“The French take their festive platters seriously and spend lavishly on them. Christmas Eve, rather than Christmas Day, is when they tuck into the big family meal known as Le Gros Souper or Le Reveillon. Traditionally, it was served after the return from midnight Mass.”

British actress, writer and filmmaker

Carol Drinkwater is a British actress, writer and filmmaker who lives in France. She is best known for playing Helen Herriot in the television adaptation of James Herriot’s All Creatures Great and Small, and for her work as an author and filmmaker. Her role in that series brought wider attention, and she received the Variety Club Television Personality of the Year award in 1985. Beyond acting, her career spans writing and filmmaking, reflecting a creative life across several forms of storytelling.