Celebrity LEGO Masters at Christmas review

Celebrity LEGO Masters at Christmas brings the competitive brick-building show back to the UK – Blocks magazine reviews the special episode…

It’s been a while since UK audiences have been able to enjoy home-grown episodes of LEGO Masters and this Christmas special is a reminder of what they’ve been missing out on. Everyone knows how LEGO bricks work, so seeing them clicked together in a competitive way is fantastic fun.

Spoilers ahead! If you haven’t watched the show yet, check it out on 4 On Demand before reading!

Fun as it is though, it wouldn’t be entertaining without a great cast. Nish Kumar is the perfect host for the show, so let’s hope he is back should there be a new series to follow this special. His brand of deadpan humour keeps things lively, encouraged by the presence of professional funny people Alex Horne and Sophie Duker. Scarlett Moffat and Sophie Ellis-Bextor bring their families with them to help with the building, which really gives the whole special a lovely festive feel.

Of course there’d be no credibility with two of the LEGO Group’s top design professionals, Head of Design Matthew Ashton and Senior Design Manager bring their expertise to make sure the competitors are not given an easy ride.

The basic concept of a Christmas build session is elevated though by two great challenges – the Christmas jumpers task is fiendishly tricky, and it’s amazing to see how the Ellis-Bextors manage to intentionally create a build that comes apart during star jumps. It’s also good fun to see Alex Horne and Sophie Duker fail at the task – as any LEGO fan knows, the System takes a little getting used to, and no-one usually builds wearable items.

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For the main task though the teams are building scenes to go inside snow globes and this is the one that really brings the Christmas fuzzies. Thanks to the assistance of LEGO fans, the teams are able to realise their visions successfully and create impressive holiday scenes. The Moffats opt for a charming steam engine ride, while the Ellis-Bextors recreate a moment the whole family remembers. To stop things getting too schmaltzy, the Taskmaster team builds Greg Davies in a hot tub.

It must have been hard for the judges to decide between the two family teams, as it’s easy to see how either could deserve the win. The Moffats ingenious incorporation of plungers into their build is perhaps what edged it.

While the international editions of LEGO Masters have all had different strengths, it’s great to see the show back where it all began. It’s the best thing out there to communicate to a wide audience what the LEGO fan community is all about, so let’s hope for a regular UK series soon (with adult contestants and Nish Kumar as host, please).

Merry Nishmas to all!