Man vs. Baby series review: Rowan Atkinson delivers a measure of Christmas cheer

One’s enjoyment of Man vs. Baby is directly proportional to one’s fondness for that specific brand of Rowan Atkinson humour. If one enjoys his bumbling social awkwardness, then this sequel to 2022’s Man vs. Bee, following the further adventures of hapless house-sitter Trevor Bingley (Atkinson) will be a welcome watch.

Following the events of the previous film, Bingley has given up house-sitting and works as a caretaker in the local school. With Christmas approaching, Bingley has got the house ready for his ex-wife, Jess (Claudie Blakley) and daughter Maddy (Alanah Bloor). Shivering in the cold, Bingley’s last day at school just gets worse when Jess tells him she and Maddy are off to Barbados for Christmas.

On reaching school, Bingley learns he has been let go, and things are looking rather bleak especially since Maddy’s tuition at the Sorbonne costs nearly £10,000. Bingley is helping with the Nativity play, which is being done on a grand scale with a real baby in the manger.

As Bingley is running around fixing the star and picking up the baby, he gets a call from the house-sitters company offering a job over the Christmas vacation for some billionaires in their fancy penthouse in London. 

Just as he is telling the person on the phone that he does not do house-sitting anymore, he hears that the job comes with a £10,000 pay cheque, but that he needs to go to London for an interview. A series of unfortunate events find Bingley stuck with the baby at the house-sitting gig.

All sorts of misfortunes predictably plague Bingley. When the concierge, Petra (Susannah Fielding) tells him that he needs a special fob to operate the lift to the penthouse, you know for sure the fob is going to be misplaced — the bit involving dog excreta was definitely unnecessary.

Petra calls to say that the owners, the Schwarzenbochs, have decided to spend Christmas at their London penthouse, (after not spending any time there for 10 years) and it is time for mayhem (and product placements) at the supermarket.

The housekeeper who is supposed to cook the Christmas feast is stuck in Scotland and remotely directs proceedings. There is a homeless couple with their baby squatting in the basement and a chance for a baby mix-up.

All along, Bingley is in touch with a harried social worker Georgia (Sunetra Sarker), who he keeps missing. Lionel (Robert Bathurst), a resident in the building, is upset with the Schwarzenbochs as they have bought the building and he has to vacate.

There is Annabel (Susy Kane), another resident, whose dog develops a passion for Bingley’s shoe, which in turn offers Bingley a chance to wander about London with one foot in a ziplock bag.

There is a jolly feast at the end and lessons big and small about sharing, homelessness and miracles are dispensed. Unlike the nine episodes of Man vs. Bee, the four episodes in this mini-series, written by Atkinson and William Davies and directed by David Kerr (the same creative team as Man vs. Bee), go by quickly. There are some gentle laughs and some inexplicable decisions including the question of why Bingley did not buy nappies when he went to the store the first time around.

Man vs. Baby is currently streaming on Netflix