (Miracle Workers), Alex Macqueen (The Inbetweeners), Katherine Parkinson (Rivals), Sindhu Vee (Matilda The Musical), Rosie Cavaliero (Funny Woman), Paul Kaye (Game of Thrones), Guz Khan (Turn Up Charlie), Andy Nyman (Unforgotten), Bill Nighy (Lazarus), and Rhys Darby (Our Flag Means Death).

The kid cast includes Zazie Hayhurst (The White Princess), Sienna Sayer (Silent Witness), Jack Wisniewski (The Full Monty), Bronte Smith (Still Up), Freddie Spry (Spencer), Ava Talbot (Trying), India Brown (Invasion), and newcomer Kuhu Agarwal. That Christmas is based on the successful series of children’s books by filmmaker Richard Curtis (Love Actually), his first foray into animation, serving as the film’s writer. It also marks the feature film directorial debut of animator Simon Otto (How to Train Your Dragon Trilogy). Curtis executive produces, and Nicole P. Hearon and Adam Tandy are producers.

That Christmas slides on December 4, 2024, on Netflix.