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In his joyous new comedy Finding Father Christmas, the star is on a mission to prove Santa really exists – and he’s got Stephen Fry to help him! He talks magic, trampoline mayhem and finally getting behind the wheel of a car
It’s time for a father to have an awkward conversation with his teenage son. No, not that one. This is far worse – Chris is 16 and still believes in Father Christmas. He needs to know the truth: all the presents, the fake snow on the roof, the soot in the grate, it was all his dad. “You’re Father Christmas?” says Chris, astonished. “You bring joy and happiness to billions of children all over the world?”
In Finding Father Christmas, Channel 4’s funny and moving comedy, Chris, played by Lenny Rush, bunks off school and sets out on a mission with his older cousin Holly (Ele McKenzie) to prove to his sceptic dad that Santa is real. Poring over a photograph taken at a celebrity party, Chris thinks he has identified four people who may have secret links to Santa – Stephen Fry, mathematician Prof Hannah Fry, the space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock and SAS: Who Dares Wins star Jason Fox. Finally, he follows clues to a secret secure facility in Milton Keynes and breaks in with the help of a mini trampoline and the magic of television (a bungee cord). “It was terrifying, but so much fun,” says Rush of the stunt. “I feel like if I was offered [to do it] and I said no, I’d kick myself on the way home. I wanted to give it a go and I’m happy I did. But there was an element of fear.”
Far harder to get to grips with were the explanations from the scientists. Explaining how Father Christmas and his presents can pass through solid walls (when there’s no chimney) Fry says “it’s macroscopic quantum tunnelling”. Aderin-Pocock says something about the Alcubierre drive, and the concertina of space and time, to explain how he can do it all in one night. Did Rush understand what they were on about? “Honestly, no clue,” he says, laughing. “But the way they explained things, it was like a story, just mesmerising!”
Rush – irrepressibly cheerful, polite and blessed with impeccable comic timing – is speaking over Zoom from a hotel room, where he’s staying while filming the forthcoming BBC comedy The Reluctant Vampire, based on the Eric Morecambe books. Does it feel a pressure, leading a show? “I think because I’m surrounded by some of the UK’s best comedians, I don’t feel like I have the weight on my shoulders. And it’s always a laugh on set.” His first experience of playing the lead role was on Finding Father Christmas, which, being a relatively short shoot, proved a good introduction to being number one on the call sheet. “It was like a taster. I feel like I’m not as tired as I would have been, because of the Christmas film.”
Christmas films have always been a big part of his life, and this is “a proper feelgood” one. Not like his brilliant but harrowing roles as Tiny Tim Cratchit in two productions of A Christmas Carol – at the Old Vic in London and in the 2019 BBC adaptation from Peaky Blinders’ Steven Knight. In the Channel 4 show, once he found out his dad would be played by James Buckley, one of the Inbetweeners, he was “raring to go”. The Inbetweeners being, of course, essential watching for any teenager. “I’ve been lucky to work with some amazing people, but as soon as I said to my friends ‘James Buckley’, they were: ‘Oh my God.’”
When he read the script, was he devastated to read his fictional father admitting the “truth” about Father Christmas? Was it a spoiler to 16-year-old Rush? A perfect comic pause. “It wasn’t.” But he is worried about his young cousin watching it. “I’m not sure if he still believes or not. But to be fair, even if he does watch it, if anything, it proves that Father Christmas is real.”
Rush found out the “truth” when he was “nine or 10”, he thinks. He, his dad and younger brother were watching a film downstairs, when he wandered off in search of his mum. “I’ve gone upstairs, and Mum’s on the bed with wrapping paper everywhere, and all these presents.” Rush already had an inkling, “but the devastating part of it was that it was sealed, and I knew. I saw it with my own eyes.” He does a great impression of his mum, who is off camera in the hotel with him – I can hear her laughing. “She goes: ‘Steve, I told you to not let them come up!’ I was a good brother – I didn’t spoil it for Bobby.” He understands Chris’s need to cling on to that belief in magic. “I think the big heart around the show is that in recent years, his mum has passed away, and she just loved Christmas.”
When I spoke to Rush two years ago, he wasn’t so much a rising star as a dazzling one – that year, he won a TV Bafta for best male comedy performance in the BBC’s Am I Being Unreasonable? and two Royal Television Society awards. Now, he has left school – he passed all his exams, he says, “luckily” – and is a full-time actor. “It’s nice to just be able to focus on what I love. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still shattered.” He laughs. “But I’m having so much fun.”
As well as The Reluctant Vampire, Rush has parts in the Apple TV series Slow Horses, and in the forthcoming Channel 4 Barbara Taylor Bradford adaptation, A Woman of Substance. “It’s good to be able to show people that I can do different things,” says Rush, who is mainly known for comedy, including performing in sketches and presenting Children in Need. “I love comedy, but I don’t necessarily want to be a comedian or even a comedy actor. I just want to be an actor.” Although Slow Horses is a dark comedy, he points out, “A Woman of Substance was just …” He makes a mock troubled face. “You’d come off set and want to put Finding Nemo on.”
In it, Rush plays the younger brother of the younger version of the main character, Emma Harte. His disability – Rush has spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita, a form of dwarfism – is not part of the plot, which he’s grateful for. “I guess you could say they draw from it a bit, in the sense that it’s about a poor, working-class family [and] it does help to show that struggle, but even then it’s never mentioned. It’s not Frank Harte with a disability or with dwarfism. It’s just Frank Harte.”
In dramas, especially, he says, “when there is a role for a person with disability, usually it’ll be focused round that. I think it’s changing, definitely, but I don’t really think there’s enough. I don’t mind at all doing a [disabled] role where it helps raise awareness, they’re amazing, but it’s great to have other opportunities. That’s something I’ve been lucky with.” Almost none of his roles were written specifically for a disabled actor; Rush was just the best for the job. But what he brings to TV means a lot, both to him and those who contact him, glad to see themselves represented. “I get loads of people reach out to me. It’s always so lovely and any help I can give, I love to.”
Every year seems to get bigger and better for Rush, and 2026 looks to continue the trajectory. If Slow Horses brings the prestige, The Reluctant Vampire, written by Rob and Neil Gibbons (the writing duo behind recent Alan Partridge shows) showcases Rush as a lead actor, among a starry cast, including Asim Chaudhry and Bill Bailey. He will also be learning to drive. “So watch out everyone in Essex,” he says with a laugh. “It will definitely help with independence. A lot of the time, having a disability, you’re told by other people: ‘You can’t do this, can’t do that,’ and I think it’s further proving that I can do. I’m very excited.”
At home, Rush’s friends are still suitably unimpressed with his stellar career, “not in a bad way. They’re supportive of me, but I’ll go: ‘Guess what I’m doing next?’ I’ll tell them, and they go: ‘Oh, right.’” He likes to get home at weekends during filming. “It’s just nice to have that normality and seeing the dogs.” He smiles. “That sounds bad. I’ve put the dogs before my dad and my brother.” Another perfect pause. “Yeah, seeing the dogs.”
It’s time for Rush to get to work – they’re filming outside today, and he won’t be done until 10pm. He’s working right up until the break, so the Rush family Christmas will be quieter this year. “We’re going to have more of a chilled one, just us four.” The tradition that will be observed is the family sitting down to watch a festive film together on Christmas Eve. This year, it will be the one with Rush in it. It must be nice to think of other people, excitement mounting for the big day, tuning in at the same time in cosy, fairy-lighted living rooms across the country. “It’s really lovely,” agrees Rush, all merry and bright.
Finding Father Christmas is on Channel 4 on Christmas Eve at 7.30pm.
English (US)