Fackham Hall (dir. Jim O’Hanlan)

by Jack Martin | Dec 14, 2025

Certificate: 15

Running Time: 97 mins

UK Distributor: Entertainment Film Distributors

UK Release Date: 12 December 2025

WHO’S IN FACKHAM HALL?

Ben Radcliffe, Thomasin McKenzie, Katherine Waterston, Lizzie Hopley, Emma Laird, Damian Lewis, Tom Felton, Jimmy Carr, Anna Maxwell Martin, Tom Goodman-Hill, Sue Johnston, Lily Knight, Tim McMullan, Laurie Ogden, Paula Wharton, Gemma Wardle

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Jim O’Hanlan (director), Jimmy Carr, Patrick Carr, Andrew Dawson, Steve Dawson and Tim Inman (writers), Mila Cottray, Danny Perkins and Kris Thykier (producers), Oli Julian (composer), Philipp Baubach (cinematographer), Colin Fair (editor)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

Mayhem and murder befall the aristocratic Davenport family…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON FACKHAM HALL?

Among the realm of spoof movie enthusiasts, 2025 will be remembered as the year when Hollywood finally remembered how to make actual spoof movies again. Both The Naked Gun and now Fackham Hall, director Jim O’Hanlan’s parodic take on period costume dramas like Downton Abbey and Upstairs Downstairs, work about as well as classic spoofs like Airplane!, Austin Powers and Spaceballs because, unlike the onslaught of Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer’s deeply cynical line of “Movie” movies such as Epic Movie, Disaster Movie and Date Movie, they recognise that in addition to sending up all the various tropes and personalities of the films they’re satirising, they also need to be films themselves, rather than just a collection of references without any real jokes.

With Fackham Hall, an extensive knowledge of Downton Abbey isn’t required to understand the gags, as it could easily work as its own separate costume drama if one were to remove the comedy aspect. But why would anyone want to do that, especially since this is actually a rather funny movie, filled with so much delightful silliness that you’ll be giggling at jokes like an immature schoolboy while appreciating everyone’s commitment to the bit.

It takes place in 1931, primarily at the titular residence of Fackham Hall where the aristocratic Davenport family reside with their staff. It’s all very Downton, with the servants performing even the most minute of tasks for their employers, whether it’s lifting a glass or serving as chairs. But in this universe, patriarch Lord Humphrey Davenport (Damian Lewis) and his wife Prudence (Katherine Waterston) are concerned that the lack of a male heir will be the end of the family’s lineage, particularly after their daughter Poppy (Emma Laird) jolts her fiancé/cousin Archibald (Tom Felton) at the altar, and their other daughter Rose (Thomasin McKenzie) refuses to marry him instead. The arrival of Ben Radcliffe as streetwise orphan Eric Noone – pronounced “no-one” – complicates things further, as he lands a job as a hall boy and manages to fall in love with Rose despite being a commoner and therefore well beneath her standards, but soon a grisly murder puts the entire estate on edge.

The film takes a lot of cues from the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker line of spoof movies in terms of how it dishes out jokes, whether it’s all sorts of wackiness unfolding in the background or incredibly silly dialogue being uttered in the foreground, all delivered with an anything-goes attitude where nearly everyone takes it about as seriously as the very type of films and shows that are being parodied. The straight-laced delivery by actors known for much more dramatic work is key to the film being as funny as it is, because not only are they treating this utterly ridiculous material like it’s a straightforward costume drama (which makes certain line reads and visual gags even funnier), but you could also legitimately see these exact performances being delivered the same way in something like Downton Abbey, an incredibly humorous sight to imagine. On that note, you’ll have the likes of Damian Lewis and Tom Felton having a lot of fun sending up their typical on-screen personas, but there isn’t a moment where it feels like they’re constantly winking at the camera as if to signal that they’re in on the joke, and instead they’re performing as though it’s just another one of these roles, which again amplifies the comedy of it all.

Luckily, the jokes themselves land more often than they don’t, which is saying something because a lot of it is based around schoolyard humour that in any other circumstance would cause anyone over a certain age to constantly roll their eyes. This is the kind of comedy where a poignant moment between characters will have someone struggling on the toilet mere metres away, while a bunch of visual gags take great pleasure in such phrases as “cock eater” and “69”. In a much lesser spoof movie, particularly the Friedberg-Seltzer ones, those crude moments would just be presented as they are with no other thought going into them, but O’Hanlan and the various screenwriters (among them Jimmy Carr, who has a small role as a vicar) take enough care with inserting actual jokes in and around the crudeness, ensuring that you’re laughing at something else if not the literal potty humour.

Inevitably, a few gags fall into that Friedberg-Seltzer pit of randomness, like references to modern-day things like Siri and Alexa, and older characters saying things like “shit just got real” in the middle of a scene for no reason. But even when there’s a joke that doesn’t work, you’re still won over by the sincerity of these actors and even some of the characters themselves, particularly Ben Radcliffe and Thomasin McKenzie whose sweet romantic and comedic chemistry recalls that of Charlie Sheen and Valeria Golino in the Hot Shots! movies, their natural screen charm really making you want to see them do more movies like this, whether it’s together or even solo.

The actors and filmmakers clearly have tons of respect for the type of thing they’re parodying and show that appreciation through sharp wit and an unapologetic display of silliness. That alone makes Fackham Hall along with The Naked Gun a welcome return to spoof movies that are made with love and care instead of just referencing stuff for a quick buck like Friedberg and Seltzer did. To them and their movies, a slightly different infliction of “Fackham” comes to mind.

SO, TO SUM UP…

Fackham Hall is a rather funny period costume drama spoof that’s clearly made with love and respect for the very thing it’s satirising, with plenty of silly and crude gags that, even when some don’t work, are delivered with amusing sincerity by actors who are having fun taking it seriously while sending up their usual on-screen personas.